WATERTOWN, MA. – Competing at the Farley Inter Regional meet this weekend, hosted by Williams College, the Wesleyan men’s track and field team saw two more school records break as they closed out the weekend with six Top 20 placements.

Highlighting the weekend, George Lepska ’25 broke teammate Nate Fogarty’s ’25 school record in the men’s outdoor 800m race, running a 1:51.22 to best Fogarty’s previous 1:52.48 set in 2024 with a fifth-place finish in the event. Fogarty followed Lepska in the race with a 1:54.79 for 19^th place.

Lepska was not the only record breaker on the day. Liam Calhoun ’26 broke a 10-year program record in the men’s 5000m, running a 14:14.96 for fourth place, surpassing Evan Bieder’s ’15 14:24.69 set in 2015.

Steve Paul ’28 ’28 placed third in the 200m dash, running a final time of 21.56. Placing 19^th in the 400m, Ethan Singleton ran a clocked time of 50.46.

In the field events, Javier Orellana ’25 earned a third-place finish in the shot put, throwing for a distance of 14.10m.

The Cardinals return to action on Wednesday, May 14, when they travel back to Williams for the Williams Final Qualifier.

 

 

When Lilly Fink started the beach volleyball team at Jupiter High School four years ago, she had 45 girls try out for the squad — only one had ever played beach before — the others were all indoor players.

Fast forward to Saturday, the No. 5 nationally ranked Warriors (16-1) rallied from behind to defeat No. 10 Neptune Beach Fletcher 3-2 to win the FHSAA Class 3A state championship at the Florida State University Beach Volleyball Courts in Tallahassee.

Fletcher (21-4) was leading Jupiter 2-1 after taking the No. 1 and No. 4 lines, before the Warriors rallied as they captured the No. 2 and No. 5 lines, and eventually No. 3 to claim the title in their first trip to state.

Jupiter split the first two matches as Warriors’ junior Macy McAmis and freshman Sophie Katz won their No. 2 match 2-0, while the No. 5 team of freshman Natalie Barret and senior Sophia Chapman needed three sets, but emerged 2-1. The No. 1 and No. 4 lines both lost, setting the stage for seniors Elaina Avila and Kate Guarneri at No. 3.

Avila and Guarneri finished the season undefeated at 16-0, rotating between lines two and three. They dropped the first set in the final, but came back and won the next two with the knockout blow being delivered by Avila, on a left-handed, cross-court slam that touched off a wild postgame celebration in the sand as the team rushed the court after Jupiter earned its 10th consecutive win. The only blemish was a 3-2 loss to Vero Beach. The Senators finished 21-4, as their 14-match winning streak came to an end.

“I have never felt this feeling before especially since we hadn’t gotten out of districts before,” said Guarneri, who along with Avila, is among the five original seniors on the team.

“For us to go this far and accomplish what we could only dream of,” Guarneri added by phone, “It is just an amazing feeling. It doesn’t even feel real to me that we won the state championship. We have always been looking at and seeing all of the other teams do it and now we are that team that everyone will be looking at.”

Avila agreed: “This is the best feeling ever. We were so tired and we were in the third set and the teams were there in the bleachers and we knew we just had to give it our all. It was so rewarding. This was our last chance to win and we did it.”

The five doubles teams are paired together and play a best-of-three format to earn a point for their team. The team wins a best-of-five match. McAmis and Katz were also undefeated for the season on line No. 2.

To reach the final, Jupiter took out St. Thomas Aquinas 3-0 on Friday night in a match marred by bad weather and lightning delays. It seems to follow the Raiders (19-5), who had to deal with a tornado touching down near their hotel and the power going out during last year’s state tournament. This year’s semifinal was stretched out about six hours with the match ending close to 11 p.m.

“Every year our girls put their hearts on the line and we inch closer and closer to the ultimate goal,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Dave Palm by phone. “Six years in a row we make it to states and every year advancing and improving. The last two years we made it to state semifinals and losing to the team that wins it all.”

Guarneri said it did affect the final since all five matches went out on the courts at the same time. Normally two teams play, followed by three teams.

“It was like nothing we had ever done before,” Guarneri said.

Fink said the semifinal match against St. Thomas was supposed to begin at 4 and they arrived at the court at 2:15 p.m. Shortly after they were told to go back to the hotel due to a lightning delay.

“We came back after the pause ended up playing until around 9:30 in the rain,” Fink said by phone. “I think the girls started out a little nervous because St. Thomas had been there before and we had never been to state.

“When we had our break,” Fink continued, “we went to Panera and we told the girls and the families they need to be hyped. It was a storybook ending in the last game with our senior pair, Kate and Elaina winning their match.”

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Brown track and field programs headed to Yale for the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. After the first day, the men’s team sits in fifth with a total of 13 points, while the women’s side is in fourth with 12 points. Seven Bears earned podium finishes as it was a good start to the meet for Brown. 
 
MEN
The Bears scored 10 points in the men’s long jump event, as sophomore Mubaraq Aderogba and junior Frank Monahan-Morang earned podium finishes. Aderogba finished third with a personal record of 7.43 meters. That mark tied him for eighth in Brown history. Monahan-Morang wasn’t far behind, finishing fourth with a mark of 7.41 meters. That personal record placed him 10^th in school history. 

