It appears that it wasn’t a good day in court for Swimming South Africa last week as it continue to take legal action against the newly formed South African Water Polo (SA Water Polo).

Contradictory statements and back-and-forth arguments with Judge Judith Cloete seemed to dominate the latest hearing in the case, according to South African newspaper Daily Maverick.

Swimming SA is seeking a cease-and-desist application against SA Water Polo to stop if from existing. SA Water polo was launched in March with the intention of assuming governance to revitalize the sport, but not to fully break away from Swimming SA.  A final decision in the case might take as long as three months.

Appearing in front of Judge Cloete on May 21, Swimming SA conceded that SA Water Polo didn’t need its consent to exist, which contradicted an original argument for an interdict against the water polo body.

Swimming SA has contended that it should be the only recognized national aquatics body in the country, and argued in court that SA Water Polo was trying to become a national federation.

Law in South Africa states that there can be only one national federation, but there can be several national bodies. Judge Cloete said that SA Water polo never purported to be a national federation, only a national body.

Swimming SA later conceded that SA Water Polo was a parallel body not passing itself off as the administrator of the sport.

“Given Swimming SA’s acceptance of SA Water Polo as a national body, why then was Swimming SA asking for an interdict against SA Water Polo if it recognized its right to exist?” Judge Cloete asked in the hearing.

Swimming SA argued that SA Water Polo interfered with SA’s governance by recruiting water polo members to join SA Water Polo.

Judge Cloete later said that no specific evidence had been provided by Swimming SA on why members had left, so SA Water Polo couldn’t be blamed.

Swimming SA also attempted to argue merits for SA Water Polo’s future application for membership into World Aquatics, but Judge Cloete ruled it wasn’t relevant to the current court case and that World Aquatics would have to decide on the application.

In November, a faction of SA Water Polo started a movement to break off from Swimming SA, citing poor treatment of the sport and its members, including not allowing the men’s and women’s water polo teams to compete at the Paris Olympics.

The teams met the World Aquatics qualification criteria as the highest-ranked African team, but Swimming SA had an internal criteria of finishing in the top 12 at the World Championships, which neither team achieved.

The faction shared a document listing grievances with Swimming SA, such as a lack of financial support and little water polo representation in decision-making.

The faction had opposition from within the water polo community, especially players who were worried about missed career opportunities.

Given the runaway inflation of track and field performances lately, it’s insanely difficult to qualify for the NCAA outdoor track championships, or, for that matter, the NCAA Prelims.

The top 48 athletes in the country – based on season performances – qualify for the preliminary meet. The slowest time in the 100-meter dash field is 10.29; the slowest time in the 1,500 is 3:37.52 – the equivalent of a 3:54.9 mile.

Given that, it’s worth noting that this year marks the tenth time that BYU has qualified more than 50 athletes (male and female combined) for this weekend’s NCAA West Preliminary track and field meet in College Station, Texas (The East prelims will be held in Jacksonville, Fla.).

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Utah State has 21 qualifiers; Utah Valley, 15 qualifiers.

The men will compete Wednesday and Friday, the women Thursday and Saturday.

The top 12 in each event at both regional sites will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will be held June 11-14 in Eugene, Oregon.

Four Utah collegians are threats to win an individual national championship – BYU’s Meghan Hunter, Lexy Lowry and James Corrigan and Utah State’s Logan Hammer.

Hunter, a converted sprinter from Provo High who holds the all-classification high school 400-meter state record of 52.59, laid down a 1:58.99 time to win the 800-meter run at the Big 12 Conference championships two weeks ago. It makes her the third fastest collegian ever.

The 800 is one of the most competitive races in the country this year. It will include LSU’s Michaela Rose and Stanford Olympian Juliette Whittaker, winners of the last two NCAA championships, as well as Stanford’s Roisin Willis, a former NCAA indoor champ. Rose is the second fastest collegian ever.

Lowry, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, has the nation’s second fastest time in the 5,000 and the third fastest time in the steeplechase. She broke the BYU school record at 5,000 meters held by Olympian Whittni Morgan, taking it from 15:12.90 to 14:52.93. Lowry ranks fifth on the alltime collegiate list in both the 5,000 and the steeplechase.

Corrigan, who represented the U.S. in last summer’s Paris Olympics, might give up his collegiate eligibility at the end of the season to sign a professional contract.

