New Orleans, La. — After historic production from the men’s cross country team and both indoor and outdoor men’s track & field programs, the University of Lynchburg placed second in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division III Program of the Year final standings, the school’s best placement in history. 

To cap off the 2024-25 academic year, the men’s outdoor track & field program had multiple individual national champions for the first time in 26 years. Tor Hotung-Davidsen and Chasen Hunt claimed national titles in the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter races, respectively. Both Hotung-Davidsen and Hunt made history prior to the NCAA Championships as well. Hotung-Davidsen clocked the fastest outdoor mile in NCAA DIII history earlier this year with a sub-four minute time at the Hill City Twilight, while Hunt claimed the fastest 5,000-meter time in NCAA DIII history by over five seconds at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Multiple student-athletes broke program and ODAC records in the outdoor season for one of the best team performances in Lynchburg history. At the NCAA Championships, the Hornets’ men’s squad earned seven All-American honors and placed seventh overall as a team. 

The indoor track & field program achieved incredible success as well, earning its fourth consecutive ODAC Championship title and its highest placement as a group at the NCAA Championships in program history with a fourth-place finish. With just six men competing, all six earned First-Team All-American status. The distance medley relay team placed second overall to start off the competition and freshman Tristan Wright produced a highlight moment with a time of 6.74 in the 100-meter dash, solidifying a new conference record in the event.

The men’s cross country team snagged its fourth straight ODAC Championship and claimed its second consecutive regional title this season. At the NCAA National Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., Hunt crossed the finish line in 14th place to secure an All-American accolade and lead the team to a 12th-place finish overall. 

An outstanding year for all three programs allowed the Hornets to finish second in the overall standings, beating out UW-Eau Claire for the spot by 13 points. UW-La Crosse claimed the national title in all three seasons to secure first. MIT and North Central (Ill.) rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. To view the list of final standings produced by the USTFCCCA, click here.

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–LYN–

Nobody wore a black armband to work, but the tone was funereal in the text exchanges and calls among Washington State track and field alums Tuesday.

When it wasn’t just angry.

“I feel like going over to the alumni center and chopping that tile with my name on it out of the floor,” said former Cougar coach John Chaplin. “I’m just so pissed.”

The reactions – from resignation to indignation – came in the wake of the school’s announcement on Monday that it was dropping the “field” part of the program and reducing, in ways unspecified, its numbers in the sprints and hurdles. The Cougars will carry on a program centered on distance running.

How many scholarships will be awarded, how much in budget savings will result and the status of assistant coaches have not been shared publicly. Athletic director Anne McCoy and head coach Wayne Phipps continued to refuse interview requests on Tuesday.

But one thing seemed clear. National regard for the once-formidable Cougar program will take another hit.

“The program has had such a rich tradition and heritage,” said Drew Ulrick, a Cougar discus thrower 20 years ago and now a real estate professional in Spokane. “It was more competitive in the ‘80s and ‘90s on the national stage, but even in my era you always knew WSU was at a meet – there were always a few stars out there.”

Like many, Ulrick was confused by the two-paragraph school statement that the cuts would give WSU “the best opportunity to remain competitive at the conference and national levels,” though it did specify “in the distance events.”

“I just wish they’d been up front and said, ‘We need to cut,’ and not tried to make it sound like this was a good thing,” said Debra Farwell, who coached throws at WSU for 20 years and was one of the pioneer athletes in the women’s program. “This is just sad and another sign that the college athletics system is broken.”

The school provided no rationale for the cuts. But the combination of existing athletic program debt, the collapse of the pre-2024 Pac-12 and the drying up of television money from that and, finally, the pressure the Cougar athletics will face navigating life after the recent House vs. NCAA settlement opening up direct payments to athletes suggests that it was solely a financial consideration.

The last WSU sport to take such a blow was men’s tennis, which was dropped entirely in 1994 after years of half-funding.

Cougar field events were not the first track-related casualty of the post-House world, either, with Colorado announcing last week that it was throwing more of its resources behind its renowned distance corps and axing two field events coaches.

“Sadly, there are probably many more to come,” said Cougar alum and hammer specialist Brock Eager, who competes on the professional level out of the Iron Wood Throws Club in North Idaho. “The whole scheme and layout of college athletics has changed completely in just the six years I’ve been out of college.”

While the Gerry Lindgrens, Henry Ronos and Bernard Lagats of the Cougars’ “Long Crimson Line” of distance runners put WSU track on the map, the field events were wildly underrated.

