Women’s Track Athlete of the Year

HANNAH CAIOLA, SCSU

Caiola, who hails from Glastonbury, Connecticut, earned First-Team All-America honors in the 400 meters at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships. Earlier in the season, Caiola starred at the NE10 Championships with individual titles in both the 200 meters and 400 meters, and a tote on the winning 4×100 relay.

Men’s Field Athlete of the Year

CAMERON BELTON, SCSU

Belton, who hails from Baltic, Connecticut, finished runner-up in the shot put at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in PR 18.87m (61-11). Earlier in the season, Belton won both the shot and hammer at the NE10 Championships to help lead the Owls to the team title.

Women’s Coach of the Year

MELISSA STOLL FUNARO, SCSU

Stoll Funaro, in her 13th year as Head Coach at Southern Connecticut, led the Owls to the team title at the Northeast 10 Conference Championships, winning 11 events and scoring 246 points. Southern Connecticut also had one First-Team All-America at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships – Hannah Caiola in the 400 meters.

Men’s Coach of the Year

JOHN WALLIN, SCSU

Wallin, in his 15th year as Head Coach at Southern Connecticut, led the Owls to the team title at the Northeast 10 Conference Championships, winning 10 events. Southern Connecticut also earned one First-Team and two Second-Team All-America honors from the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships.

Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year

BRIAN NILL, SCSU

Nill, in his 10th year as assistant coach at Southern Connecticut, coached the Owls’ middle- and long-distance runners to combined for 76 of the team’s 246 points in winning the team title at the Northeast 10 Conference Championships. Four of his athletes also earned All-New England honors at the NEICAAA Championships.

Men’s Assistant of the Year

BERNARDO MBAYA, SCSU

Mbaya, in his first year as assistant coach at Southern Connecticut, coached the Owls’ throwers to combined for 49 points at the Northeast 10 Conference Championships, helping Southern Connecticut win the team title. His top athlete, Cameron Belton, won the NE10 shot put and discus and finished second in the shot at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships.

Men’s Track Athlete of the Year

JORDANY DELY, New Haven

Dely, who hails from Spring Valley, New York, earned First-Team All-America honors in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships. He set a PR 13.77 in the prelims that also bettered his own program record. Earlier in the season, Dely was named NE10 Track MVP of the Championships and NE10 Track Athlete of the Year.

Local volleyball players will have an opportunity to spruce up their skills this summer under the tutelage of a local volleyball player who is a member of the University of Saskatchewan Men’s Volleyball team.  

Jay Eichorst will be offering weekly sessions alongside his brother Adam at the Humboldt Curling Rink on Tuesday nights from June until August.  

Eichorst says that each session will run for 90 minutes, with a session for Grades 7-9 from 6:00-7:30 and then Grade 10-12 from 7:30-9:00. Eichorst says they will be covering the basics of volleyball. 

“Your passing, your setting, your hitting and serving, you break them down into small components and then just build on them with cues and feedback for us, the kids and we just worked with the athletes to help tailor what they want from the sessions to grow as a volleyball player.” 

There’s a cost of $25 per session and Eichorst says players can customize their schedules and attend as many sessions as they can. 

“It’s summer, so sometimes they’re at the lakes or whatnot and life gets busy, so they can kind of come in and out whenever works best in their schedule and they do kind of go together.” 

While Volleyball is a team sport, Eichorst says the goal of the summer sessions is to improve each player’s abilities.  

“We kind of work with players individually and then as a group we have group ideas, but then we break it down with the individual athletes. So everyone’s kind of at the same process, but with different goals in mind.” 

Before he started attending the University of Saskatchewan and playing on the Men’s Volleyball team, Eichorst was on the court with the Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) Mohawks volleyball squad and noted there weren’t many opportunities for summer volleyball camps like the one he will be offering. 

“I’ve been doing these for the last two years and there’s been a really high demand with lots of athletes coming through our doors and that’s the ones that we can help coach. And so, it’s been really good to see.” 

With the volleyball season hitting high gear in September, Eichorst adds the camps will be an opportunity for the players to get into mid-season form before the season gets underway.  