“It depends how well he runs at NCAAs and USAs,” says BYU coach Ed Eyestone. “As well as he is running now, I would say yes.”

A junior, Corrigan has the nation’s third fastest time in the steeplechase – 8:22.20. A year ago Corrigan ran 8:13.87, which easily eclipsed the American collegiate record of 8:16.23, but it doesn’t count because it wasn’t in a collegiate competition. In his most recent outing, Corrigan, who finished third in last summer’s U.S. Olympic trials, won both the steeplechase and the 5,000 in meet-record times at the Big 12 Conference championships.

Hammer, a junior from Nampa, Idaho, ranks second in the nation in the pole vault with a school-record clearance of 18-8 ¼. Teammates Javin Richards and Marshall Rasmussen (17-4 ½, 17-0 ¼) also have qualified for the prelims.

Utah collegians are strongest, as usual, in the distance and middle-distance events. They have a combined total of 29 athletes ranked in the top 25 of the 800, 1,500, 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000.

One of them is Riley Chamberlain, BYU’s 5-foot-10 junior who can cover a wide range of distances. In the national rankings, she is ninth in the 800, 17th in the 1,500 and 12th in the 5,000.

BYU’s Tyler Mathews and Tessa Buswell, who were in high school a year ago, have had brilliant freshman seasons. Both rank in the top 20 in the 800. Mathews is already the second fastest 800-meter runner in BYU history, with a time of 1:46.19; Buswell ranks eighth with a time of 2:02.26 in an event in which BYU has excelled for years.

Sami Oblad, a converted heptathlete from Stansbury Park, is wrapping up an impressive senior season. She ranks sixth in the nation in the 400-metre dash with a time of 50.49, by the far the fastest ever at BYU.

Carlee Hansen, a senior from Woods Cross who transferred to BYU from North Carolina in 2023, covered 1,500 meters in 4:08.70 en route to a second-place finish at the Big 12 Conference championships, a 2 ½-second improvement over her best time. She fell just short of the school record of 4:08.53 set by Anna Camp in winning the 2021 NCAA championships.

Utah Valley’s Quincy Bonds, who ranks 20th nationally in the 100-meter hurdles, is one of four sisters who are outstanding all-around athletes. Quincy competed for the University of Arizona soccer team for three years before transferring to UVU to compete in both soccer and track. Tiana was a pentathlete for the University of Arizona. Talie was a first-team All-American in the 100-meter hurdles at Arizona. Zoey, a junior at BYU, became the eighth fastest 100-meter hurdler in school history this season with a time of 13.52. She also competes in the heptathlon.

BYU will be without All-American Casey Clinger, who signed a professional contract with Brooks this season and thus is ineligible for collegiate competition. Before leaving BYU, he broke a 40-year-old school record in the 10,000-meter run set by Eyestone, his coach. Clinger posted a time of 27:11.00; Eyestone’s mark was 27:41.05.

Here’s a list of Utah collegians who rank among the top 25 in their events.

100 meters

#25 Gabe Remy, UVU (10.09)

200 meters

#20 Gabe Remy, UVU (20.41)

400 meters

#18 Eli Hazlett, BYU (45.35)

#6 Sami Oblad, BYU (50.49)

800 meters

#17 Tyler Mathews, BYU (1:46.19)

#2 Meghan Hunter, BYU (1:58.99)

#9 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (2:01.42)

#20 Tessa Buswell, BYU (2:02.66)

1,500 meters

#23 Carter Cutting BYU (3:37.31)

#14 Carlee Hansen, BYU (4:08.70)

#15 Lexy Lowry, BYU (4:08.89)

#17 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (4:09.49)

#23 Erin Vringer, Utah (4:10.23)

5,000 meters

#13 James Corrigan BYU (13:25.46)

#16 Joey Nokes, BYU (13:27.89)

#23 Creed Thompson, BYU (13:29.22)

#2 Lexy Lowry, BYU (14:52.93)

#8 Jenna Hutchins, BYU (15:16.95)

#12 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (15:23.88)

10,000 meters

#18 Mohamed Guled, UVU (27:58.41)

#22 Joey Nokes, BYU (28:06.44)

#24 Todd Camren, USU (28:10.91)

#11 Jenna Hutchins, BYU (32:22.98)

