FARGO, N.D. – The Beavers get another chance to compete early in the indoor season this week as Minot State’s track and field teams head to the Dakota Alumni Classic hosted by North Dakota State this Thursday.

The second meet of the indoor track and field season gives Minot State’s runners, throwers, and jumpers a chance to compete against top competition to test their skills, and training, prior to the Christmas break.

“It’s a great opportunity to get a few more kids a chance to compete before we head into the winter break,” Minot State head track and field coach Jordan Aus said. “We’ll have a couple football guys that will have a chance to get a competition in, which is great.”

A small group of Beavers opened the indoor season this past weekend, competing in Bismarck at the Mike Thorson Open hosted by the University of Mary on Saturday, with senior Summer Krebsbach and redshirt-freshman Sam Butikofer leading the way for the women and men, respectively. Kresbach was 3^rd in both the 60-meter dash and 200 meters, while Butikofer made a successful collegiate debut, finishing third in the high jump.

Saturday’s meet at Mary also provided a few other Beavers the chance to make their collegiate debut, including freshman thrower Jamie Ward, who was 8^th in the women’s shot put.

While the pair of opening meets offer some the chance to make their debut, for others, it’s a measuring stick after a long and busy fall of training in preparation for the opportunity to compete.

“The expectations are to highlight the hard work that the kids have put in this fall, and to see that hard work pay off with a competition before going into the break,” Aus said.

After Thursday’s meet, the Beavers get more than a month off before starting the bulk of the indoor season at the Marauders Indoor Opener on January 17, the first of five meets in a race toward the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships, held February 28 and March 1, and hosted by Minnesota State, Mankato.

 

The Cal Poly women’s volleyball team is dancing into the Sweet 16 and into the national spotlight after an improbable NCAA Tournament run that’s captured the hearts of fans near and far.

The Mustangs, unseeded entering the tournament, stunned USC in Los Angeles last week to keep their postseason dream alive.

“Just pure happiness and joy for each other and how far we have made it because we weren’t expected to make it this far,” redshirt Emme Bullis said. “It’s kind of cool because you feel like the Cinderella team in a way.”

Right now, Bullis is second all-time for career assists in NCAA history.

Following their first two tournament victories, Head Coach Caroline Walters says the program has experienced a surge in attention.

“It’s insane,” Walters said. “I looked at our Instagram last night and I think we’ve added 5,000 followers…and it’s only going to keep adding.”

Players say the buzz has even spilled over to TikTok, where strangers are posting videos about the Mustangs’ tournament run.

Cal Poly’s success is resonating in the San Luis Obispo community, especially with local high school volleyball players who now see a small, mid-major team excelling on the sport’s biggest stage.

“I think it’ll just bring more popularity to not just the big teams, but even smaller programs and high school teams like us,” SLO High School sophomore Hazel Williams said.

Williams is a part of the local club program ran by Coach Walters and her players, 805 Elite.

The timing couldn’t be better for the sport. Women’s volleyball is already riding a wave of growth, with USA Volleyball reporting a 40% increase in girls ages 11–18 playing club volleyball between 2013–14 and the summer of 2024.

“Popularity has definitely increased a lot,” SLO High School senior Maddie Immoos said. “We’re having a huge jump in skill level, which is obviously great. And I think Cal Poly’s part of that — it’s just so inspiring.”

Walters says the moment is special for her players and for the program.

“They feel important and they should. They’ve worked really, really hard for this moment,” she said. “To be the only unseeded team left in the Sweet 16 and one of only two mid-majors is something we’re all incredibly proud of and have a lot of gratitude for.”

The Mustangs face the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in Lexington. The match will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

NAPERVILLE — The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) recognized a pair of strong performances from the first weekend of the indoor season by naming Elmhurst sophomore Carmela Woods and Illinois Wesleyan junior Imani Ogunribido as its Women’s Indoor Track and Field Student-Athletes of the Week.
 
Track: Carmela Woods, Elmhurst
Competing at the UW-Oshkosh Early Bird Invitational last Saturday, Woods won the 400 meters in a time of 57.87 seconds. The performance currently ranks first in the CCIW and fifth in Division III. Woods, a sophomore from Evergreen Park, Ill., also performed well in other sprints, finishing third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.90 seconds Her unconverted 60 meter time currently ranks sixth in the CCIW and 31st nationally.
 
Field: Imani Ogunribido, Illinois Wesleyan
Ogunribido, a junior, achieved a personal best in the triple jump at Friday’s Titan First Chance Meet in Bloomington. She cleared 12.53 meters, which also improved her own school record, and ranks her first in Division III by nearly half of a meter. The Hanover Park, Ill. native also competed in the long jump for the first time in her collegiate career, recording a mark of 5.60 meters – third in the league and seventh nationally.
 

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – On Wednesday the Ohio Valley Conference announced that SIUE is the recipient of the 2025-26 Team Sportsmanship Awards for volleyball. 

 

Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans.

The 2025-26 school year marks the 21st year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded.

It marks the fourth time in the last five years and the sixth time overall that the program has earned the honor.

Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

 

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent.  The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.