Sixteen-year-old Sienna Toohey, a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship athlete, finished Day two of the Australian Trials in tears . . . but she shed tears of triumph.

Toohey, from Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, was emotional after sealing her place in the Dolphins squad that will compete at next month’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore after winning the women’s 100m breaststroke event from lane six.

Her stunning performances during April’s National Age Championships – she won four gold medals and set two Australian age records – had Toohey earmarked as a potential bolter for the World Championships in Singapore. With the spotlight on her in Adelaide the talented teenager proved she possessed both the skill and will that’s needed to represent Australia.

Toohey who started swimming because she wanted to play water polo, finished first in a blistering 1:06.55. She also sliced almost half a second off her personal best in the process as she finished ahead of Paris Olympics silver medallist Ella Ramsay (1:06.86) with Sienna Harben third (1:07.02).

The emerging star, whose preparation routine is tightly structured: compression boots, home-cooked meals from mum, and plenty of TV, including Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, admitted missing selection for last year’s Olympic team had made her even more determined to swim against the world’s best in Singapore

“I’m definitely very, very happy with myself,” said a triumphant but tearful Toohey, who is coached by 71-year-old Wayne Gould.

“Missing out on the Olympic team last year … was definitely something that I really wanted to be a part of, just watching it, and Ella, obviously being on it, all of these people being my idols. Now I get to be on the team. So, I’m very happy.”

 “I really wanted to make the national team, and I knew that if I didn’t make it in the 100m, I always had the 50m tomorrow. But I’m definitely happy that I’ve done it now.”

Toohey revealed the impact Leisel Jones, whose swag of nine Olympic medals included three gold, had on her after she broke Jones’s 23-year-old national age record.

“I first met her (Jones) last year at the Olympic trials on the final night,’ she said. “And then after nationals this year, she sent me a video the night after I broke her 100m (breaststroke) record, just congratulating me.”

PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun 9, 2025–

Joe Hand Promotions (JHP), the nation’s largest and most experienced distributor of premium live sports television to commercial establishments, and ESPN jointly today announced a multi-year extension of their agreement for ESPN+ for Business, enlisting JHP to continue to provide an unparalleled lineup of live sports programming to bars, restaurants, casinos, and other commercial venues nationwide.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250609455012/en/

This renewed agreement covers seven (7) exclusive sports channels across the ESPN+ for Business platform and delivers year-round programming, including an average of nearly 200 live, *exclusive events per month—totaling more than 2,200 events annually.

*Games and live events not otherwise available nationally or in market.

“Since launching this service in March 2021, we’ve continually raised the bar for what businesses can offer their sports-loving patrons,” said Joe Hand III, President of Joe Hand Promotions. “This agreement ensures our hospitality customers have access to the largest multi-sport premium content package in the commercial marketplace today—making their venues the go-to spot for sports fans. We want to thank the team at ESPN for being great partners and for providing valuable content day-in, day-out to our customers.”

ESPN+ for Business programming highlights Include:

• More than 400 college basketball games in 2024, featuring as many as 200 ranked teams across Big 12, SEC and all conferences.
• At least 125 college football matchups featuring many nationally ranked teams from powerhouse conferences including Big 12, SEC, and American Athletic Conference.
• Elite international soccer including LaLiga, Bundesliga, FA Cup, and Copa del Rey.
• 30+ PGA TOUR LIVE weekends annually.
• UFC Fight Nights.
• More than 50 exclusive NHL games.
• Live court feeds from Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
• Broad college sports coverage: soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, field hockey, and gymnastics.

The comprehensive content offering not only covers prime-time and weekend viewing but also delivers value throughout the day—giving business owners a competitive edge in driving traffic across multiple dayparts.

To make it easier for fans to find the action, JHP’s proprietary bar finder tool, OnTap Sports (available at https://www.ontapsports.live ) allows users to search for licensed venues by event and location—ensuring fans never miss a moment.

About Joe Hand Promotions

Founded in 1971, Joe Hand Promotions is the nation’s largest and most experienced premier distributor of pay-per-view and premium live sports content to commercial establishments. For over 50 years, the company has helped businesses turn sports fans into loyal patrons through high-impact viewing experiences.

