COLLEGE STATION, Texas (5/29/25) – Arkansas State track and field’s Carly Pujol shattered her own program record in the women’s pole vault on Thursday at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds and punched her ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Pujol cleared a career-best 4.42m (14-6) on her third attempt to earn her spot in Eugene, tying for ninth in the event and becoming the first A-State women’s pole vaulter since 2013 to advance to the NCAA Championships. Her mark also puts her second in Sun Belt outdoor history in the event.

Michelle Ogbemudia finished just outside the top 12 in the women’s shot put, placing 13^th with a top throw of 16.23m (53-3) to cap her senior season.

Friday will see Colby Eddowes compete in the 110-meter hurdles quarterfinals (6:15 p.m.), as well as Jacob Pyeatt in the semifinals of the 5000 meters (8:10 p.m.). Both races can be seen live on ESPN+.

SOCIAL MEDIA

For the latest on the A-State track and field and cross country programs, follow @AStateTrack on Twitter and @astatetfxc on Instagram, while also liking the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/AStateTrackAndField.

GRANBY — Trailing 8-6 in the fifth and final set of Thursday’s MIAA Division 2 preliminary round match against No. 34 Keefe Tech, No. 31 Granby had to turn it around in a hurry if the Rams wanted to continue their season into the weekend. A Broncos service error put the ball in Daniel Santiago’s hands, and he rifled an ace to tie the set at eight apiece.

Behind Santiago’s strong serve, Granby rattled off the next four points to jump ahead 12-8 and put itself in the driver’s seat to advance. However Keefe Tech battled back and eventually knotted it up at 14. The Rams clawed back in front 16-15, and on the ensuing point, Brandon Chatel sent the ball over to Keefe Tech’s side. It deflected off a Broncos player’s hands and landed on the Granby gymnasium hardwood – clinching a 3-2 victory for the Rams.

Their 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15 victory sent them through to the Round of 32, where No. 2 Westfield is waiting. That match is scheduled for Saturday at noon at Westfield High School.

“We just needed to play with confidence,” Granby head coach Chad Gagnon said. “They’re really good players when they play with confidence. If they don’t believe in themselves, then they start to not want the ball and struggle. But as long as they play with confidence they are great. You don’t have to play above your ability, you just have to play to what you can do. And they did that in the fifth set to help us close this one out.”

It was the Broncos who brought the energy off the bus ride from Framingham, as they raced out to an early 1-0 lead following a 25-21 first-set victory. For most of the frame, Granby played a bit timid – perhaps the nerves of a state tournament match getting to them.

That quickly went away over the next two sets. Chatel recorded an ace to clinch set No. 2 and tie the match at one, and in the third set, Keefe Tech went for a kill down 24-22 and it sailed out of bounds to put the hosts in front 2-1. During those two sets, Gagnon witnessed the team he has become accustomed to seeing this season.

“They always start slow,” Gagnon said of his bunch. “We’re a slow-starting team. They have to have a couple good plays to kind of get themselves rolling. Once that happens, you saw what can happen in set two. That’s the team that I know we are. We have the ability to have nice, smooth offense because we have good passing. When you play tight and tense, that passing starts to fall apart.”

Granby was led by Braeden Gallagher on Thursday, as the junior put down a whopping 18 kills and added 15 digs and an ace. Any time the going got tough and the Rams needed a point, they would dial up Gallagher on the outside – who time and time again put down a monster kill. Nathan Walsh (30 assists) set him up perfectly on a number of occasions.

Gallagher does a little bit of everything for Granby, and the team needed every bit of it to sneak out a preliminary round win.

“He gives us stability,” Gagnon said of Gallagher. “He’s always solid, he’s always a good player no matter what you’re asking him to do – whether it’s from the service line, the hitting line or defensively, where he’s rock-solid. He passes perfect almost all the time. When you have that, it’s nice to be able to lean on it. That’s why he’s a captain.”

Chatel added seven kills, 10 digs, one block and one ace, Santiago dug up 10 balls and put down three kills while recording a match-high six aces thanks to his powerful serve and Durant Garden had four kills in the Granby win.

