LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Not finished yet. NM State returns to the track with a select group of student-athletes invited to the NCAA West First Round, hosted by Texas A&M at E.B. Cushing Stadium. Split into an East and West region, the NCAA First Rounds bring top athletes together to compete for a spot in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held in Eugene, Ore., at Hayward Field. First round action for the Aggies begins on Thursday, May 29, with quarterfinal action set for Saturday, May 31.
 
The Starting Line

• NM State continues postseason competition at the NCAA West First Round, hosted by Texas A&M, with a chance to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. Fans can follow along with the action through links provided at nmstatesports.com.
• Should an Aggie advance beyond this weekend’s meet, it would mark the first NM State student-athlete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships since Kayli Farmer competed in the javelin in 2017.
• The Aggies find themselves among elite competition from the western half of the United States with over 100 schools set to compete including Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, TCU, UCLA, Utah, USC and host Texas A&M, among others.
• As a team, the Crimson & White will compete in four events: 200m, 400m, 1500m and the Discus.

 
Class of CUSA

• Of the student-athletes to make the trek to the NCAA West First Round, each Aggie ranks among the best in Conference USA this season, including:

 
Rachel O’Brien – 1500m (2^nd), 800m (4^th)
Alesha Lane – Shot put (3^rd), Discus (3^rd)
Jhana Downie – 100m (11^th), 200m (4^th), 400m (11^th)
Sahara Tasker – 400m (3^rd), 200m (9^th)
 
Aggie Accolades

• Each of these student-athletes currently rank inside the top 10 marks in program history, including:

 
Jhana Downie – 100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100*, 4×400
Alesha Lane – Discus*, Shot put*
Rachel O’Brien – 800m*, 1500m*
Sahara Tasker – 200m*, 400m*
 
* – Indicates 2025 season addition
 
Last Time Out | CUSA Outdoor Track & Field Championships | .25-26.25

• Junior Alesha Lane led the way for the Aggies at the 2025 CUSA Outdoor Championships, posting a pair of bronze-medal finishes in both the shot put and the discus. Her discus mark of 53.12m (174-3″) not only set a personal best for the Casper, Wyo., native but it also represented a new school record – surpassing her previous best school-record mark of 51.87m set earlier this season.
• First year-Aggie and Allen, Texas, native Sahara Tasker was the lone underclassman to earn an individual medal for the Aggies in Murfreesboro, posting a personal best time of 53.70 seconds – the sixth-fastest time in NM State history.
• Senior Jhana Downie helped the Crimson & White take third place in the 4x100m, combining with Marlee Cavitt, Sierra Brewer and Jaylah McDonnell to post a time of 45.08. Individually, Downie recorded a time of 23.84 in the 200m finals. The sprinter from Sunrise, Fla., holds a season best mark of 23.39, with a personal best mark of 22.93 (+2.3 m/s) – a school record.  
• Rachel O’Brien closed her first outdoor season with the Aggies in the 1500m, taking first overall in preliminary action while taking fourth with a time of 4:23.40 in finals. O’Brien holds personal bests of 2:06.54 in the 800m (second-fastest in program history), and a time of 4:14.86 in the 1500m (fastest in program history).

 

For complete coverage of NM State Track & Field, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateXCTF), Instagram (@NMStateXCTF), and like us on Facebook (NMStateTrackXC).

++NM State++

HONOLULU — The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team unveiled a 29-match 2025 regular-season schedule highlighted by 17 home games at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
 
Robyn Ah Mow enters her eighth season and ninth year overall as UH head coach with a schedule that features three nonconference tournaments leading into the program’s final season in the Big West.
 
Coming off a fifth straight Big West title, the Rainbow Wahine will have matchups with three teams that reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament and two more that competed in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The nonconference schedule also includes a trip to Stanford to join the host Cardinal, UCLA and Texas State in a three-day tournament.
 
UH will open the 2025 season with an eight-match homestand starting with the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic set for Aug. 29-31. The ‘Bows take on Marquette, which reached the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 last season, on opening night. They’ll also face Utah State and San Diego in the three-day event. Utah State tied for second in the Mountain West regular-season standings last season. San Diego tied for second in the West Coast Conference and will visit Mānoa for the third consecutive season.
 
The ‘Bows then host the OUTRIGGER Invitational Sept. 3 to 7 with matches against San Jose State, Utah Valley and St. John’s. San Jose State placed second in the Mountain West last year and Utah Valley and St. John’s both posted 20-win seasons on their way to the NIVC.
 
UH caps its season-opening homestand with a two-match series with Portland of the WCC on Sept. 11 and 12.
 
