Upstate middle school student dies from meningitis, family says

Updated: 8:02 PM EDT Jul 3, 2025

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A Pickens County seventh-grade student has died from group B bacterial meningitis.The family of Ansley “Payce” Chappell made the announcement on a GoFundMe page.She was a volleyball player at Dacusville Middle School.The School District of Pickens County released a statement saying:The School District of Pickens County is deeply saddened by the passing of Ansley “Payce” Chappell, a rising 7th grade student at Dacusville Middle School.Payce was known for her bright spirit, strong character, and the joy she brought to those around her. She was deeply involved in her school community, and her presence touched many—students, teachers, and families alike.Our hearts are with Payce’s family, friends, and the school communities of Dacusville and Pickens. She was a well-loved student known for her bright spirit and strong character. Payce’s mother is an employee at Pickens High School, and her sister attends PHS, making this loss felt across multiple schools and by many of our staff.We ask the community to join us in lifting up the Chappell family and all who loved Payce during this incredibly difficult time.

It was run by Sari and Eve Weston, professional water polo players in Hungary, with the assistance of locals Diego and Sammy Castaño.

Half of the participants have attended the club’s regular Sunday flippa ball sessions, while the others were taking their first plunge into the sport.

Sari was impressed by what he saw.

“The kids were keen to learn, were respectful and demonstrated a lot of natural talent. I’m excited for the future of water polo in Tairāwhiti,” he said.

He believed the potential was “limitless” for the young athletes.

“There is nothing stopping these kids travelling the world playing this sport when they are older.”

Weston said Gisborne offered “unique advantages” for aquatic sports development.

“The kids growing up in Gizzy are extremely lucky to be surrounded by water, with the sea so accessible and good pools,” she said. “The fact that we could get them along to intertwine water safety and water polo was really cool.

“I grew up doing surf lifesaving and the two sports immensely complement each other. I would love to see more people from the renowned surf clubs in Gisborne getting involved with water polo.”

Sari and Weston said the camp represented “a significant milestone for water polo development in the region, combining international expertise with local knowledge to nurture the next generation of aquatic athletes in Tairāwhiti”.

Tairāwhiti Water Polo Club will continue its 2pm Sunday sessions from July 27 to August 31.

WORCESTER — WPI Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country placed five standout Engineers on the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team, as announced recently.

Bethany Brown (Allentown, PA), Bailey Allmon (Woodbine, MD), Olivia Spielberger (Hingham, MA), Sophia Reynolds (Andover, NH) and Piper O’Connell (North Attleboro, MA) all claimed their first academic honors from the CSC following the 2024-25 seasons. 

Brown, a junior specializing in the 400-meter hurdles, clocked 1:05.83 this spring to place eighth in the East Region and 118th nationally. Brown also served as a vital contributor to the women’s cross country program. The Biomedical Engineering major balances elite performance with a stellar 3.97 GPA.

Allmon, a junior multi-event competitor, posted a top-20 East Region mark in the 400-meter hurdles (16th) with a time of 1:07.70. Additionally, the junior hurdler double dips as a forward for the women’s soccer program that advanced to the 2024 NEWMAC Women’s Soccer Championship tilt. In the classroom, Allmon sports a perfect 4.00 GPA in Biomedical Engineering while excelling on the track and the pitch. 

Spielberger was a consistent contributor in the field and on the track this season. The Biology and Biotechnology major notched a top-10 regional ranking in the indoor triple jump (10.89 meters, 10th East Region) and added a strong 60-meter hurdles effort (22nd East Region). Additionally, the senior jumper claimed a bronze medal finish in the triple jump with an 11.47 meter mark at the NEWMAC Championship meet. Off the track, Spielberger maintains a 3.74 GPA.

Reynolds, a junior distance runner, shone across multiple events, ranking 11th in the East Region in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:38.64) and 15th in the 10,000 meters (38:23.15) and also cracked the top-50 in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters. The Andover native collected a pair of individual titles, first during indoor season at the Wheaton Invite in the 3,000-meter run and then at the Springfield College Classic during the outdoor stint in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Reynolds holds a perfect 4.00 GPA in Biomedical Engineering.

O’Connell, a senior javelin thrower, reached 35.85 meters for third overall at 2025 NEWMAC Track & Field championships this spring in addition to placing 12^th at the New England Division 3 Championships. The Computer Science major wraps up her Crimson and Gray career with a 3.66 GPA.

The 2025 Academic All-District Women’s Track & Field teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the track, in the field, and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-Americaprogram separately honors women’s track & field student-athletes in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and the NAIA.

Academic All-District honorees are considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Finalists will be voted on by CSC members, with First-, Second-, and Third-Team Academic All-America® honorees announced July 15, 2025 for women’s programs.