“The school record in the high jump is 7-foot-7,” noted Eager. “Ian Waltz threw 212 feet in the discus, Tore Gustafsson 255 in the hammer – I’m at 236 and that’s just third. All the other records are world class.”

Indeed, it’s been difficult in recent years for Cougar field athletes to even crack the school’s top 10s. But 14 of the school’s last 21 Pac-12 champions came on the field side.

“To lose that tradition is sickening,” said Farwell.

But what former athletes and coaches find more disheartening is the loss of opportunity.

“If I didn’t get a scholarship to go to college, I wasn’t going,” said Francesca Green, a two-time then-Pac-10 champion from Kennewick who now coaches at the University of Arizona. “Having (coaches) Rick Sloan and Lissa Olson take a chance on me was the opportunity of a lifetime, because my times in high school didn’t put me at the top of the country. So it was life-changing.”

It was a sentiment echoed by CJ Allen, a 2024 U.S. Olympian in the intermediate hurdles.

“If what’s happening with the program now happens back then, I don’t’ know if my life looks the same,” he said. “I won a conference championship as a freshman and used that momentum for the rest of my career, really. Put me in the SEC that year in a little more competitive field and maybe I don’t make the final.”

Allen would win another Pac-12 title before he left WSU, and made time gains each year post-collegiately through 2023 – until he’d become the 30th fastest 400 hurdler in history and No. 14 American.

“In the new scenario at WSU,” he said, “I don’t exist.”

It also puts into question, in the likelihood of similar cuts elsewhere, the impact to Olympic development if its feeder system shrinks. Green – “I’ve always been an optimistic person,” she said – believes elite athletes will always find their place and that it could be an iron-sharpening-iron outcome. But broad-based development could suffer.

“You’re not going to have the walk-on, the football guy who tries the hammer and takes to it and becomes national caliber in four years,” said Eager. “You’re going to miss out on making the diamonds-in-the-rough into diamonds.”

But that’s a macro problem. Alums are more worried about WSU’s micro problem.

“I think about so many kids that won’t get the opportunity now,” said Farwell. “A kid like Tim Gehring – from Kettle Falls, a walk-on and with our development program became a national championship competitor who threw 63-10. He’s an accountant now in Pullman. We had so many kids like that. Maybe they only got a semester’s tuition or books, but that was incentive for them to keep improving.”

Most of the track and field alums grasp the realities of today’s college landscape, even if they don’t like it or understand. They’re more saddened than disgusted.

That doesn’t make this wholesale gutting of the program easier to swallow. Chaplin, a long-time donor as well as the builder of the program, insisted he’s taking the Rono statue project he’s ramrodded off campus.

“I don’t want my name attached to the university in any way,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to be a graduate of WSU.”

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Seven Minnesota State student-athletes were recognized this year as Strength & Conditioning Athlete of the Year for their sport through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA). Winners were honored at various team events this spring with a certificate.
 
The Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year Award program recognizes those collegiate and high school athletes whose athletic accomplishments reflect their dedication to strength training and conditioning.
 
Awards have been given since 1998.
 

” These student-athletes are the best of the best in Strength & Conditioning,” said Minnesota State Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Andy Stocks. “They have shown tremendous effort and passion on a daily basis. Their work ethic and dedication to Strength & Conditioning are undeniable. Their progress and performance during their collegiate career have far exceeded expectations.”
 
2024-25 Minnesota State Strength & Conditioning Athlete of the Year Winners
Emily Russo (Basketball)

Abby Gronholz (Swimming & Diving)
Nathan Gribble (Football)
Lucy Weninger (Soccer)

Megan Narveson (Track & Field)
Spencer Wright (Baseball)
Emma Loveall (Volleyball)
 
Stocks on Russo

“Emily has had a tremendous impact on the Minnesota State basketball program and the Strength & Conditioning department. Her work ethic sets a great example for others and her leadership drives her team to success. Emily is a true role model.”
 
Stocks on Gronholz
“Abby has shown tremendous effort in all aspects of being a student-athlete. She uses her performance in the weight room to drive success in the pool. Her hard work has won multiple NSIC championships and NCAA All-American honors. She is also successful in the classroom, being named to the NSIC All-Academic Team. Her drive to excel will lead her to great success in the future.”
 
Stocks on Gribble

“Gribble is a stalwart for the Maverick football program and the Strength & Conditioning department. His grittiness, intensity, and love for lifting are second to none. Gribble’s blue collar work ethic will drive him to great success in the future.”
 