“It’s really to just keep the touches on the ball during the summer because once September hits, it’s like your full gas on the pedal for those high school athletes, you kind of the first weekend back from school, you’re probably playing in the tournaments.” 

He added, “and helps them keep their skills up to a high level and then grow with, especially with the ideas that I can bring from being on the university team and stuff like that that I’ve been able to learn. I can translate that into my coaching and help them pick up new ideas.” 

Eichorst said they averaged 15 athletes per session in the past, and with a growing demand they’ve added a Grade 7-9 group this summer.  

Besides Humboldt, Eichorst said they’ve had players from Lanigan, Annaheim, Englefeld, Watson and even some players from Foam Lake attend the sessions.  

“Winning the Dennis Farrell Big West Commissioner’s Cup has been an honor in that it’s been over decades here as an opportunity, and we’re proud that our excellence in our athletics program represents the quality of the educational institution with which we represent,” remarked Paula Smith, UCI Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “We’re just honored and delighted to be able to celebrate this with UC Irvine’s community of intercollegiate athletics and the campus. 

 

“It signifies our student-athletes working hard, their selfless dedication, countless hours of sacrifice, the hard work each and every day that they put in to learn their craft and trade. It signifies the excellence of our head coaches and their leadership and vision and passion for their sport. And also, for the dedication of our athletic staff to support our student-athletes and coaches every single day.” 

Ahead in the standings after winter competition, UCI secured the Cup with a successful spring capped by earning maximum points in women’s track & field and baseball to secure the win over defending-champion and second-place finisher Cal Poly. The Anteaters also received the top tally in the fall in men’s water polo.  

 

The overall success of the department was seen with solid finishes in nearly every sport, including second-place billing in men’s and women’s basketball and men’s tennis and a third place showing in women’s cross country, women’s soccer in the fall and men’s golf, women’s water polo and men’s volleyball during spring competition. The Anteaters compiled the second-highest average points tally at 148.8 with the largest total points accumulation in the history of the Cup with a finishing figure of 2,530 points. 

 

Last year’s Cup victor Cal Poly finished second in the standings after surging in the spring with a Big West men’s track & field title and second place showings in women’s track and field, baseball, beach volleyball and women’s tennis to close with 130.6 points. The Mustangs claimed three high-point efforts in the fall with Championship titles in both men’s and women’s cross country and a regular-season trophy in men’s soccer. 

 

Finishing third in 2024-25 is Long Beach State with 129.4 points that included trophy hoisting moments in men’s golf and beach volleyball along with the regular-season and national championship crowns in men’s volleyball. 

 

Five more programs eclipsed the 100-point average for the second-straight season. Hawai’i (127.1 points) is followed by UC Santa Barbara (119.5), UC Davis (117.4), Cal State Fullerton (111.9) and UC San Diego (106.3) with three-figure tallies to underscore the competitive nature of the conference as a whole.  

 

Named after long-time Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell who served as the league’s leader for 28 years, winning the Commissioner’s Cup has extra meaning for Smith whose career in collegiate athletics began under Farrell’s tutelage at the conference office in the 1990s. 

 

“It’s a personal pride, twofold,” Smith reflected. “One, personally, because Dennis Farrell was the one who hired me and started my career and path in intercollegiate athletics way back when, I won’t give you the date on that.  

 

“But also, that he’s someone that I looked up to, that mentored me, and has been a formidable person in intercollegiate athletics. His name signifies a lot and to be able to celebrate the Dennis Farrell Commissioner’s Cup is something that I’m honored and treasured about.” 

 

The winner of the Dennis Farrell Big West Commissioner’s Cup is determined by averaging points based on regular-season finishes or championship placements in all 21 conference-sponsored sports. Sports such as baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor volleyball, and water polo use regular-season results, while cross country, golf, track & field, beach volleyball, and swimming & diving are based on championship outcomes. Ties are settled by averaging the tied teams’ point totals. 

 

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Klaire Kovatch, a former Montana high school standout at Seeley-Swan, is headed to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships following a strong showing in the discus last Saturday at the NCAA West Regional meet in College Station, Texas.