The ‘Bows’ first road trip will take them to Palo Alto, Calif., and they’ll open the weekend on Sept. 19 by taking on Stanford, which reached the NCAA Regional Finals last season and ended 2024 at No. 5 in the AVCA coaches poll. The ‘Bows then renew their long-standing rivalry with UCLA on Sept. 20 in the 79^th meeting between the programs. They’ll close out the tournament and the nonconference portion of the season against defending Sun Belt champion Texas State.
 
UH opens the Big West season at home with matches against UC Riverside and UC Davis on Sept. 26 and 27. After a trip to CSU Bakersfield and CSUN (Oct. 3 and 4), the ‘Bows face Cal Poly on Oct. 10 in a rematch of last year’s Big West Championship final and take on UC Santa Barbara in a Sunday match on Oct. 12.
 
The ‘Bows play five of their next six matches on the road, with a home game against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 25 breaking up two road trips. They open November back home against CSUN and CSU Bakersfield (Nov. 7 and 9) then head back on the road for matches at UCSB and Cal Poly. UH returns home for the final week of the regular season and faces UC San Diego on Nov. 21 and Long Beach State on Senior Night on Nov. 22.
 
The Big West Championship is set for Nov. 26 to 29 in Long Beach, Calif., with the winner earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The ‘Bows won their fifth consecutive Big West crown, and second straight tournament title, last year to extend their streak of NCAA berths to 31 with the program’s 42nd appearance overall.
 
Season-ticket renewals will be sent out the first week of June and new season-ticket sales will begin on July 21. More information on ticket sales will be announced in the coming weeks.
 

#HawaiiWVB

In an atmosphere of pride and emotion, Rector Gerasimos Siasos honoured today, in the Old Senate Hall of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the students who were part of Greece Women’s National Water Polo Team—the one that won first place at the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Cup held in China. The students honoured were: Foivi Angelidi (School of Dentistry), Marina Kotsioni (School of Physical Education and Sport Science), Christina Siouti (School of Medicine), Vasiliki Plevritou (School of Dentistry), and Sofia Tornarou (School of Medicine).

The Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Gerasimos Siasos, gave a warm welcome to the athletes and presented them with commendations in recognition of their effort and sporting ethos. Also in attendance at the awards ceremony were the Chair of the NKUA’s Committee on Sport and Physical Activity and Member of the NKUA’s Administration Council, Professor Athanasia Smirniotou, the Dean of the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Professor Gerasimos Terzis, the Chair of the NKUA’s School of Medicine, Professor Nikolaos Arkadopoulos, and the member of the scientific commission of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Associate Professor at the NKUA’s School of Medicine, Giorgos Marinos.

‘Your achievement proves that academic excellence can harmoniously coexist with elite-level sport. You set an inspiring example for future generations and make us all very proud. Our University is with you every step of the way to support you with your dreams’, said the Rector, Professor Gerasimos Siasos.

The students, for their part, thanked the University administration for the honour and support, emphasizing that the accomplishment belongs to the entire team and everyone who backs them daily as they strive to achieve academic goals and compete for championships, all while balancing their studies with the demands of high-level sport.

The ceremony concluded with wishes for continued success, both in academic and athletic pursuits.

Photos: Dimitris Konstantinidis

Pisgah girls track and field head coach Gus Hembree did not have an official assistant coach specializing in throwing events for the 2025 season.

But he will have to find a replacement for his program’s “unofficial” throwing coach now that state-medal winning thrower Ashton Childress is off to compete at the collegiate level.

“Ashton’s basically been the coach for the girls on the throwing side,” Hembree said. “She’s been a great leader. She really helped my younger throwers, took them under her wings and helped them all while she was having a phenomenal season herself.”

Childress recently signed scholarship papers with Berry College of Mount Berry, Georgia during a signing ceremony at Pisgah High School.

Childress will compete in the javelin, shot put, discus and hammer throw at Berry, which contacted her back in the fall. Childress received a letter from Berry noting that they had seen her sectional and state meet marks from her junior season and wanted her to join its track and field program.

“I was really surprised,” Childress said.

Childress transferred to Pisgah from Fyffe in the early part of her freshman year and joined the junior varsity basketball team. Hembree convinced her to give track and field at Pisgah a try. Childress ultimately jumped into the sport wholeheartedly and began to attend camps and train with former Hungarian Olympian and Auburn University thrower Gabor Mate. 

“At first, it was a lot of form work,” Childress said. “As I learned more, I’ve really progressed in my technique and speed.” 