Sophomore Keith Daigneau earned a fifth place podium finish in the men’s hammer throw with a mark of 60.08 meters. He earned two team points as a result. In the javelin throw, junior Cole Nesselson garnered one point for his team with a sixth place finish and a mark of 52.05 meters. 

 

WOMEN

Jada Joseph set a personal record in the long jump, placing fourth with a mark of 6.29 meters. The podium finish earned her team four points and tied her for second best in school history. 

Chidinma Agbasi finished third in the hammer throw, scoring six points. Her mark of 58.38 meters was a personal record while remaining third best in school history.  Julia’Belle Reyfman also scored points, finishing fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 41.23 meters. 

Elle Riley improved on her ninth best time in school history in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing in 1:01.26. Alyssa Jackson improved to a tie for second in school history in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.86. 

 

UP NEXT

Ivy League Heps concludes tomorrow with events beginning at 10:30 a.m. The competition ramps up, as 17 scoring events for the men and women are yet to be finalized.

It can be seen live on ESPN+. Follow the live results here. 

 

 

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INDIANAPOLIS – No. 4 seed Hawai’i couldn’t overcome the juggernaut of top-seeded Stanford in the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship semifinals, falling 13-4 at IU Natatorium. 

UH caps their Big West title winning season with a 22-5 record under the direction of first-year head coach and Big West Coach of the Year James Robinson. Meanwhile, Stanford improves to 24-1 and the national powerhouse will play in their 19th Championship final, winning nine titles and finishing as runners-up on nine occasions.  

The Cardinal will take on the winner between No. 2 seed UCLA and No. 3 seed Southern California to set up an All-MPSF finale. Only one contested championship has ever seen a participant not from the Big Three (2004, LMU).  

Stanford got on the board first with 5:43 on the clock in the first with the successful five-meter connect from the penalty for Jenna Flynn, the first in a six-goal game. The Cardinal quickly doubled with Flynn’s quick strike on the counter-attack making it 2-0 less than 30 seconds later. However, the UH defense came through in the clutch, with Rainbow Wahine sophomore Daisy Logtens recording a pair of saves in front of the cage at 3:26, and then denying Stanford on their third power play of the game with 2:48 remaining in the period.  

Flynn scored a third on a 3-on-2 conversion with less than two minutes to go in the frame, but then the ’Bows’ offense was finally able to get in the mix. A pass to Jordan Wedderburn by the post earned a penalty after the Kamryn Barone foul. UH’s Ema Vernoux converted on the try to get UH on the board. On the ensuing possession, Bernadette Doyle secured the takeaway to give the team life and sister Gabrielle Doyle got the power-play strike with 18 seconds remaining in the period to make it a one-goal game at 3-2 in favor of the Cardinal.  

The second was all Stanford, as the Cardinal scored four unanswered while holding the Rainbow Wahine scoreless in the frame. A bright moment came in the cage with 3:09 to play in the half as Logtens saved a penalty try from Jewel Roemer with the score still at 5-2 and the ’Bows still in striking distance.  

Unfortunately, it took just 13 seconds into the third period for Stanford to extend its lead to 8-2, and then next UH goal came with 4:01 on the clock as Big West Player of the Year Doyle broke the drought to make it 10-3 in favor of the Cardinal. The Rainbow Wahine notched one more score with just under six minutes to play when the pass from Megan Rios found Wedderburn for the goal.  

The youthful UH squad saw big contributions from their senior class in their semifinal contest. Doyle and Wedderburn each scored a goal with Rios assisting on a pair of scores while Stevilyn Griffin recorded one shot attempt.  

Doyle caps the season with 56 goals, 39 assists and 55 steals and ends her Rainbow Wahine career with 132 goals, 104 assists and 133 steals, back-to-back All-Big West first team honors and 2025’s Player of the Year award. 

Earlier in the week in Indianapolis, Hawai’i junior Raja Peiravani was honored as the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award winner, as the native of North Vancouver, B.C., Canada, holds an impressive 3.97 grade-point average in her finance and international business studies at Hawai’i. 

The 2025 #Elite90 award winner for #NCAAWPolo is Raha Peiravani!

?? 3.97

?? Finance and International Business

?? @WahineWP pic.twitter.com/5MjMN6YuAM

— NCAA (@NCAA) May 9, 2025

Sloppy play persisted for the Hawaii men’s volleyball team during its two-match NCAA Tournament showing in Columbus, Ohio, this week.

The Rainbow Warriors managed to get past Penn State, anyway, in a quarterfinal on Thursday. Against two-time defending national champion UCLA on Saturday? It was too much to ask.

Second-seeded UH came out with its worst all-around set of the season — a combination of strong play by the Bruins and unforced errors by the ‘Bows — and did not improve enough in a 25-14, 25-23, 25-23 defeat in little more than 90 minutes of play at Ohio State’s Covelli Center.

UH saw its season end at 27-6 while UCLA (22-6) advanced to face top-ranked Long Beach State in Monday’s national championship match.

