Nina Fife is a sophomore at Pepperdine University double majoring in Journalism and English with a writing and rhetoric emphasis. She began working with The562 in the inaugural intern class before being hired as their Social Media Director and now Assistant Editor. Nina is a proud Long Beach schools alum who graduated with valedictorian honors.

Women’s football

The final touch of the quadruple treble!

After beating Racing Power, by 4-1, in the Portuguese Cup final, in a game held this Sunday, May 19, at the Estádio Nacional, Benfica won the Portuguese Cup for the second time in its history and won all the domestic competitions in the 2023/24 season, becoming the first club to achieve this feat. See the best images from a historic day!

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Arizona Track and Field earned 21 medals on the final day and 31 total during the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
 
The Wildcats men’s team finished 8th with 48 points, and the women’s team finished 8th with 46 points. Arizona earned 21 medals during the final day of action and 31 total during the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships. See full team standings below.
 
Wildcats that earned podium finishes also earned Big 12 All-Conference honors.  
 
Ava Simms, McKenna Watson, Dakota Minor, and Jade Brown finished fifth in the women’s 4x100m relay with a program-record time of 44.13 to earn valuable points for the program. The 4x100m relay team shattered its record, 44.17 set on May 3 in Tucson.
 
Senior thrower Youssef Koudssi finished 2nd in the men’s discus with a throw of 59.08 (193-10) to post his best finish at a conference championship. After not competing during the 2024 Outdoor season, Koudssi was impressive, qualifying for the Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
 
Senior Zach Landa (4th; 57.94/190-1) and Sam Hala’ufia (5th; 57.32/188-1) joined Koudssi on the Discus podium with top-five finishes. Landa (5 points) and Hala’ufia (4 points) earned nine points combined.
 
Senior Zach Extine finished sixth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.64, earning three points for the men’s team.
 
Sophomore Ava Simms finished seventh in the 400m with a time of 53.52, earning two points for the women’s team.
 
Junior Tapenisa Havea finished 7th in the discus with a throw of 53.78 (176-5) to grab two points, and Senior Mackenna Orie earned her third podium of the weekend with a finish in 8th (53.55/175-8) for one point.
 
In the final race of the evening, after about an hour delay due to weather, the women’s 4×400 team featuring Ava Simms, Camila Aguilar-Perez, and Antonia Sanchez Nunez finished 3rd with a season-best time of 3:33.88.
 
Big 12 Scorers – Entire Event
Day 3
Youssef Koudssi – 2nd in Discus (59.09/193-10)
Ava Simms, Keilee Hall, Camila Aguilar-Perez, Antonia Sanchez Nunez – 3rd (3:33.88) 4×400 Relay
Antonia Sanchez Nunez – 4th in 400m Hurdles (56.23)
Zach Landa – 4th in Discus (57.94/190-1)
Sam Hala’ufia – 5th in Discus (57.32/188-1)
Ava Simms, McKenna Watson, Dakota Minor, Jade Brown – 5th (44.13) in 4x100m Relay
Zach Extine – 6th in 110m Hurdles (13.64)
Brian Limage – 6th in 100m (10.33)
Tyson Tippett – 7th in 100m (10.35)
Ava Simms – 7th in 400m (53.52)
Tapenisa Havea – 7th in Discus (53.78/176-5)
McKenna Watson – 7th in 100m (11.41)
Jade Brown – 7th in 200m (23.34)
James Onanubosi – 8th in 100m (10.43)
Mackenna Orie – 8th in Discus (53.55/175-8)
 
Day 2
Reinaldo Rodrigues – 1st in Long Jump (7.64m/25-0)
Zach Landa – 3rd in the Shot Put (19.88/65-2)
Mackenna Orie – 4th in Shot Put (16.20/53-1)
Jenica Bosko – 5th in Long Jump (6.36/21-0)
Tapenisa Havea – 6th in Shot Put (16.06/ 52-8)
 