The Division II and III CSC Academic All-America programs are partially supported by the NCAA governance structures to assist CSC with the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2024–25 programs.

CSC Release

 

Overview

With a men’s ACC team win, an individual national championship and a record 16 athletes sent to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, the 2025 outdoor season was one of Duke’s most successful campaigns to date. 

It didn’t appear that way earlier during the indoor season. Early in March, the Blue Devils capped a smattering of standout individual performances at minor meets with a disappointing team showing at ACCs, where the men finished seventh and the women finished 10th. While Simen Guttormsen took the NCAA pole vault crown and fellow graduate Christian Johnson nabbed second-team All-America honors a couple weeks later, they were the sole Blue Devils present at the indoor championships. And though junior mid-distance star Lauren Tolbert broke her own 800-meter school record an astonishing four times throughout the winter season, the Blue Devils were missing something — team track and field. 

As the outdoor season kicked off, the pieces began to fall into place. Head coach Shawn Wilbourn predicted it after the NCAA Indoor Championship. He told the Chronicle, “We’re more of an outdoor team,” and his athletes soon began to prove it. 

At local meets like Raleigh Relays and the program’s own Duke Invitational, the Blue Devils hammered in event wins and program all-time marks in events ranging from the hammer throw to the short hurdles. 

On the track, themes began to emerge in certain events like the women’s 4×400-meter relay. Building on its ACC Indoor Championship gold medal, the relay squad opened the season with a No. 2 NCAA time of 3:31.31 to win Raleigh Relays. From there, it brought home a coveted Penn Relays wheel after a decisive victory in 3:27.77— the second-fastest time in program history. At the ACC Outdoor Championship, the relay defended its title on the back of a blistering 50.17-second anchor leg by Tolbert. The Duke quartet rounded off its illustrious outdoor campaign with a fifth-place finish and ACC No. 2 all-time mark of 3:27.40 in the final of the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

For the Blue Devils as a whole, the undoubted highlight of the outdoor season was the ACC Outdoor Championship. Although the women fell short of a three-peat team win, it was a sort of homecoming for the Duke men, who won their first-ever ACC team title. Pure dominance on the field made it happen for the men: a pair of gold medals from Guttormsen in the pole vault and sophomore Christian Toro in the hammer throw, along with a 2-3-4 finish in the javelin, to name a few. 

After that historic ACC victory, the Blue Devils kept the match lit at the NCAA East Regional meet as they qualified a record 16 athletes — nine women and seven men — to the outdoor national championships in Eugene, Ore. And on the biggest stage, the Blue Devils delivered. After battling through four days of intense competition, they brought home 17 All-America honors, highlighted by fifth-place finishes across the board in the men’s 400-meter dash and pole vault, as well as the women’s 800-meter and 4×400-meter relay.

The men’s close victory was the highlight of the season, with the team pulling through in relays against archrival North Carolina. The Tar Heels led the Blue Devils 82-80 going into the final event — the 4×400-meter relay. California, meanwhile, was nipping at both heels — almost literally — with 79.83 points on the board.

For a team which had struggled early on in relays, the men pulled through thanks to stamina and a deep roster that kept Duke competitive from the first day. A commanding early performance proved crucial to the win, with the Blue Devils racking up 30 points by the first day’s end. Duke’s lead-clinching events before the nail-biter relay went beyond gold medals, with the 2-3-4 finish in javelin throw — courtesy of graduate students Scott Campbell, Matthew Prebola and Joe DiDiario — and Max Forte’s bronze medal in long jump adding much-needed points. 

As Duke led in the 5,000-meter, coaches were faced with an unenviable choice: who should run the 4×400-meter relay after three punishing days of competition. With the first win for the men’s team in sight, they selected two freshmen and two graduate students, hoping their much-tested legs would push through one final, grueling, potentially career-defining race. The four runners — freshmen Taylor and Andres Langston and graduate students Callum Robinson and TJ Clayton — set a program record of 3:04.49. 

While the women missed out on a hoped-for three-peat, falling behind on the tournament’s last day, the team still notched several top-three finishes, finishing fifth overall. The Blue Devils ultimately defended their 4×400-meter relay title by a razor-thin 0.09 seconds. Individual performances kept the team going strong, particularly on the track, with Baker and graduate students Birgen Nelson and Aliya Garozzo earning a third-place finish each. -Samanyu Gangappa

MVPs: Lauren Tolbert and Joseph Taylor

Duke track and field’s 2024-2025 season represented arguably its most successful in program history, and it took a group effort to build the historic results. The 17 USTFCCCA All-America honors that the Blue Devils pulled in meant a full cast of athletes across the board played their roles in the team’s success this season.