The Rams have been without perhaps their best player in Jake Gagnon for over a month, as he suffered a season-ending injury earlier this season. Granby had high hopes of repeating as Western Massachusetts Class C champions, but were unable to do so this spring.

Earning a state tournament win and seeing several Rams players step up in the absence of Jake Gagnon is exactly what Chad Gagnon, Jake’s dad and head coach, hoped would occur.

“We’ve had a lot of guys step up and play better and better and better, every game,” Chad Gagnon said. “They’re filling in the roles of their jobs better, because they’re not leaning on a guy like Jake. They’re all stepping up and it’s great to see at this point in the season.”

Granby (13-6) has won five of its last six and eye an upset over powerhouse Westfield this weekend.

No. 28 Frontier 3, No. 37 Lynn Voc Tech 0 — A grueling regular season schedule has the Frontier boys volleyball team prepared heading into the state tournament. 

Of the Redhawks’ 20 regular season matches, 15 opponents qualified for either the Div. 1 or Div. 2 state tournament while nine of those teams earned top 10 seeds, showcasing the level of opponent Frontier played throughout the season. 

Hosting 37th-seeded Lynn Vocational on Thursday in the Div. 2 preliminary round, 28th-seeded Frontier looked like a team ready for the tournament. 

Frontier pulled away in the first set, grinded out a victory in the second and got going late in the third set to walk away with a 3-0 sweep over the Tigers at Goodnow Gymnasium. 

“We had a loaded schedule,” Redhawks coach Courtney Parent said. “We played veteran teams that have been around for a long time, much like our girls’ team. We get to a point where we have to remind them that this is just our fourth year having a team and they’ve come so far in those four seasons. I do think to a point our schedule makes us better but it’s hard to keep the morale.” 

For Frontier (8-13) on Thursday, it was about focusing on themselves and performing their best regardless of the opponent. 

“We talked a lot about error management and keeping our side together,” Parent said. “We wanted to control what we can control on our side of the court and the rest will come together if we keep our serves in, keep our unforced errors low.” 

Tegan Dexter was a force all night long for the Redhawks as Frontier tried to get the ball to him early and often. 

Dexter smashed four kills early that helped the Redhawks build a 10-6 lead in the opening set. Frontier pulled ahead 21-12 after Dexter and Will Reading put down kills and the Redhawks went on to earn a 25-16 win to take a 1-0 lead. 

Frontier led 22-16 in the second set but Lynn Vocational (16-5) rallied, cutting the lead to 24-22. The Redhawks held on and scored on a Dexter kill to earn a 25-22 set win to go up 2-0. 

Leading 14-13 in the third, Frontier scored 11 of the final 16 points to seal the win with a 25-18 set win. 

Dexter led the way with 20 kills and 12 digs, Tavo Vincent-Warner distributed 37 assists, Nate Rivera put down nine kills to go along with 11 digs, Reading finished with nine kills and seven digs and Will Petrin added two kills, two aces and five digs in the winning effort. 

It’ll be a familiar opponent for the Redhawks in the Round of 32, as they go on the road to take on No. 5 Chicopee Comp on Saturday at a time to be determined. The Colts beat Frontier, 3-0, earlier in the season. 

“I’m excited to see them again,” Parent said. “They are a top 10 team and competed well in Western Mass. A lot of their guys play in the offseason. They’ll be a team to reckoned with and it’ll take a lot if we want to beat them Saturday.” 

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – Three women of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) outdoor track & field team competed Thursday during Day 2 of the NCAA West First Round hosted by Texas A&M at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
 
Junior Hannah Hilding picked up a top 25 finish with a solid performance in the women’s hammer throw first round. She tabbed marks on all three attempts, but her second throw was the money shot. Hilding tossed 58.43 meters, the No. 10 mark in program history, to finish 24^th. She moved up six spots from her qualifying rank and improved her regional finish from last year by eight positions. 
 
Junior Nayla Harris was 32^nd in the first round of the women’s 100-meter dash. After a false start made her heat take the blocks a second time, Harris ran 11.45, which is the No. 5 time in program history. She tabbed the five fastest races in program history this outdoor season. 
 
