Grand Canyon continued its reign atop the Western Athletic Conference with another historic achievement, securing its fifth consecutive WAC Commissioner’s Cup for the 2024-25 academic year.
 
GCU registered 116.8 points to win the cup — awarded to the conference’s top-performing athletic department — for the seventh time overall.

Lopes teams won seven conference championships including two programs that swept regular-season and tournament championships: softball and women’s basketball.

The softball team made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season. GCU debuted in the top 25, won an NCAA Tournament game for the third straight year and went 47-8 overall with a 21-2 mark in conference play.

Women’s basketball won its first titles in program history, posting a 32-3 season to debut in the NCAA Tournament with a tight loss to Baylor in the opening round.

In addition to those teams’ four titles, GCU teams also brought home tournament championships in men’s basketball and women’s tennis and another championship in men’s indoor track and field. Men’s golf earned an at-large selection into NCAA Regionals.

 

Since becoming postseason eligible in 2017, GCU has won all seven WAC Commissioner’s Cups for fully completed seasons (the COVID-shortened 2019-20 race only included nine sports). No other program has claimed more than three WAC Commissioner’s Cups.

Men’s tennis and women’s soccer also made appearances in the championships games of WAC Tournament play to add additional points to GCU’s ledger.

 

Team Captains: Ashley O’Neill, Kasey Umlauf

Record: 19-11, 9-3 Collegiate Water Polo Association (3rd Place)

CWPA Championship: Third Place

The University of Michigan water polo team put together a solid 2025 campaign in head coach Cassie Churnside‘s third season at the helm of the Wolverines program. The Maize and Blue finished the season with seven wins against ranked opponents and came within one goal of a spot in the CWPA championship game. On an individual level, four Wolverines landed on a CWPA All-Conference team, highlighted by Ari Karampetsou earning first-team honors and Issy Jackson earning second-team honors.

Team Highlights

• The Wolverines finished the 2025 campaign ranked 16th nationally and third at the CWPA Championship.

• Michigan secured its biggest win of the regular season by defeating then-No. 8 Harvard 9-7 at the Aztec Invitational on March 16 in San Diego, Calif. Sophia Panossian and Karampetsou led the Wolverines’ offensive efforts with two goals each against the Crimson.

• U-M got the home portion of its 2025 season off to a strong start at the Wolverine Invitational, winning against all five opponents inside Canham Natatorium. Michigan knocked off each foe by a minimum of 10 goals.

• While hosting the Conference Crossover, the Maize and Blue celebrated Senior Day, defeating then-No. 20 Brown 17-11. Throughout the tournament, Michigan took a 24-2 win over Mercyhurst and closed out their home schedule with a 22-9 victory over Saint Francis.

Individual Highlights

• Freshman Karampetsou dominated in her first season in Ann Arbor, notching 106 points with a team-high 66 goals and 40 assists. She scored three goals or more in 12 games and scored in 22 of her 30 games played. For her efforts, Karampetsou found herself on the Peter J. Cutino Award Midseason Watch List as one of the top 20 women’s water polo players in the country. The Athens, Greece, native earned four separate CWPA weekly honors as both Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week.

• With 59 points on the season, Emma Gustafsson was a threat for the Maize and Blue. The sophomore was the second-leading scorer, recording 49 goals and 10 assists throughout the season. On April 25, Gustafsson tallied a career-high six goals in a victory over Saint Francis.

• During her junior season, Jackson played a pivotal role on both ends of the pool. The Auckland, New Zealand, native led the team with 39 steals while tallying nine field blocks. Offensively, Jackson notched 50 points, recording 27 goals and 23 assists. Her versatility earned her CWPA All-Conference and All-Tournament second-team honors.

• Freshman goalkeeper Sophia Bunnell was a defensive anchor for the Maize and Blue in her first season in the net. She started 23 games, collecting 196 saves and recording nine steals. Bunnell notched double-digit saves in nine games, including 15 in the CWPA Championship semifinals against then-No. 15 Harvard, and was named CWPA All-Conference honorable mention.

Honors and Awards

Madie
Ambrose

Sophia
Bunnell

Emma
Gustafsson

Brooke
Ingram

Issy
Jackson

Ari
Karampetsou

Kasey
Umlauf

Matilda
Waugh

Collegiate Water Polo Association

All-CWPA (First Team): Ari Karampetsou

All-CWPA (Second Team): Issy Jackson

All-CWPA (Honorable Mention): Sophia Bunnell, Matilda Waugh

All-Tournament (First Team): Kasey Umlauf

All-Tournament (Second Team): Issy Jackson

All-Tournament (Honorable Mention): Sophia Bunnell, Brooke Ingram

Player of the Week: Emma Gustafsson (Jan. 21, March 24)

Defensive Player of the Week: Madie Ambrose (Jan. 21)

Rookie of the Week: Ari Karampetsou (Jan. 21, Feb. 12, March 5, March 24), Matilda Waugh (April 8)