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250609455012/en/

CONTACT: Media Inquiries:

Chris DeBlasio,

DeBlasio Communications for Joe Hand Promotions

m: 917.445.7467

e:cdeblasio99@gmail.com

Olivia Coryell

ESPN Communications

m: 904.303.3538

e:olivia.coryell@espn.com

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA PENNSYLVANIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SPORTS GENERAL SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING ADVERTISING COMMUNICATIONS EVENTS/CONCERTS RESTAURANT/BAR TV AND RADIO RETAIL

SOURCE: Joe Hand Promotions

Copyright Business Wire 2025.

PUB: 06/09/2025 12:00 PM/DISC: 06/09/2025 11:59 AM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250609455012/en

Copyright Business Wire 2025.

It’s difficult to remember when or if BYU has ever headed into the hyper-competitive NCAA track and field championships with three athletes who rank among the top three in their specialties. That bodes well for BYU’s team-race ambitions.

“Our men could be top-15 and women could be top-four if the big guns show up,” says Ed Eyestone, BYU’s director of track and field.

The big guns are Meghan Hunter, Lexy Lowry and James Corrigan, who have had brilliant, even sensational, seasons to date. If Casey Clinger had not turned pro in the middle of the season, BYU would have four top-three favorites.

Special Collector’s Issue: “1984: The Year BYU was Second to None”

Get an inclusive look inside BYU Football’s 1984 National Championship season.

The NCAA championships will be held June 11-14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The men compete Wednesday and Friday, the women Thursday and Saturday. BYU qualified 19 athletes for the meet, counting members of a relay.

Hunter, a senior from Provo, recently became the third-fastest 800-meter runner in NCAA history, running 1:58.99 to win the Big 12 championship and then 1:58.95 to win the NCAA prelims.

Lowry, a senior from Idaho, is the fifth-fastest collegian of all time in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run.

Corrigan, who represented the U.S. in last summer’s Paris Olympic Games, has the third-fastest time in the nation, 8:22.20, which makes him the seventh-fastest American collegian ever.

The BYU trio will face formidable competition in Eugene, to say the least — most of them Kenyans who are running for U.S. schools.

“James is running very well right now, but the Kenyans on the men’s side are stronger and deeper than ever,” says Eyestone. “It might be more difficult to get top three at the NCAAs than at (the U.S. national championships).”

Five of the men’s top seven collegiate steeplechasers this season are Kenyans — Louisville’s Geoffrey Kirwa, New Mexico’s Mathew Kosgei, Kentucky’s Collins Kipngok, Iowa State’s Joash Ruto and Akron’s Bismack Kipchirchir. Kirwa is the second-fastest collegian ever, at 8:13.89.

Corrigan posted a time of 8:13.87 last summer in an 11th-hour effort to meet the Olympic qualifying standard — a time that would easily be the American collegiate record except it occurred after the collegiate season had ended and therefore isn’t recognized by the NCAA. He has not lost a steeplechase race this spring. On the other hand, he hasn’t met a field as formidable as the one he’ll see in Eugene.

Lowry, who will not contest the 5,000 because there’s not enough rest after the steeplechase, will compete against, among others, Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, a 23-year-old Kenyan and the defending NCAA champion in both cross-country and the steeplechase.

Lemngole set the NCAA record in the steeplechase earlier this season with a time of 9:10.13. BYU’s Courtney Wayment holds the American collegiate record of 9:16.00, but Lowry is closing in, running 9:18.05 earlier this season. Lowry, one of the most improved athletes in the country, will have to top that mark to win in Eugene.

Hunter is one of the most talented track athletes ever to come out of the Utah high school ranks. She was largely a sprinter at Provo High who dabbled in the 800. As a senior she pulled off a rare quadruple performance at state, winning the 100, 200, 400 and 800. She set an all-classification state record in the 400-meter dash of 52.59 in 2018 that no one has come close to breaking, even with the arrival of the new high-tech shoes.

What happened next has been widely covered. She was in a serious car accident the summer before she entered BYU, breaking her neck. She underwent surgery to fuse several vertebrae and her recovery was long and difficult, both physically but especially emotionally. She suffered from PTSD and, more specifically, panic attacks, from the violence of the rollover car wreck.