Senior Efe Latham finished 36^th in women’s shot put with a mark of 14.84 meters. Latham went into the competition seeded 46^th and used a big first throw to move up on Thursday. 
 
UTRGV’s men will be back in action Friday at E.B. Cushing Stadium. Junior Aaron Cooper will compete in the triple jump first round at 2:30 p.m. and junior Corin Burns will run in the quarterfinals of the 200-meter dash at 7:50 p.m. 
 
UTRGV RESULTS
Thursday, May 29 
Women’s hammer throw first round
24. Hannah Hilding, 58.43m 
· 10^th in program history 
 
Women’s shot put first round
36. Efe Latham, 14.84m 
 
Women’s 100-meter dash first round
32. Nayla Harris, 11.45 
· 5^th in program history 
 
Friday, May 30 
Men’s triple jump first round, 2:30 p.m. 
Aaron Cooper (F2) 
 
Men’s 200-meter dash quarterfinals, 7:50 p.m. 
Corin Burns
 
Saturday, May 31 
Women’s high jump semifinal, 3:30 p.m. 
Achol Maywin (F2) 

Support UTRGV Track & Field | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube

 

Taylor Virtue was elevated to head coach in April 2023 after two seasons as the assistant coach. Virtue joined the Brown coaching staff in May 2021 as an assistant coach and has also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator, having played a large part in the recruiting classes for 2022 and 2023. Virtue has also spent the the 2022 and 2023 seasons coaching the passing and defense for the Bears.

In Virtue’s first season leading the Bears, Brown compiled a 19-7 overall record and a 9-5 mark in Ivy League play. Virtue guided the Bears to a win over Princeton in the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament before falling to Yale in the finals. Under Virtue, Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy. Cierra Jenkins and Beau Vanderlaan were also named First Team All-Ivy and Kate Sheire earned Second Team All-Ivy honors. 

Virtue became the winningest first-year head coach for the Brown volleyball program with 19 wins and led Brown to its best start in program history as the Bears won their first eight games of the season. 

During Virtue’s two seasons as an assistant, Brown has seen some of the best seasons in program history. In the 2021 season, Brown won the Ivy League Championship for the first time since 2001 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998, taking on Washington in the first round. In 2022, the Bears made the final of the Ivy League Tournament.

Under Virtue, Cierra Jenkins was named 2021 AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, AVCA East All-Region, unanimous First Team All-Ivy and Ivy League Player of the Year. Beau Vanderlaan was named Ivy Rookie of the Year and Victoria Vo was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Brown has had seven First Team All-Ivy selections and two Second Team All-Ivy selections with Virtue on the staff. 

Virtue arrived at Brown after serving as an assistant coach at Youngstown State during the 2020 season and as an assistant coach at Bucknell during the 2019 season. Between those schools, Virtue held responsibilities with serve receive, defense, and setting as well as practice planning, recruiting, scouting, and team operations. 

In 2019, Virtue helped the Bison almost double their win total from the previous season and helped the team set a school record with a 10-match win streak. Before Bucknell, Virtue worked as an assistant coach at Saint Martin’s University during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, helping the team set a school record for wins as a Division II program in 2017.
 
From 2015-17, Virtue acted as a graduate assistant at Springfield College, working with both the women’s and men’s programs. She helped the women’s team reach the sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III Championship in both 2015 and 2016 and mentored the 2016 AVCA New England Region Freshman of the Year. On the men’s side, she aided the team in winning the 2017 NCAA Division III national title.
 

A 2015 graduate of Northwest Nazarene University, Virtue earned a bachelor’s degree in education/kinesiology & health. She went on to gain a master’s degree from Springfield in 2017 in advanced-level coaching.

She is married to Jacob and lives in Providence.

When junior Maggie Holt joined the girls’ swim and dive team, she didn’t think it would entail going to her swim coach’s house in a shark costume to sing Christmas carols. 

Maggie and the rest of her team had bought wearable shark blankets to prank their coach, Tim Jasperse, by showing up at his door to sing Christmas carols for him. This, and many other memorable moments from the swim season, are why she loves the community and continues to participate in the sport. Maggie is also a water polo player and, because much of the swim team also plays water polo, she can be a part of this vibrant, hardworking community nearly year-round. Both these sports have impacted how she thinks about and approaches work.