Lee on Narveson
“Megan has fully bought into strength training to further her success any time she runs. She has used the weight room as a place to thrive and ensure her body stays strong and durable so she can handle what comes with running longer distances. She pushes herself every training session no matter how she feels and consistently finds a way to improve! She is a joy to have around every training session and does a great job pushing her teammates to the next level! She helps foster a positive training environment for our entire weight room!”
 
Lee on Wright
“Spencer understands and uses the weight room to create the best competitive advantage he can for himself on the mound. He trains with the highest intent whenever he steps in the weight room. He comes in every day looking to better himself as the strongest and most powerful athlete he can be. He also holds his teammates to the highest standards in the weight room to create a hard-working culture for the entire program! He is a great leader to have in the room every day.”
 
Lee on Loveall
“Emma bought in fully to the training system here on campus and used it to her advantage. She always came in with a positive mindset and put her best foot forward when it came to training every day. She pushed herself to be the strongest and most powerful version of herself, which would then help translate to her performance on the Volleyball Court. She was a joy to have around in the weight room during her time on campus!”
 

In the middle of June, every Sun Devil head coach casts a single vote for the Sun Devil Coach of the Year in honor of Frank Kush.

The award – presented around the anniversary of Coach Kush’s passing (June 22, 2017) – is a way for each coach to recognize a peer that impressed them the most.

There are no true guidelines for this honor; coaches can nominate someone who earned any honors, a coach who made an impression in their first year, or simply the nicest coach in the building. Once the nominations are in, one Sun Devil coach earns what one can consider the ultimate show of respect: an award from their peers in the 26-sport, 22-head coach department.

This year’s winner – and Arizona State graduate — did all of this…

–led his team to the Big 12 title (after being picked for last)

–earned Big 12 Coach of the Year

–had his team go undefeated at home for the first time since 2004

–placed his team seventh in the final Associated Press rankings

–impressed everyone associated with the program with a complete rebuild after back-to-back 3-9 seasons (only one was his)

–had every head coach vote for him, the first time that has happened in the awards history.

Congratulations Kenny Dillingham!

Where leadership meets legacy

As voted by his fellow ASU coaches, @KennyDillingham has been named the 2024-25 Frank Kush Coach of the Year! #ForksUp /// #ActivateTheValley pic.twitter.com/zVOUyAQM1V

— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) June 17, 2025

ANNUAL FRANK KUSH AWARD WINNERS

2024-25: Kenny Dillingham, football

2023-24: JJ Van Niel, volleyball

2022-23: Bob Bowman, swim and dive

2021-22: Matt Thurmond, men’s golf

2020-21: Todd Clapper, water polo

2018-19: Greg Powers, hockey

2017-18: Trisha Ford, softball

General | 6/17/2025 4:18:00 PM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – St. John Fisher student athletes Emma Cooper (field hockey), Audrey Grieb (field hockey), Sydney Carpenter (women’s lacrosse), Kaley Griffin (women’s lacrosse), Anna Winters (women’s rowing) and Sarah Burgess (women’s golf) have been selected to the 2025 NCAA Division III College Communicators Academic All-District Women’s At Large Team.

Cooper and Carpenter have advanced to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. NCAA, NAIA and College Division Women’s At-Large Academic All-America® First-, second- and third-team honorees will be announced on July 8. 

The 2025 Academic All-District® Women’s At-Large teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes at-large honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Cooper sustained a 4.0 grade-point average as a biochemistry student at Fisher. She started in all 20 games and recorded 20 points during the 2024 season en route to second-team All-Region honors from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA). Cooper is a four-time NFHCA DIII Scholar of Distinction. 

Grieb maintained a 3.93 grade point average as a nursing student at Fisher. A four-time NFHCA Division III Scholar of Distinction, Grieb played and started in all 20 games this past season, tallying 20 points on six goals and eight assists. She garnered All-Empire 8 Conference first-team honors. 

Carpenter, who studied education and finished her time at Fisher with a 3.90 GPA, earned first-team All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association for the second time in three years this past season. She finished her career with 300 points, the second-most in Empire 8 history, and holds the conference record for draw controls with 504. 

An accounting and finance student, Griffin has maintained a 3.98 GPA through her junior year. This past season, she set career highs in goals (44), assists (14), total points (58) and draw controls. She was named MVP of the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament, during which she had seven points on six goals and one assist to go along with nine draw controls over two games.

Winters, a rising junior, has maintained a 3.76 grade-point average while studying accounting and Spanish for two years at Fisher. She was named to the 2025 Liberty League Women’s Rowing All-Academic Team in May. 

Burgess, a biology major, has sustained a 4.0 GPA through two years at St. John Fisher. She earned All-Empire 8 first-team honors for the 2024-25 season.