A high point this season on the men’s side was the ACC Outdoor Championship, where the men’s team narrowly overtook North Carolina to secure its first conference championship in program history. In the field, a pair of conference golds from Guttormsen and Toro helped give the Blue Devils an edge. But it was freshman phenom Joseph Taylor who delivered all across the board in the competition. Medals in the 200-meter run, 400-meter run and 4×400-meter relay — with a school record to accompany each piece of hardware — stands as Taylor’s contribution to the historic victory. The Toledo, Ohio, native picked up a fourth school record as a part of the 4×100-meter relay, and it was Taylor and the 4×400-meter quartet’s performance which clinched the men’s ACC title.

The freshman went on to earn a fifth-place finish in the NCAA Outdoor Championship and earned a 13th-overall placement with his 4×400-meter relay to leave Eugene, Ore., with multiple USTFCCCA All-America honors.

On the women’s side, nine athletes qualifying for the outdoor championships signaled plenty of firepower from that half of Wilbourn’s squad. But when all was said and done, it was junior Lauren Tolbert whose performance stood above the rest on the biggest stage. 

In the 800m prelims, Tolbert — a familiar face on Duke’s catalog of program records — marked her personal best and a new school record with a coveted sub-two-minute finish. “That’s rare air elite territory,” Wilbourn said of her record. In the finals, the Belmont, N.C., native clocked out at fifth overall, improving on her eighth-overall finish at the same meet one season prior. A mere hour later, Tolbert took part in the historic 4×400-meter relay finish to take home her second USTFCCCA All-America first-team honor during her time in Eugene. -Colton Schwabe

Accolades

The men’s team’s first conference title in program history remains the story of the teams’ ACC Championship for the outdoor season. In that competition, the women’s dominant 4×400-meter relay — then composed of Garozzo, Julia Jackson, Megan McGinnis and Tolbert — took home the conference gold for a repeat of its indoor conference title. 

Toro and Guttormsen took home golds from their respective field events as Guttormsen’s victory represented a conference sweep for the indoor and outdoor championships to complement the Norwegian’s NCAA Indoor Championship first-place finish.

The Blue Devils left their conference championships having earned 48 All-ACC honors through the indoor and outdoor meets. In the ACC Outdoor Championship alone, Duke picked up a trio of golds, a trio of silvers and 10 bronze medals. Seventeen national All-America honors and four top-five placements were the fruits of the successful outdoor championship, and as a fitting conclusion to the Blue Devils’ celebrated season, Wilbourn earned recognition as USTFCCCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year. -Schwabe

Key departures

A successful season can be hard to repeat — especially when a team says goodbye to some of its most consistent members.

Seniors Abby Geiser and McGinnis proved critical to Duke’s outdoor dominance at the business end of the season. Geiser led the women’s team to an All-America honor in the 4×100-meter relay during the NCAA Outdoor Championship. In the 4×400-meter relay, she was part of the team that finished fifth overall and became No. 2 in ACC history. For both, the tournament marked the end to notable careers as Blue Devils. McGinnis earned gold medals in both the indoor and outdoor ACC Championships during her first two years at Duke, followed by another gold in the outdoor championship as a junior. 

On the men’s side, an ACC Championship title is a hard act to follow. Clayton — a Blue Devil fixture since transferring from Rhodes — and Forte are among the departures following this season. Both advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, and Forte’s dominance in long jump and decathlon will be missed. Graduate Beau Allen was ranked 22nd nationally at the end of last year’s regular season, depriving the jumpers of a key talent. Fellow graduate Guttormsen, who also qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championship and earned a bronze medal at the tournament in pole vault last year, departs after winning a gold medal at both conference championships. Despite the talent among undergraduates who still have at least one year left, Duke will have to figure out how to repair the holes left behind by team members it previously relied on. -Gangappa

TEMPE – The Sun Devil Football program will be featured at Big 12 Football Media Days as it returns to Texas for a two-day event taking place July 8 and 9.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt, defensive back X Alford, wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, defensive lineman C.J. Fite, offensive lineman Ben Coleman, and defensive lineman Clayton Smith will represent Arizona State along with head coach Kenny Dillingham. Sun Devil Football will attend the first portion of Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday, July 8 at The Star – the 91-acre campus of the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and practice facility – in Frisco, Texas. 

Big 12 Football Media Days could be considered a turning point for last year’s Arizona State team, as they were picked to finish 16th out of 16 teams in the Preseason Big 12 Conference Media Poll. The league opted not to conduct a preseason poll this season. Eight of the teams will spend Tuesday previewing the 2025 season with local, regional and national media.