“I think both water polo and swimming have made my work ethic more of a ‘do what needs to be done’ mentality instead of taking things slow and [focusing on] every little thing,” Maggie said. “Obviously, swimming and water polo take up a lot of my time, so I don’t have much time for anything else, so I do what I need to do.”

In particular, Coach Tim and Coach Sara, the former coach of her water polo team, have affected her significantly. Because she plays two sports, Maggie has multiple coaches who all have different ways of coaching their athletes, and their leadership styles have inspired her greatly. 

“My coaches have a pretty big impact on me,” Maggie said. “Especially Tim Jasperse. He has always lifted me up and encouraged me to do my best in the pool and in school. Sara Fredricks has also always been there for me when it comes to relationships and how to handle situations.”

Even though she invests much of her time and energy into her sports, Maggie is still taking multiple AP classes, including AP Environmental Science (APES). Though she’s not settled on exactly what career she wants to pursue, she says the wide array of classes she takes has influenced what she wants to study after high school. 

“I haven’t really looked at a lot of colleges, but I’ve always been leaning towards MSU or somewhere similar out of state,” Maggie said. “High school hasn’t really impacted my decision on whether to go to college or not, but what I want to study. I really want to study either biology or political science.”

While a class’s content is important, the subject material can only go so far if someone cannot teach it effectively. Maggie has found that certain teachers have truly changed her way of thinking, giving her the opportunity to interact with the course in a much more meaningful way. Mr. Pool, who teaches orchestra, and Mrs. Lipke, who teaches math, have had the biggest influences on not only her learning but also her general high school experience. 

Maggie has had Mr. Pool as a teacher for the past six years, as he is the orchestra director for the high school, middle school, and sixth grade—when instruments are first introduced to students in school. She plays the violin, and her orchestra class has formed her since her elementary school years.

“Orchestra has taught me a lot about troubleshooting and doing what works for you, whether it’s a part in our music I can’t quite play perfectly—or at all—I can find what does work or find ways to practice to get better,” Maggie said. “I think it’s good to pursue music because the community is wonderful, and learning to read music and understand the value of music is important.”

Throughout her high school career, Maggie has learned so much. Of course, she’s memorized formulas and historical figures, but, more importantly, she’s learned how to live life. She’s learned what it means to be a hard worker, to appreciate music, and to be a part of a team. 

“When I started high school, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect,” Maggie said. “I wanted to be in all of the hard classes and try to get way ahead in many classes, but now I realize that there is also plenty of room to have fun with the short time you have in high school.” 

For Maggie, high school has been a transformative experience, full of life lessons and formative moments. When Maggie was starting high school, she was coming in almost blind. She hopes that future freshmen don’t have to experience that. 

“I would tell incoming freshmen not to stress over grades and to get out of the house and hang out with friends,” Maggie said. “Get involved in clubs and sports. You will want fun memories to look back on, not just studying.”

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — Jaden DeSouza is moving on! The senior out of Lihue, Hawaii not only shattered the program record in the 400m hurdles (a record she has now set and reset five times this year), but also ran the 20th fastest time in the field of 48 runners, good enough to qualify for Saturday evening’s quarter finals. 

Running in lane two, DeSouza had a slower start, sitting in eighth at the third hurdle, but began to kick at the first straight away. At the halfway mark, she began to run her race and began picking off the competitors in front of her. With two hurdles to go, DeSouza worked her way into the top five, and maintained that all the way to the finish line with a blazing fast time of 58.20. The top three from each heat qualified automatically for Saturday’s quarter finals, but the next six fastest times would also earn at large bids. DeSouza ran in the second of six heats, so it was a grueling wait to see if her time would hold up, As it would finish, DeSouza’s heat would go on to be the second fastest at the race, and she would qualify in the top-24, finishing 20th overall. 

DeSouza will be back at it on Saturday for the 400m hurdles quarter final which will be run at 7:25 PM CDT (5:25 CDT). The top three runners from each quarterfinal and the next three fastest times will advance to the semifinals in Eugene, which will take place between June 11 and June 14.

#GaelsRise