ROCK ISLAND, Illinois- The No. 11 Wartburg men’s track and field team has finished day one of the NCAA Final Qualifier. Carson Collet broke the school record in the outdoor pole vault and (Ian Neyens, Hutton Edney, Benjamin Roussell, Jensen Clapp) broke the school record in the outdoor 4x400m relay.
 
Wartburg’s Competitors:
High Jump
8            Tyrell Adams                               1.92m 6-03.50
 
Long Jump
4            Elliott Bond                                  6.89m 22-07.25
 
Hammer Throw
3            Christian Nunley                         57.60m 188-11
 
Javelin Throw
4            Trent Polley                                  55.62m 182-05
 
Pole Vault
2            Carson Collet                               4.95m 16-02.75
 
10000m
4            Ayden Buchanan                         32:41.79
 
5000m Invite
8            Ben Neville                                  15:17.76
9            Alex Horstman                             15:19.48
10         Gavin Roy                                     15:24.44
 
3000m Steeplechase
3            Jack Kinzer                                   9:01.62
8            Michael Goodenbour                    9:10.62
13         Shane Erb                                     9:25.14
14         Garrison Hubka                             9:27.45
19         Conner Sattler                               9:30.83
 
1500m
2            Carter Cruise                                3:51.24
15         Nathan Kinzer                               3:55.20
22         Sam Schmitz                                3:56.80
24         Clay Warson                                3:58.42
27         Aidan Decker                               3:59.33
36         Andrew Smith                              4:03.14
46         Solomon Zaugg                           4:19.20
 
800m
6            Rylan Martin                               1:52.48
36         Hutton Edney                               1:59.53
37         Aidan Housman                           1:59.76
 
400m Hurdles
15         Seneca Molstre                           55.56
16         Noah Bauereis                            55.71
33         Weston Johnson                        1:00.25
 
400m
14         Cade Olson                                 49.58
19         Jeffrey Oestreicher                      50.05
24         David Williams                            50.84
 
110m Hurdles
2            Deyton Love                                14.37
15         Weston Johnson                           15.15
27         Seneca Molstre                             15.77
 
100m
29         Jordan Cleaves                          11.04
 
4x400m
5            Wartburg                                       3:11.03 (I. Neyens, H. Edney, B. Roussell, J. Clapp)
 
4x100m
11         Wartburg                                       41.33 (A. Gruver, E. Bond, J. Weispfenning, A. Wright)
 
 
Notes:

• At press time Collet’s pole vault stands 11^th on the TFRRS list for this season
• At press time, (I. Neyens, H. Edney, B. Roussell, J. Clapp) 4x400m time stands 13^th on the TFRRS list for this season
• Love’s prelim 110m hurdle time (14.23) stands 14^th on the TFRRS list for this season
• At press time, Nunley’s hammer throw stands 26^th on the TFRRS list for this season
• (I. Neyens, H. Edney, B. Roussell, J. Clapp) 4x400m time ranks first on the program’s top 10 list
• Collet’s pole vault remains first on the program’s top 10 list, but he improves his mark
• Nunley’s hammer throws remains second on the program’s top 10 list, but he improves his mark
• Goodenbour’s 3000m steeplechase time ranks ninth on the program’s top 10 list

 
 
Up Next
The Knights will be represented in the discus and shot put at the NCAA Final Qualifier tomorrow.
 

The American Canyon High boys volleyball season saw its Cinderella-like playoff run come to an end on Tuesday night with a 3-0 loss to International High of San Francisco.

The Wolves, seeded No. 14 in the North Coast Section Division II bracket, pulled off two upsets in the postseason against Analy and San Leandro, but lost 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 on Tuesday night.

The Wolves finish the year with an overall record of 22-7. They were 10-2 in the Vine Valley Athletic League.

International will play Redwood at home on Thursday night for the Division II title.

Baseball

Benicia 4, Alhambra 3

The Benicia High baseball team defeated Alhambra 4-3 on Tuesday to go over .500 in the Diablo Valley Athletic League.

Myles Cooper had two hits and two RBI for the Panthers, while Nash Rubins had two hits as well. Peyton Rowles and a hit and drove in a run. Jackson Habegger and Cameron Holden also had hits.

Matteo Bivian threw four and 2/3 innings and struck out five in the win.

Benicia plays Alhambra again at home on Thursday.