Academic All-Big Ten

Riley Chapple, Jr., Communication and Media

Katie Delaney, So., Biochemistry

Claire Eusey, Jr., Cognitive Science

Emma Gustafsson, So., Communication and Media

Brooke Ingram, Jr., Sport Management

Issy Jackson, Jr., Sport Management

Kaia Levenfeld, So., Movement Science

Emilia Mladjan, So., Electrical Engineering

Ashley O’Neill, Sr., Neuroscience

Sophia Panossian, So., Applied Exercise Science

Maiken Pardon, Sr., Mechanical Engineering

Maddy Scarth, So., French; Political Science

Jillian Schlom, So., Economics

Jordan Schneider, So., Economics

Kasey Umlauf, Gr., Human Genetics

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The West Virginia University cross country and track & field combined programs have been named No. 9 nationally in the Terry Crawford Program of the Year Award rankings, announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year, spanning the cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons. The award is based on the institution’s finish at their respective championships.

“For our group to have received this ninth-place ranking shows how incredibly consistent that we have been all year,” said WVU coach Sean Cleary. “I am very proud of this team and in awe of the level of performance that they have delivered throughout the past 10 months.”

In order to be eligible for the award, teams must qualify for each of the championships. Scoring is based on the team’s finish at each championship in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field, with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award winner. Ties among school’s split points for positions taken.

West Virginia finished No. 2 in cross country, with two program of the year points, No. 23 in indoor track and field with 24.5 program of the year points and No. 24 in outdoor track and field with 24.5 program of the year points. In total, the Mountaineers finished with 51 total points.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUXCTF on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Savannah Sutherland of the University of Michigan women’s track and field team has been named the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, as announced by the conference on Wednesday (June 18). It is her third straight year earning the honor, the first time in program history a Wolverine has won three in a row.

Sutherland captured her second national title in the 400-meter hurdles and her third straight top-two finish at the NCAA Championships on Saturday (June 14). She ran a personal-best 52.46 seconds to finish 2.20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher and set five records — the NCAA record, the NCAA Championship meet record, the Big Ten record, the Michigan program record and the Canadian national record. She earned first team All-America honors for her performance.

The senior is now just the second runner in NCAA history to break 53 seconds, with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone setting the previous collegiate record of 52.75 in 2018. Sutherland is also just the third athlete in program history to earn multiple individual national titles. The time comes in at No. 9 in the world on the all-time performance list and is tied for the second-fastest time in the world this season.

Sutherland also ran the second leg of the 4×400-meter relay at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, running 50.71 for the fastest second leg and second-fastest split of the race. The relay squad finished 19th overall with a time of 3:33.75 to be named All-America honorable mention.

The Borden, Saskatchewan, native capped an impressive career in her final season for the Maize and Blue, winning her third straight Big Ten title in the 400-meter hurdles before setting the NCAA East First Round meet record (54.39) for the second consecutive year. She also helped set the program record in the 4×400-meter relay twice this season and earned a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.

• Big Ten Release

MANDAN, N.D. — At set point in the third set, South Prairie’s Azjiah Trader tipped a set from Jamestown’s Edie Hegerle that floated past the opposing block to record the kill and win the frame for Team Blue.

The set victory began a momentum shift that redirected a two-set deficit to a 3-2 victory over Team Red in the North Dakota Optimist All-Star Volleyball Series finale on Tuesday at Mandan High School.

Team Blue won 21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 and 15-11 in the match.

Trailing 12-7, Team Blue outscored Team Red 10-2 midway through the third set to run away with the lead. Bismarck High’s Madison Foster recorded a pair of ace serves for Team Blue in the swing.

Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune

In the fourth set, Team Red fell behind seven points but countered and tied the set at 21-21 on a kill from Dickinson Trinity’s Bella Kovash. Team Blue had a block, kill and scored on a net violation to force set point.

A pair of attacking errors, trimmed the Team Blue lead to one-point still at set point in the fourth set. West Fargo Sheyenne’s Alexa Killoran hammered a kill for Team Blue through the opposing block to force a fifth set.

Hegerle tallied a few key kills for Team Blue in the fifth set, including one in a four-point swing that gave her team a 9-6 lead. Team Blue continued to pressure Team Red with timely offense to close out the set and complete the reverse sweep.

Trader and Williston’s Madison Collings both led Team Blue with 16 kills. Sheyenne’s Mya Bloedow had two blocks. Foster had 29 digs and two service aces. Hegerle led with 28 assists.

Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune

Fargo Shanley’s Katelyn Ommen led Team Red with 20 kills. Addison Klemin totaled 16 kills, six ace-serves and 2-½ blocks. Grand Forks Red River’s Emerson Byron tallied 18 assists and Bismarck Century’s Holland Fitterer had 26 digs.

Team Red won Monday’s contest at Fargo South High School 4-0. An extra set was played in the exhibition all-star volleyball series.

Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.