Childress won Jackson County Track and Field titles in the javelin and discus during her junior year and won a sectional title in the javelin before posting a fifth-place state finish in the javelin (96 feet) during the 2024 AHSAA Championships’ Class 2A Girls Track and Field Meet. 

This past season, Childress won the Jackson County Girls javelin county title again and won Class 2A Girls Section 3 championships in the javelin, discus and shot put before medaling at state with third-place state finishes in the javelin (107 feet, one inch) and the discus (99-6).

Childress’ stellar season track and field came on the heels of one in basketball in which she averaged 9.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots per game while helping Pisgah win the Class 2A Girls Basketball state championship. Childress was selected to the Class 2A Girls All-State Tournament Team after contributing 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the No. 7-ranked Eagles’ 84-72 state-title game win over top-ranked Decatur Heritage.

Childress, who had more than 800 points and 800 rebounds during her two seasons at Pisgah, had basketball offers from Snead State and Gadsden State but chose Berry in part because it had a program for her major, wildlife sciences, and for a love for throwing.

“She had (basketball) opportunities, but I always tell them find what will make them happy, and she’s done that and I couldn’t be prouder for her,” said Pisgah head coach Carey Ellison. 

Hembree said Childress will fit well at Berry just as she did at Pisgah.

“Berry is getting a phenomenal ‘track-a-lete,’ but more importantly, getting a great person,” Hembree said. “She will fit in really well with their program and will be a big asset to them.”

Associate Head Coach, Volleyball
Women’s Volleyball, Rose Hill
Fordham University

Fordham University has an excellent reputation as a dynamic institution located in New York City. Founded in 1841, Fordham enrolls more than 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students in its 9 Colleges and Schools.

•Fordham University offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package to its employees, which includes medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
•We offer tuition remission for employees and their dependents.
•A generous employer match towards a 403(b) retirement plan.
•As a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), Fordham is considered a qualifying employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, a federal program designed to forgive student loan debt for employees of certain public and certain nonprofit employers.
•As part of its work-life balance program, the University provides generous PTO including 15 vacation days, 12 sick days, 4 personal days, 6 summer Fridays, and holidays that include paid time off between Christmas and New year.
•University employees have access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). EAP provides no-cost, professional, and confidential services, to help employees and family members address a variety of personal, family, life, and work-related issues.

Position Summary
Reporting to the Head Coach, Volleyball, the Associate Head Coach, Volleyball, will facilitate the development of the program, including planning, coaching, teaching, and recruiting, and will assist the Head Coach in managing the program.

This position requires frequent travel, as well as evening and weekend hours.

Essential Functions
•Assists the Head Coach in recruiting, including calling prospective student-athletes, evaluating high school and junior college players, setting up campus visits and maintaining accurate records and databases, instructing and retaining highly skilled student-athletes, fundraising, developing game strategy and attending all program events upon request.
•Provides instruction to volleyball student-athletes on the fundamentals, details, and strategies of volleyball as assigned by the Head Coach.
•Intermittently steps in as a practice player competing at a high Division I level.
•Complies with all NCAA, Atlantic 10 Conference, and University rules and regulations.
•Counsels student-athletes in sport participation, personal development, and academics.
•Assists in the marketing and promotion of the program.
•Provides administrative support for team travel.
•Acts as liaison with Equipment Manager when ordering and monitoring team equipment.

Essential Functions Note
This list is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
The University may assign additional related duties as necessary.

Additional Functions
•Attends fundraising and community service events upon request to support the program.
•Operates University-owned or leased vehicles to transport students, staff, and/or equipment in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and insurance requirements.

Required Qualifications: Education and Experience
•Bachelor’s Degree.
•Minimum of 1 year of coaching experience.

Required Qualifications: Knowledge and Skills
•High-level organizational skills.
•Demonstrated skill in developing and motivating student-athletes academically and athletically.
•Demonstrated commitment and motivation to building a successful program.
•Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
•Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
•Understanding and knowledge of NCAA rules and regulations.
•Successful candidates should have a knowledge of and commitment to the goals of Jesuit Education.

Preferred Qualifications
•Familiarity with Data Volley.
•Coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level.
•Valid Driver’s License.

Minimum Starting Salary: $55,000

Maximum Starting Salary: $62,400

Note: Salary is commensurate with qualifications, experience, and skills.

START DATE: ASAP

APPLY HERE: https://careers.fordham.edu/postings/9399

ABOUT FORDHAM
Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering an exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to more than 16,000 students in its 9 colleges and schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in West Harrison, N.Y., the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y., and the London Centre in the United Kingdom.

Fordham University is committed to excellence through diversity and welcomes candidates of all backgrounds.

Fordham is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Veterans/Disabled and other protected categories

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