Day 1
Erin Tack – 2nd in women’s javelin with a program record (54.37m/178-4)
Jesse Avina – 4th in men’s javelin (66.92/219-7)
Zach Landa – 8th in men’s hammer throw (61.27m/201-0)?
Mackenna Orie – 8th in women’s hammer throw (56.69/186-0)
Aislin Martinez-Pompa – 8th in women’s javelin (45.92m/150-8) 
 
Day 3
Other Finishes: Men
Yan Vazquez – 9th in 400m Hurdles (51.98)
Sylvan Osman – 10th in pole vault (personal best: 5.06/16-7)
Richard Legarra – 21st in Discus Throw (personal best: 50.60/166-0)
Isaac Davis,  Christian Simmons, Yan Vazquez, Brian Limage – 9th in 4x400m relay (season-best 3:10.86)
 
Other Finishes: Women
McKenna Watson – 9th in 200m (23.40)
Kelly Lyn Wetteland – 14th in 5000m (16:21.42)
 

 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will compete in the NCAA First Round on May 28-31 at College Station, Texas.
 
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona Cross Country and Track & Field by following us on Facebook (ArizonaTrack), X (@ArizonaTrack), Instagram (@arizonatrack) and YouTube (@arizonawildcatstrack).
 

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans men’s and women’s track and field teams closed the 2025 Southland Conference Outdoor Championships in style, backed by 10 top-10 finishes, including two podium finishes Saturday at the Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field in Houston. 

The Privateer women finished 11th, capturing 23 points over the three days, while the men earned 13 of their 19 total points on Saturday alone. 

New Orleans’ Helen Baumgarten earned the highest finish of any individual athlete, earning silver in the women’s 100m hurdles in a personal-best 13.80 seconds, while the men’s 4x100m relay team of Chris Murphy, Madonna Favour, Daryl Bachmann and Darryl George Jr. earned bronze in the first running event of the finals with a time of 39.77 seconds. 

Freshman Annika Metzger claimed eight points thanks to a 4th-place finish in the women’s 800m and a 6th-place finish in the 1500m event. Favour hauled in three points with a 7th-place finish in the men’s 200m and 8th-place finish in the men’s 100m. 

Emma Bourg and Metzger combined to score seven team points in the women’s 1500m, as Bourg finished 5th in 4:31.54 and Metzger in 6th in 4:33.48. Metzger then took part in the 800m competition and crossed the line in 2:13.41 to add another five points in 4th. 

Favour completed the men’s 100m event in 10.87 seconds to claim 8th, flipping then to the 200m where he captured 7th place in 21.22 seconds. Taj Morris earned a pair of points finishing 7th in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.33 seconds. 

In the 4x400m relay, the Privateer men ran the 7th-fastest time in school history with a mark of 3:12.55 to place 7th, while the women finished 2nd in their heat and 9th overall with a time of 3:53.92. 

Christina Davis finished 16th in the women’s discus, landing a throw of 39.63m.

Bourg set a new personal record in the women’s 5000m event with a time of 18:10.79 in 17th, followed by Michela Papalia in 25th in 18:54.62, Petra Imre 30th in 19:26.90 and Michelle Folk in 36th in 20:00.12.

Josh Johnston finished 19th in the men’s 5000m 15:17.33, while Mason Appleton finished in 15:45.03 in 31st. Antonio Delgado set a new personal record by nearly 16 seconds in 33rd in 16:11.60 and Gary Sandrock was 35th with a time of 16:27.84. 

NEXT UP

The Privateers head to the NCAA East Regionals May 28-31 at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

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Springfield, Mass. – May 18, 2025 – Two student-athletes from the Springfield College men’s and women’s track and field programs have earned the opportunity to compete against the nation’s best as they have qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held on May 22-24 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Senior Samantha Paul (Albany, N.Y.) qualified in the triple jump and is seeded 13th with a mark of 12.06-meters (39 feet, 7 inches), which she posted at the 2025 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships on April 25. Earlier this year, Paul earned Honorable Mention All-America honors when she took 13th in the triple jump at the Indoor National Championships.

Sophomore Mike Anderson (Cromwell, Conn.) will make his debut on the national stage this week as he qualified in the 110-meter hurdles with a school record time of 14.23-seconds, which he set at the AARTFC Outdoor Championships on May 14.