UCLA, an at-large team out of the MPSF, hit a staggering .370 to UH’s .188. Setter Tread Rosenthal tallied only 19 assists, well below his usual figures.

The disparity in quality in passing was striking, and the Bruins won the blocks battle decisively, 10.0 to 4.0.

Serving, usually a UH strength, could not compare with UCLA’s, either, as the Bruins won aces 6-3 while service errors were nearly a wash.

UH won consecutive points to get within 22-21 in Set 3, but Adrien Roure sailed a serve long. UCLA committed a service error right back, but Finn Kearney put a ball into the net, giving the Bruins match point at 24-22.

Cooper Robinson put down a heater from the 3-meter line to end it.

There was some chatter between the teams through the net on the deciding point. Coach Charlie Wade challenged a net violation, delaying UCLA’s celebration. It took only a moment for the officials to confirm the call, and the teams shook hands.

Roure, a Big West first-team hitter as a freshman, led UH with 12 kills. No one else had more than six. The freshman opposite Kearney was held to .087, hitting on 23 swings. UH’s third pin hitter Louis Sakanoko had just one kill on nine swings, hitting .000.

The starting UH middles, Kurt Nusterer and Justin Todd, were held to a combined three kills.

Sean Kelly led UCLA with 13 kills (.435) and Zach Rama added 10.

Opposite Kristian Titriyski remained out of the lineup for UH.

Note: This story will be updated.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

This post was updated May 10 at 8:15 p.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

For the reigning back-to-back national champions and three sets away from the first three-peat since 1984, success is definitely not final.

And when that same squad gets swept by its crosstown rivals in its regular-season finale and falls in five to the No. 4 seed of its conference tournament, failure may just be fatal.

But don’t forget that courage matters most.

For the third consecutive season, No. 3 seed UCLA men’s volleyball (22-6, 10-2 MPSF) is heading to the NCAA tournament final after sweeping No. 2 seed and Big West conference tournament winner Hawai’i (27-6, 7-3 Big West) at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Bruins sported a .370 hitting percentage while holding the Rainbow Warriors to just a .188 clip.

“Every year is a challenge in of itself, but this year we have faced the most adversity we have ever had,” said redshirt junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson. “We are family right now. We have been having great meetings, like team meetings. Our leaders are stepping up in the right ways, it’s just clicking all at the same time.”

While UCLA dominated the statsheet – garnering 10 more kills, 11 more assists and three more service aces than Hawai‘i – it was the energy that permeated the squad that propelled it to victory.

Despite the Covelli Center being home to Ohio State men’s volleyball, the venue was filled to the brim with a myriad of green and black reverberating chants in support of the Rainbow Warriors, spearheaded by their band and spirit section.

The Bruins put on a defensive masterclass, sporting 18 block assists and 34 digs. AVCA First Team All-American setter Tread Rosenthal, who at 6-foot-11 leads Hawai‘i’s block – a defensive unit that ranks 12th in the nation in blocks per set – was only able to muster eight block assists. 

Behind the net, AVCA All-American honorable mention and libero ‘Eleu Choy produced just five digs, contributing to a team total of 22 – which was rivaled by UCLA’s 34 total, spearheaded by freshman outside hitter Sean Kelly’s eight digs.

“Sean’s a stud, he dug some balls early in the match and helped turn some points, and I think one of those digs he laid out and it trickled over the top of the net and that was a big point for the set,” said UCLA coach John Hawks. “Sean is such a smart player.”

Notably, Hawai‘i outside hitter/opposite Louis Sakanoko – who was hobbled by an ankle injury in the NCAA quarterfinals against Penn State – started the match but ended up playing as a serving sub as ankle discomfort seemed to sideline his usual prowess, which included 264 kills prior to Saturday.

Taking advantage of his absence, UCLA counterparts and outside hitter tandem redshirt junior Cooper Robinson and Kelly combined for 22 kills on .304 and .435 hitting percentages, respectively.

Junior outside hitter Zach Rama – who has taken over opposite hitter duties for the past several weeks – joined his pin-hitting duo with 10 kills and six digs.

Streamlining the Bruins’ attack was junior setter Andrew Rowan, who put together a performance reminiscent of his 60-assist match against the Rainbow Warriors in the 2023 national championship. On Saturday, Rowan notched an all-around performance, logging 34 assists, six digs and four blocks.

“You get to this point, and every match is a championship match, so you’ve got to play like every one is your last,” Rowan said. “There were some words said at the end, but that’s sports. It gets competitive, it gets chippy, that’s alright. They put up a good fight.”

UCLA will take on No. 1 seed Long Beach State in the NCAA tournament final Monday, where the Bruins face an opportunity for their third consecutive championship and their 22nd in program history. Notably, the Beach defeated the Bruins twice in the regular season, dropping just one set in the combined matches.

But winning the national title is no simple feat, and the Bruins have shown they can hang with the Rainbow Warriors – a team that has defeated the Beach twice in its last seven matches.

“I’m humbled and so proud of these guys, and just looking forward to going out there and representing Bruin country and Bruin nation and all of our alums and make everybody proud,” Hawks said. “We got the fight and some guys I love having on our side of the net.”