Kovatch entered the meet expected to qualify for nationals — her season-best mark ranked No. 9 in the region. Her first attempt of 172 feet, 8 inches was not enough to put her over the line, but her second throw of 178-2 vaulted her into qualifying position.

Kovatch sat in 12th place with a handful of competitors still to throw, but the she on as the final scores came through to earn a berth to the national meet.

Kovatch, a redshirt junior at CSU, was a three time Class C state discus champion in high school and helped Seeley-Swan to an overall team title in 2021. She was the 2021 Gatorade girls track and field athlete of the year for Montana in 2021.

The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held June 11-14 in Eugene, Ore. Other area athletes to qualify include Montana State’s Rob McManus (3,000-meter steeplechase), Harvey Cramb (1,500 meters), Hailey Coey (long jump), and the Bobcats’ 4×400 women’s relay team of Olivia Lewis, Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi and Caroline Hawkes.

The Mountain West, West Coast Conference and Western Athletic Conference have all released their 2025 volleyball schedules.

Grand Canyon was not listed on any of those.

That’s important because Grand Canyon was a member of the WAC in 2024-25; was scheduled to be a member of the WCC in 2025-26; and will be a member of the MW in 2026-27. But where Grand Canyon will play next athletic season is unknown.

The Antelopes accepted an invitation to the WCC and was scheduled to join that league on July 1, 2025, or one month from now. But Grand Canyon rescinded its acceptance into the WCC after accepting the MW’s invitation last November. That leaves the WAC or MW as the two most likely conferences for Grand Canyon in 2025-26 unless the Antelopes go independent for one season. That would not be ideal.

Could Grand Canyon join the MW a year early for the 2025-26 season? That was mentioned as a possibility by the Antelopes in their statement when accepting the MW invitation several months ago.

“GCU will join the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026, but possibly as early as the second quarter of 2025 if permitted under the conference’s bylaws,” Grand Canyon wrote in its statement in November.

Grand Canyon athletic director Jamie Boggs also hinted at that possibility after the Antelopes accepted the MW’s invitation last winter.

“The earliest possible time is when we will join,” Boggs told The Big Mountain podcast a few months ago. “We are excited to get in as soon as we can. When we mutually decide when we can enter is when we will, but I want to express how excited we are to get in this league.”

This looks more like a possibility since the five schools departing the MW for the Pac-12 — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State — have formally given their exit notice from the league on July 1, 2026. As a result of that official notice, those five schools, per the league’s handbook, also give up their spot as a voting member of the league’s Board of Directors.

That leaves only seven voting members in the league until July 1, 2026. Those schools include Nevada, UNLV, Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming and Hawaii. If those seven schools want to add Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 season one year before UC Davis and UTEP join as well as Northern Illinois in football only, they can vote to make that a reality regardless of the feelings of the five departing schools, who are required to play whatever conference schedule the MW offers them.

Adding Grand Canyon in 2025-26 would give the MW 12 members in a number of its sports next season, including men’s and women’s basketball. One additional complicating factor would be conference distribution in 2025-26, including media-right money. But there’s a real chance the Antelopes would forgo its conference money for 2025-26 to simply have a home for next season before becoming a full-revenue member in 2026-27.

Adding Grand Canyon a year early also could help the MW from competitive standpoint as the Antelopes are good in a number of sports.

Grand Canyon won the WAC last season in softball, men’s tennis, women’s basketball and indoor men’s track and field; was second in men’s basketball, women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s tennis and men’s outdoor track and field; and third in baseball, women’s swimming and diving and indoor women’s track and field. That’s 12 top-three finishes with seven championships if you include conference tournaments.

Grand Canyon could step into the MW in 2025-26 and be competitive in most sports, and while that would mean tinkering with some schedules, the trade-off could be worthwhile even if the fit next season isn’t ideal. It is something to watch with the 2025-26 athletic season less than 100 days away. If I was running the MW, Grand Canyon would definitely be added for 2025-26, and it looks like that’s what the Antelopes want as well. Why delay the inevitable?

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.

WBIW

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