YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Milwaukee men’s track & field team closed out action at the Horizon League Championships Sunday. The Panthers finished as runners-up for the sixth consecutive season and won six individual titles on the weekend.
 
Highlighting the final day of action was the Men’s ARI Accelerator Outstanding Running Performer of the Meet Jaelyn Reeves-Lile. He started his day in the 100m dash, securing his first title of the day breaking the program and league championship meet record with a time of 10.24. Reeves-Lile came back for the 200m dash flying to another meet and school record with a championship time of 20.51.
 
“Jaelyn had a great championship meet,” said head coach Andrew Basler. “Sweeping the 100m and 200m with records in both and punching his ticket to the West Prelims.”
 
Anthony Buford was named Horizon League Field Freshman of the Year for his long jump victory yesterday. Today, he placed fourth in the 400m dash with a new career-best performance of 49.19.
 
Dominating the triple jump was Divine Aniamaka, his leap of 15.39m blowing past the rest of the field by over 1.6m and tying the program record in the event. Bryant McLaughlin joined Aniamaka in medaling with a third-place distance of 13.71m, and Bishop Bufford (13.50m) took fourth.
 
Caden Thomas added a runner-up finish for Milwaukee in the high jump, clearing 2.02m to lead the team.
 
Earning one more medal for the Panthers was Jeremiah Johnson in the hammer throw, setting a new career-best with a huge toss of 51.40m to finish third.
 
Lucas Picco represented the Black & Gold with a strong showing in the finals of the 800m run, coming in fourth place at 1:51.93.
 
Liam Richards had the best pole vault performance of his outdoor career, taking fourth place after clearing 4.41m.
 
Richards also ran in the finals of the 110m hurdles, claiming the fifth spot after crossing the finish line in 14.81. Ethan Mitchell was next in with a sixth-place time of 15.24.
 
Will Whiteis was the team’s top finisher in the 5000m run, making his way to the finish in 14:59.53 to take tenth.
 
“I need to shoutout all our 5000m runners for persevering through heat we have not run in this year and battling hard.” Basler added.
 
Overall, the Panthers racked up 141 points across the three-day competition.
 
“The goal is to compete for Horizon League Championships each season and in that sense, we fell short. But that should not take away from the great effort our teams put forth this weekend to claim runner-up trophies.” Basler concluded saying. “The overall energy and support was great and we had a lot of conference champions, all-conference, and end of the year awards. We will continue to find ways to improve as a program to put us in a position to get to the top of the podium.”
 
UP NEXT
 

Athletes who have met the NCAA qualifying standards will advance to the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Rounds, held May 28-31 at Texas A&M’s E.B Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas.
 

SEARCY — No. 10 Harding men’s track and field team saw several impressive performances at the Harding Mother’s Day Last Chance Meet on Saturday.

Sophomore Olaolu Olatunde broke Harding records in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, clocking times of 10.14 seconds and 20.65 seconds, respectively. His performances earned him NCAA Division II qualifying marks and moved him to No. 6 nationally in the 100 meters and No. 13 in the 200 meters.

In the pole vault, junior Kylor Aguilar cleared 5.06 meters (16′ 7.25″) to take first place and meet the NCAA Division II qualifying standard. His mark moved him to No. 21 nationally.

Daniel Osoba dominated the triple jump with a mark of 15.08 meters (49′ 5.75″), securing an NCAA Division II qualifying mark and moving to No. 26 nationally.

Other notable performances included freshman Dillon Williams’ win in the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.11 and Christian Erkert’s first-place finish in the javelin throw with a mark of 57.92 meters (190′ 0″).

The Harding men’s team had multiple athletes meet NCAA Division II qualifying standards, solidifying their positions for nationals.

The diehards, though fewer in number and dampened in fervor from the same spot one week prior, were waiting, nonetheless.

Rainbow Warrior players and coaches, still dazed from the abrupt ending to their season — a sweep loss to UCLA in the NCAA Tournament semifinals in Columbus, Ohio — were welcomed back with open arms and unconditional love by about a dozen UH men’s volleyball fans at the Stan Sheriff Center loading dock on Sunday afternoon.

They cheered and applauded once the team bus rolled into sight directly behind that of the UH women’s water polo team, which also saw its season come to an end in its sport’s national semifinal Saturday.

“It’s wonderful to play in Hawaii for having the best fans in the world,” said libero ‘Eleu Choy, who had five digs in the final match of his six-year UH career. “They’re always supportive whether we win or lose.”

The attendance of the UH-UCLA match at Ohio State’s Covelli Center was announced at 3,342.

Middle Kurt Nusterer, another ‘Bow who saw his career come to an end in disappointing fashion, estimated the crowd split as 70/30 in UH’s favor.

“That was remarkable,” Nusterer said. “I mean, it’s incredible. I still will never be able to wrap my head around the fact that people love us that much, to make sacrifices like that, to support us. It’s the reason this program is successful, and it’s the reason we’re going to continue to be successful.”

UH coach Charlie Wade took a separate travel route home from the rest of the team, but coaches Milan Zarkovic, Kupono Fey and Chad Giesseman were with the players.