Softball

College Park 4, Benicia 3

The Benicia High softball team lost to College Park 4-3 on Tuesday in Diablo Valley Athletic League action.

Ava Rojas had three hits for the Panthers, Skyler Jacome collected two hits and Leilani Andrews had a solo home run. Amaya McCleskey also had a hit for Benicia.

The Panthers play Northgate on the road Thursday.

Philadelphia, PA – After taking over as the interim head coach midway through the 2025 season, Jason Grubb has been named the Explorers’ head women’s water polo coach, La Salle University Vice President of Athletics and Recreation and Director of Athletics Ashwin Puri announced on Wednesday.

“Jason made a tremendous impact on our program throughout the 2025 season, and we truly value his leadership,” said Puri. “We’re excited about the direction La Salle water polo is heading, and we’re confident that under Jason’s continued guidance, our student-athletes will excel both in the pool and in the classroom.”

Grubb guided the Explorers to seven wins in his first eight games at the helm and finished the year on a high note. During the final weekend of the regular season, La Salle defeated #18 Wagner. It marked La Salle’s first-ever win over Wagner, the highest-ranked win in program history, the 4th-ranked win ever for the Explorers, and Wagner’s first regular season MAAC loss since 2019. The Explorers also earned a victory over VMI to finish the year with two straight victories.

“Thank you to Ash Puri and the entire La Salle administration for this opportunity,” Grubb added. “I look forward to building around our great group of student-athletes here at La Salle and continue building a winning culture.”

La Salle finished the 2025 season with a 6-6 record in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play, with Martina Bonet Saez and Francesca Co’ both earning first-team All-MAAC Honors. Additionally, 13 Explorers were named to the MAAC All-Academic team.

 

HEBRON ESTATES – The first season for the North Bullitt boys’ volleyball program under KHSAA direction has been very successful as the second-year team under head coach Devyn Tompkins has a 17-9 record after winning the Region Four title on Friday with a 3-2 win over Fern Creek.

The Region Four crown advances North Bullitt to the KHSAA Kentucky Boys’ Volleyball Tournament. The Eagles played on Wednesday of this week at home to kick-off the 16-team tourney. That foe was decided on Monday when DeSales defeated Holy Cross 3-0. With the top two teams from each of the state’s eight regions advancing to the first-round of the state tournament, North Bullitt was set to host runner-up Holy Cross on Wednesday.

The winner of that first round match will advance to play on Friday against the winner of the Wednesday match of DeSales hosting Fern Creek. The State Championships’ semi-finals and finals are set for next Tuesday (May 20) at George Rogers Clark High School.

While Region Four has more than a dozen teams listed as possibly having a team, this first-season of KHSAA sanctioned competitions ended up having just five teams in the region (Region Three only had six schools fielding teams). Both Bullitt East and Bullitt Central are listed as Region Four programs, but neither school had a boys’ volleyball team this season.

Besides North Bullitt, Fern Creek and Seneca, the other two teams in Region Four were Moore and Male. North Bullitt (17-9) and Fern Creek (12-6) were the only Region Four teams to post a winning record. Fern Creek did have a slightly higher RPI rating than North Bullitt so hosted the regional tournament that ended up being played at Mercy High School.

North Bullitt’s only loss within the region this year was against Moore, a 3-0 setback on March 25.

On Thursday of last week, North Bullitt opened region play against Seneca, a team that had beaten Male 3-1 in the play-in game to set the fourth team for the semifinals. The Eagles won the first two games, 25-23 and 25-20 before Seneca rallied to win the third game 25-21. North Bullitt then regrouped and sealed the win with a 25-19 victory in the fourth game.

In the other semifinal round match, Fern Creek turned back Moore 3-0, winning 25-21, 25-18, 25-19.

North Bullitt and Fern Creek had played a regular season match just three days earlier at North Bullitt, a match that the Eagles won 3-1 rallying from a 26-24 first match loss to take the match 25-22, 25-12, 25-15.

It was even closer at Mercy High School on Friday. Again, North Bullitt lost the first-game 26-24, but then won the next two games 25-14, 25-16 before Fern Creek prevailed again by a 26-24 count in the fourth game. That set up a championship game (to 15 points). This one went down to the wire before North Bullitt pulled out the 15-13 victory.