#16 Morgan Jensen, Utah (32:33.52)

3,000m steeplechase

#3 James Corrigan, BYU (8:22.20)

#9 Isaac Hedengren, BYU (8:30.01)

#14 Landon heemeyer, BYU (8:33.50)

#15 Logan Garnica, USU (8:33.91)

#18 Peter Visser, WSU (8:35.98)

#23 Abdulsalam Farah, UVU (8:40.47)

#3 Lexy Lowry, BYU (9:18.05)

#9 Taylor Lovell, BYU (9:46.86)

#10 Shelby Jensen, USU (9:48.44)

100 hurdles

#20 Quincy Bonds, UVU (13.07)

4×400 relay

#12 Hazlett-Taylor-Heimuli-Jackson, BYU (3:03.05)

Pole vault

#2 Logan Hammer, USU (18-8 ¼ )

High jump

#16 Aija Hughes, SUU (6-0)

Shot put

#13 Danny Bryant, BYU (65-1.25)

#17 Gretchen Hoekstre, BYU (57-3.5)

Discus

#25 Gretchen Hoekstre, BYU (184-6)

Javelin

 #8 Kelsi Oldroyd, UVU (186-11)

 #13 Jea Genet, BYU (179-2)

Decathlon

#4 Jaden Roskelley, BYU (8,000)

#9 Ben Barton, BYU (7865)

The Notre Dame women’s volleyball program travelled overseas to Europe for it’s 2025 Foreign Tour, May 26-June 7. Visiting and competing in four different countries over 12 days, the Irish will make stops in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Greece.

Flying from Chicago to Croatia, the Irish spent their first afternoon in Croatia before heading to Slovenia for more team adventures and to prepare for their first two matches of the trip.

May 27—The Section 1A, 2A and 3A boys track and field meets are this week. Here are 12 southeastern Minnesota athletes who figure to have the biggest impact in those state-qualifying competitions.

Kyei-Baffour has had a brilliant season. That includes him being just a fracture shy of the all-time Minnesota record in the 110 hurdles with his 13.75 time (the record is 13.70). The all-time state meet record in the event is 13.88, set in 2012.

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Beale is thought of first of all as a football player, a standout running back who will play in the fall at Winona State University. But the senior has also turned himself into a heck of a sprinter. Beale has run a 10.9 100 and a 22.10 200.

The combination of Isaiah Beale, Sebastian Bari, Logan Rathke and Joseph Boguslawski is one of the state’s best. They have been timed in 42.08, which would have placed third in last year’s state meet. Watch for their time to go down some more.

A senior, Garcia-Lara’s best race is the 200 where he’s been timed in 22.54. Garcia-Lara figures to be a contender in the Section 1-3A meet.

Heimer is a serious state champion contender in the 100. The junior ran a 10.84 in the event this season and is also an excellent long jumper (21-9 1/2). Like Mayo’s Beale, he also happens to be a dominating running back in football where he is getting ample recruiting attention.

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Logren is one in a long line of fantastic Stewartville throwers. His best event is the shot put where he has heaved it 54-feet-10.

Hatz is another star thrower from Stewartville. His best event is the discus. He let it fly 163-2 on Saturday in his state True Team meet.

Taylor has cleared 42-8 in the triple jump, the best mark in southeastern Minnesota this season.

As an eighth-grader last season, Semling already finished second at state in the 3,200 in 9:32.00. He’s even better now, having been clocked in 9:11.17. He’s also a force in the 1,600, timed this season in (4:25.92).

Hilton could run in as many as three events and also mix in the triple jump at state. His best races are the 110 and 300 hurdles where he has been timed in 14.59 and 39.47, respectively. He also ran a 10.89 100 on Saturday. In the triple jump he hovers around 42 feet. Hilton is among the best in the state in all those events.

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Just a sophomore, Goergen is in state-record territory in the 800. He’s been clocked in 1:53.75. The all-time Class 1A state meet record in the event is by Stewartville 1996 graduate Jason Owen (1:50.72).

Petersohn is not only one of the elite athletes in southeastern Minnesota, but the state (Division I football recruit, star basketball player and star track and field athlete). His best events are the 400 and the high jump. A year ago he went 6-10 in the high jump. His best this season is 6-6. Petersohn has run a 49.57 400 this season.