The lopsided loss and early flight out from Columbus for Houston made for a sleepless night for many of the ‘Bows.

Wade tried several lineup combinations in the three sets against the Bruins, but UCLA seemed to have an answer for each and UH’s season ended at 27-6. UH hit a season-worst .188 and was outplayed in all facets.

Nusterer, who was pulled in favor of freshman Ofeck Hazan in Set 3, said that he thought the bright lights of the tournament setting and UH’s injuries (All-Big West opposite Kristian Titriyski did not play down the stretch of the season, and hitter Clay Wieter was limited) might’ve had something to do with the group’s poor showing.

“It was incredibly frustrating. I think all of us wanted more out of the week,” Nusterer said. “Every single one of us didn’t play up to our potential; we all had a pretty bad game. Yeah, there is something to say for what we’ve accomplished this year … but it definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to lose. There’s still a lot of things to be really proud of. … But I definitely think some of us wish we could play at least one more game.”

Choy and Nusterer, two of the team’s most experienced players, both said the future is bright for a UH program that introduced several young stars over the last two years.

If UH is able to retain them as expected, setter Tread Rosenthal and hitter Louis Sakanoko will be juniors. Opposites Finn Kearney, Titriyski and Kainoa Wade will be sophomores. Hitter Adrien Roure will be a sophomore. And middles Justin Todd and Hazan will be sophomores.

Rosenthal and Roure were first-team AVCA All-Americans this season while Titriyski made the second team.

“We’ve shown that we can play at a high level, and yet it’s not our best,” Choy said. “So, yeah, I’m very excited to what this team can do. And I have a feeling they’re going to be back in the NCAAs and maybe even win it next year.”

Choy, a Farrington graduate who could’ve embarked on a career in engineering after he got his undergraduate degree two years ago, is set to make use of his new master’s degree. He said he was glad he decided to stick out his volleyball career; he got the chance to be a regular starter the last two years, and was just named an All-America honorable mention.

Nusterer, another former walk-on, leaves UH with the same national distinction as Choy.

The native of Indianapolis, Ind., said he feels he leaves the program a better person than when he arrived from having experienced the embrace of the local community. He is forsaking the last year of his eligibility for a job in the financial sector in Los Angeles.

He plans to attend UH’s games in Southern California as often as he is able.

UCLA and Long Beach State meet for the national title at 1 p.m. Hawaii time Monday on ESPN2/ESPN+.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

Several major publishers and the IAB last week presented their content wares and new ad units, while playing up brand safety as well. According to two of four media buyers Digiday spoke with, LinkedIn, of all Newfronts players, surprised the most with its presentation. 

First-time NewFronts presenter LinkedIn “went more tactile and opportunistic, and data- and AI-focused vs. ‘here’s our big, splashy new content program,’” said Angela Dahir, vp of strategy & media planning at Jellyfish. “It was more tactile functionality for us that we could then take to our clients who are in that B2B space, which we have a lot of … There’s a lot of unearthed opportunity in LinkedIn.”

Another media buyer who spoke on condition of anonymity agreed that LinkedIn stood out, but even for reasons beyond B2B opportunities. “What was impressive about what they shared was just the narrative on how video on their platform is something that really impacts business decision makers,” said the buyer, who was also impressed by LinkedIn’s ability to offer data both on- and off-platform. “Business influencers, are really aiding in that, now that brands can kind of get involved with those business creators in a new way.”

But it’s the more flexible investment opportunities that could sway some marketers and their media agencies to spend among NewFronts publishers rather than the classic TV providers — certainly at a time of great economic uncertainty (tariffs, interest rates, flagging consumer sentiment stats, unpredictable government policies, etc). 

“I think the benefits of cost efficiencies outweigh some of that upfront commitment and the pricing — the larger monetary commitment,” said Lindsey Freed, svp of media investment at Basis Technologies. “With more CTV streaming [and] programmatic buying, we’re seeing the rate efficiencies and the ability to target in very similar ways — it’s what the buzz is all about … The flexibility of being able to execute across that media, rather than committing a large dollar amount upfront is really where we’re going to see the shift.”

“There’s a lot of evaluation going on of media spend,” said Tucker Matheson, CEO of Markacy, who said none of his clients are actually cutting budgets — yet. “Brands in a budget pinch are … really just trying to figure out where’s my biggest bang for my buck.” To Matheson, the answer lies in applying incrementality testing to guide them to the right investment. 

But there are also a number of new ad-unit opportunities being rolled out by some of the NewFronts presenters, as a means of attracting more ad dollars from brands of all size — some of which caught the eye of buyers. Some of the OEM providers like LG and Vizio showed off units including: 

• Home screen ads (available on smart TVs and streaming platforms);
• Pause ads (which pops up when you pause content);
• Screen saver ads (when the TV set or app goes idle); 
• Contextual overlay on content (if you’re watching a cooking show on pizza and a Pizza Hut ad pops up);
• Squeeze back ads (content is made smaller, allowing the ad to run next to it);
• Shoppable ads with QR codes.