Tompkins used eightplayers in the match with seven of the players getting in all five sets. Ethan Hedges, a senior who is one of the top pitchers for the North Bullitt baseball team, had 12 kills and 22 digs. The team’s other senior, Malachi Monks, had 41 of the team’s 48 assists.

Both junior Hunter Puckett and sophomore Xander Cash had 11 kills. Puckett also had three service ‘aces’ as well as a team-high 24 ‘digs. Sophomore Daelan Childers had two ‘aces’. The Eagles also got 22 ‘digs’ by freshman Malakai Larsen.

After the team hardware was handed out, the Region Four All-Tournament team included North Bullitt’s Daelen Childers, Malachi Monks, Ethan Hedges and Hunter Puckett.

The USF men’s track and field program went back-to-back last season, capturing the American Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor team championships.

Earlier this season, the Bulls repeated as AAC indoor team champions.

With USF heading to the AAC outdoor championships — set for Thursday through Saturday at Charlotte, N.C. — an obvious question has emerged:

Can the Bulls go back-to-back … again?

“Winning is hard,” head coach Erik Jenkins said. “There’s nothing easy about it. There are no guarantees in any championship environment. So we have to take advantage of every opportunity presented to us.

“It always comes back to the athletes and putting them in a position to be successful. That means showing up on time, working hard, being available for what’s asked of you and really wanting to be successful. I believe we have a lot of those type of people. Now it’s a matter of showing up and performing.”

The USF men made a powerful statement last season, scoring 217 points (second-most in AAC outdoor championships history) and capturing first-place in 10 events.

Meanwhile, the USF women are hopeful of building toward championship contention. The Bulls finished third in last season’s outdoor championships — the best AAC performance in program history — to improve upon the fourth-place mark in 2023.

By all indications, the USF men are poised for another notable showing. 

The Bulls have the AAC’s top-ranked time or distance in seven events, including the 100 meters (Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, 9.87w); 200 meters (Nathan Metelus, Jaleel Croal and Alexavier Monfries, all at 20.60); 400 meters (Gabriel Moronta, 45.31); 4×100 relay (38.66); 4×400 relay (3:02.13); pole vault (Nikodem Pochopien, 5.22 meters); and the discus (Vincent Ugwoke, 63.72 meters).

Additionally, the Bulls will have championship contenders in the 100 meters (Croal, 10.05); 200 meters (Saminu, 20.96); 800 meters (Karim Belmahdi, 1:48.54); 110 hurdles (Markel Jones, 13.66); 400 hurdles (Devontie Archer, 50.25); pole vault (Andreas Kreiss, 5.21 meters, and Noah Bitter, 5.06); triple jump (Javon Brown, 15.42 meters); and the shot put (Jason Nwosu, 17.90 meters)

“I think more people are noticing us since we’re put together some wins here and there, but we aspire to doing it over and over again at the highest level,” Jenkins said. “We want to be here to stay and you do that by controlling what you can do and putting yourself in position to consistently compete for championships.

“When we got here, we talked about competing for championships and building a national presence. We want success at the national level and also the international level. We had a couple of Olympians last summer. But at the end of the day, it’s a track meet, just like it’s a football game or a baseball game. Everything starts at zero. Nobody cares what we did at  indoors or outdoors last year. Every time we step on that track, we’ve got to give our best effort and be the best at competing on that day. It always takes a collective effort.”

The USF women have the AAC’s top-ranked time in three events, including the 400 meters (Rushana Dwyer, 52.30); 100 hurdles (Doris Quainoo, 13.32); and the 4×400 relay (3:29.07).

Other Bulls to watch include Quainoo (100 meters, 11.51); Terren Peterson (200 meters, 23.15, and 400 meters, 52.97); Amenda Saint Louis (800 meters, 2:09.61); Tyra Thomas (100 hurdles, 13.41); Madeline Abega (400 hurdles, 57.78); Chakiya Plummer (400 hurdles, 58.45); 4×100 relay (44.36); Tristen Evatt (long jump, 6.07 meters); and Annalee Harbison (hammer, 54.64 meters).

“Our women have to take the same approach as our men — and I believe they will,” Jenkins said. “Every throw, every step, every jump — it all means something. Indoors, most people didn’t think our women could be in the top half. Well, we finished fourth in a pretty tight finish (first through fourth was separated by 13 points). 

“Now everything starts at zero at these conference meets, no matter what you have done, and we definitely have some young ladies who are capable of performing at a high level.”