Anderson will compete in the 110-meter hurdles prelims on Friday, May 23 at 2:10 pm with finals slated for Saturday, May 24 at 1:50 pm, while Paul will compete in the triple jump on Saturday, May 24 at 1:45 pm.

For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  Be sure to tune into all Springfield College Athletic events by subscribing to FloSports.

 

New Trier embraced their rare role as an underdog in girls water polo in Saturday’s sectional championship game against Evanston at Glenbrook South and even scored the first goal of the game.

But with the season on the line, the Wildkits showed their rivals that how you finish is more important than how you start.

Evanston edged New Trier 5-4, limiting the losers to just one goal in the second half, and advanced to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. Four goals by senior Maya Vincent helped the Wildkits earn back-to-back trips to the Illinois High School Association state tournament for just the second time in school history, matching the accomplishment by the 2003 and 2004 squads.

Saturday’s triumph was the 12th in a row for the Wildkits. Their reward for that win streak? A matchup with defending state champion Stevenson in the state quarterfinals next Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Patriots’ pool.

Other first-round state tournament games will match Naperville North against Fremd, St. Ignatius against Lyons Township, and York against Lincoln-Way Central. The semifinals and finals will be played Saturday at Stevenson.

The Trevians refused to go quietly after losing to the Kits and tying them once prior to Saturday’s showdown. Fortunately for ETHS head coach Maggie Hatcher, her team was able to match that intensity and improved to 23-4-1 on the season.

Zaya Arellano’s goal early in the second half stood as the game-winner after New Trier did manage a score with approximately two minutes left in regulation. But the losers couldn’t get any closer against the stout Wildkit defense.

“It was closer than we would’ve liked it to be,” Hatcher admitted. “New Trier came out hard at us and you have to give them credit. It took us a little while to settle in — I’m not sure if we ever really settled in — but we got the job done.

“To play a team five times in a season and come out with a win is pretty tough to do. We didn’t play our best game, but we did what we had to do to win it. In the fourth quarter our defense did a really good job of adjusting to what New Trier was running on offense. They scored their only goal on a power play, so I thought we were pretty dominant with our defense. We just need more offense.

“We know we’re at our best if we take control right away, but it some ways it really doesn’t matter if we don’t, because these girls don’t quit. They take what they’ve learned and do whatever they can to make it happen. I’m so incredibly proud of this team for winning a sectional. Mostly, though, I’m relieved.”

The Wildkits lived up to their No. 1 sectional seed and kept their season alive in a year where they didn’t figure to take another trip to State. Especially after losing three of their first four games with a new cast of players trying to fill the big shoes of the graduated standouts who accounted for a state runner-up finish a year ago.

Since that slow start, however, Evanston’s only loss came by a 12-8 margin back on April 12th — against Stevenson.

“We had to have a new goalie step in for one that was No. 1 in the state, and this is a completely different team from last year,” Hatcher noted. “But they worked very, very hard in the club season and in the summer and winter after getting a taste of what we did last year. Most of them didn’t play in the close games last year, but getting a taste of what we did last year lit a fire in a lot of these girls.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but they were ready to step up. This team has really only been together for one winter and I can’t say enough about them. Defense has always been our foundation and those early losses were all by one or two goals. I thought it was just a product of them playing together for the first time.

“I wasn’t worried early on after those losses. We talked about how unrealistic it was to compare yourself to a team that only lost three games (2024). That was crazy and that’s not something we wanted to carry around with us. The beginning of the season is always about getting experience playing together, getting in game shape and figuring things out. And we could have won all of those games.”

That includes that mid-April meeting with Stevenson. Evanston actually led the game entering the fourth period before the Pats fought back with six goals to snatch victory from defeat.

The two teams met in last year’s state championship game and Stevenson has dominated postseason competition in girls polo, winning six of the last nine IHSA state crowns. But being on the same side of the state tourney bracket with the Pats doesn’t faze Hatcher’s squad.

“We all feel that we’re hungry for some payback,” said Hatcher. “We’ll prepare like we always do. They’re just another team and we’re capable of beating any team if we play together and fight.”