“As media buyers, we’re really going to have to think about these new [habits], thinking of the consumer, what they’re doing, and tying our buys together to allow for that ease of shopping on our phone or shopping while we’re watching TV,” Basis Technologies’ Freed said.

“CTV, for sure, offers a lot more of that potential to do more complex or interactive ad formats, whether it’s shoppable or just general formats than what you can do on linear,” said Chris Rigas, vp of media at Markacy. “There’s definitely an appeal to that. It’s obviously clear that CTV is going to continue gaining market share.”

Of course, the linear companies also offer some of these innovations too, which can’t be forgotten — just like they offer the lion’s share of sports content. But again, the buyers Digiday spoke with said sports is clearly no longer the exclusive territory of the linear giants like NBC U or Disney. With Amazon, Tubi, Hulu and others now offering professional league sports content, it’s a more even playing field than ever.

“This one has live sports and that one has live sports, and everyone’s getting connected through the pipeline,” said Jellyfish’s Dahir. “The digital marketplace is becoming now the crux of opportunity, because we have so much more access and more clients that are able to play in this video space that maybe we’re not able to in the past.”

For better or worse, that diaspora of sports content raises its own set of problems for media buyers and planners. “If I’m watching [sports] on Peacock, but through my Chromecast, I get a different ad,” noted Dahir. “This creates a very fragmented landscape for live sports … I’m curious to see if there will eventually be a step backward. Because, yes, it gives us more opportunity of getting more efficient and effective buys in live sports, especially for smaller clients and that need for efficiency. But from a rating standpoint, I wonder if there will eventually be a pushback … because there’s too many touch points that you can tag it.”

And that’s where programmatic steps in with both the offer of promise and potential for confusion. Much like three years ago, when CTV content became more available through programmatic investment, it ushered in the chance for smaller advertisers to get into TV advertising. But it also made a mess of not knowing who repped what inventory. That could happen with sports content today. 

Because the fact is, there’s a bottom-line shift that is taking place across the entire video landscape: the continued increase of programmatic investment vs. direct buying. 

“One theme that hit for me at the NewFronts was that personalized is premium and it’s more about the curation of content and context,” said the buyer on background. “It’s making sure that your ads are appearing within the content you wanted to appear with the audience targeting that you need. Programmatic makes that more easily possible and the workflow is way easier — when done right.”

Added Basis Technologies’ Freed: “For buyers, it’s easier because we have more control — we are able to shift budgets between deal IDs easier than we can direct buys.”

Color by numbers

Amazon may be one the fastest growing powerhouses in major media, rivaling Google and Meta for supremacy — but it does have one problem. It seems more consumers are looking into how to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions than any other streamer, according to a study by Sparrow, which helps consumers get money from class-action suits. Here’s the data (although it must be noted, the below stats are of people searching for how to cancel, not actual cancellations):

• Amazon Prime 587,000 searches
• Disney Plus 397,700 searches
• Hulu 143,600 searches
• Paramount Plus 139,400 searches
• Peacock 106,700 searches
• Netflix 93,100 searches

Takeoff & landing

• WPP last week renamed its media network WPP Media from GroupM, and implemented layoffs across the three media agency names that still exist really in name only: Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom. The agencies will operate under one P&L. 
• Stagwell’s Q1 2025 results showed net revenue grew 6% over Q1 2024m while EBITDA dropped 11% on margins of 14%. But the challenger holdco also chalked up what it said is a record $130 million in new business in the quarter. 
• System1, a creative effectiveness platform, has joined agency collective Dawn. 
• Account moves: Dentsu U.K. won the NFL’s global social media business … Havas Media Network landed Olive Garden’s U.S. media business, taking over from Starcom. … Bayer reportedly put the media and creative accounts of its consumer health unit up for review. The media incumbent is EssenceMediacom, which won brewer Lion’s media business in Australia and New Zealand … MSQ and several of its agencies landed global media agency of record duties for Turtle Wax. 
• Personnel moves: Justin Thomas-Copeland officially took over as the new CEO of industry association 4As, replacing Marla Kaplowitz … Stagwell’s Assembly tapped Jason Lim to be its chief media officer for North America, coming over from EssenceMediacom where he was chief planning officer … Horizon Media hired Crystal Park to be its new CMO, coming over from The Weather Co., where she was vp of advertising & enterprise data marketing … Dentsu Media Americas CEO Sean Reardon is out after less than 18 months, replaced by Will Swayne … Goodway Group tapped Paul Frampton-Calero as its new CEO, moving him over from oversight of Goodway’s Overline consultancy, and replacing Jay Friedman who will stay on as an advisor … Barkley OKRP named chief creative officer Katy Hornaday to replace Jeff King as CEO, as King transitions into a founding partner role. 

Direct quote

“It’s just changing the logo on the slide and saying, ‘I’m going to aggregate, and centralize all my media spend.’ And they’re going to lean heavier into principal media buying, and this allows them to make it easier for them to do that.”

— An independent media agency CEO talking about WPP’s moves around reshaping GroupM into WPP Media. 

Speed reading