Both days of the event will be broadcast live in their entirety on ESPNU and ESPN+, with portions of the day broadcast live on ESPN2 for the first time ever. Additionally, the event will broadcast on Big 12 Studios from 8:30 AM – 1 PM MST. Head Coach Kenny Dillingham is scheduled to be on the main stage from 11:20-11:35 AM MST for his media availability, which can be viewed on ESPN+. Sun Devil Fans will have many reasons to be paying attention on Tuesday, July 8…

You’ve waited this long. What’s one more week? #ForksUp /// #ActivateTheValley pic.twitter.com/U7q74EJxr7

— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) July 1, 2025

Sam Leavitt, Quarterback (IG | X)
– Finished his first year in Tempe as the school record holder for total offense by a freshman with 3,328 yards and second in program history in passing yards by a freshman at 2,885. 
– The 3,328 total yards of offense are eighth in ASU single-season history regardless of class.
– Named the Big 12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year.
– The nation’s second-highest graded freshman player (true or redshirt with 400 snaps) on either side of the football by PFF (88.9), behind only Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith (89.8).
– His 88.9 grade for the season was the eighth-best among all FBS freshman quarterbacks in the PFF era since 2015 (min. 400 snaps played). Of the seven players ahead of him, six started an NFL game last season (Brock Purdy, Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, C.J. Stroud and Spencer Rattler). 
– His grade was higher than the freshman year grades of NFL starting quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, Jordan Love, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels.
– The grade was good for 12th among all FBS quarterbacks in 2024.
– After having just three touchdown passes in his first four games, he finished with 21 over his final nine games played with just four interceptions.
– Had eight passes for 50+ yards, most in Big 12 and tied for second most in the FBS for the season, only ASU player this century to have more in one season was Jayden Daniels in 2019.
– Among players with at least 300 dropbacks, Leavitt tied for third in the FBS with just five turnover-worthy throws on the season, according to Pro Football Focus.
– His six interceptions were tied for sixth-fewest in the FBS among those with at least 300 dropbacks.
– Was one of just four with 20+ touchdowns (24) with six or fewer interceptions (six) AND turnover-worthy throws (5) (min. 300 dropbacks).
– Only 20 of his passes were broken, good for the 20th-lowest total in the FBS. His four passes batted at the line of scrimmage at tied for 25th-lowest in the FBS (min. 300 dropbacks).
– Leavitt showed his ability to keep his composure under pressure, with 708 passing yards while pressured – good for 19th nationally despite missing a game. His 7.8 yards per attempt while under pressure were 12th-best in the country. His 5 under pressure touchdowns were 20th.
– His 74.8 NFL QBR while under pressure was 30th in the nation. He picked up a first down with his arm 41 times on 143 pressures – 13th-most in the FBS.
– Set his receivers up for success, finding open players and hitting dudes in stride to the tune of 58.6 percent of his total yardage coming after the catch – good for third nationally.
– Rushed for 435 yards on 51 scrambles, good for the second-most among quarterbacks in the FBS.
– Picked up a first down or touchdown on 47.1 percent of those QB scrambles, good for 11th among FBS quarterbacks (min 25 scrambles).
– Had the nation’s sixth-best rushing grade when scrambling at 76.4. His 79.1 overall rushing grade was 18th among FBS quarterbacks.
– First ASU quarterback to have six games in a season with three or more touchdown passes (6) since Mike Berocovici in 2015 (6). The six games were tied for second-most this century behind only Andrew Walter’s seven in 2004. The last Big 12 freshman to have that many performances in a season was Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford in 2007 (eight).
– Thrice earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and also earned the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Week honor following the K-State contest.
– First Sun Devil to post three consecutive games with three touchdown passes and no picks since Jayden Daniels did it three times in 2019.
– He had his first career 300+ yard game on the road against Oklahoma State, finishing 20-of-29 for 304 yards and three touchdowns with no picks.
– Named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week following his four-touchdown effort against Kansas, including the game-winner with less than a minute remaining. The four touchdowns were the most for any quarterback in the country in Week 6 as he was the highest-graded quarterback in the Big 12 for the week by PFF and ninth best in the FBS (89.4).
– Leavitt’s 258 passing yards in his starting debut against Wyoming were the third-most by a Sun Devil making his debut since 1996, behind only Joey Yellen (292 in 2019) and Jayden Daniels (284 in 2019)
– Sam Leavitt reaping the benefits of ASU’s return to national prominence (by John Marshall, Associated Press/April 17, 2025)
– Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt’s goals are simple for 2025 season: ‘Heisman and national championship’ (by Scott Thompson, Fox News Digital/July 3, 2025)