After a so-so start to the 2025 season, she has performed sensationally the last six weeks. Only Olympic champion Athing Mu (1:57.73), the former Texas A&M star and Olympic champion, and LSU’s Michaela Rose (1:58.12), the 2023 NCAA champion, have run faster. Hunter will face Rose in Eugene in what will be one of the meet’s most anticipated races. Three other women have also run under two minutes this season.

Individual national championships are difficult to come by, of course. BYU men have won only two championships since 2009, both of them in the last six years — Clayton Young in the 10,000 in 2019 and Kenneth Rooks in the steeplechase in 2023. BYU women have won three individual events since 2012, all in the last three years — Wayment in the steeplechase and Ashton Riner in the javelin in 2022, and Anna Bennett in the 1,500-meter run in 2021.

BYU is one of the premier distance running schools in the country. The Cougars won both the men’s and women’s NCAA cross-country championships last fall, only the fifth time a school has pulled off that double.

BYU’s team hopes in the men’s NCAA track championships took a big hit in mid-April when Clinger signed a pro contract with Brooks, ending his collegiate eligibility (the NCAA allows NIL contracts, but it does not allow pro contracts because of the amount of the money and the inclusion of performance incentives).

Two weeks before he signed the contract, Clinger broke a 40-year-old school record in the 10,000-meter run. His time of 27:11.00 finally took down the mark held by none other than his own coach. Eyestone, a four-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympian, set the long-enduring record of 27:41.05 in 1985.

If Clinger had not turned pro, he would be the fastest collegian in the country by 25 seconds.

The BYU women’s team is set up to make a strong team showing in Eugene. Aside from the Big Three, BYU also has strong entries in the revived Carlee Hansen and Riley Chamberlain, who will compete in the 1,500-meter run.

Hansen, a junior from Woods Cross, transferred to BYU from North Carolina in 2023. In the two seasons since then, she has cut a whopping eight and a half seconds off her 1,500-meter time and qualified for nationals.

Her best time at North Carolina was 4:16.02. Like Hunter, Hansen saw little improvement until six weeks ago, when she ran 4:12.42 for a 13th-place finish. She made another dramatic improvement at the Big 12 championships two weeks later, when she posted a time of 4:08.70 to place second.

At the NCAA prelims two weeks ago, she placed fifth with a time of 4:07.64, breaking the school record of 4:08.53 set by Anna Bennett en route to winning the 2021 NCAA championships. In that same race, Chamberlain, a versatile junior from California, also broke Bennett’s record and qualified for nationals, finishing seventh with a time of 4:08.42.

“Meghan and Lexy could win, and Riley and Carlee could combine for some good points in the 1,500,” said Eyestone.

Teammates Jenna Hutchins (5,000 meters), Taylor Lovell (steeplechase) and Sami Oblad (400 meters) are also solid bets to score.

Aside from the distance races, BYU’s strongest event on the men’s side is the decathlon. Jaden Roskelley scored 8,000 points four weeks ago during a meet in Provo — ranked No. 4 in the nation — but it was teammate Ben Barton, a 6-foot-5 junior from Michigan with 10.48 100-meter speed, who won the Big 12 championship.

The BYU women have cracked the top 10 only twice in the team race during the last 19 years — ninth in 2022 and 10th in 2021. The BYU men have placed in the top 10 four times in the last seven years, including seventh last season.

Utah collegians competing in NCAA championships

In-state qualifiers for this week’s NCAA track and field championships, with national ranking noted.

BYU

• Sami Oblad, 400 meters (10)
• Meghan Hunter, 800 meters (2)
• Tessa Buswell, 800 meters (19)
• Carlee Hansen, 1,500 meters (10)
• Riley Chamberlain, 1,500 meters (15)
• Taylor Lovell, steeplechase (7)
• Lexy Lowry, steeplechase (2)
• Jenna Hutchins, 5,000 meters (15)
• Gretchen Hoekstre, shot put, discus (19/18)
• James Corrigan, steeplechase (3)
• Luke Grundvig, 5,000 meters (10)
• Creed Thompson, 10,000 meters (11)
• Joey Nokes, 10,000 meters (10)
• Eli Hazlett-Josh Taylor-Jonah Heimuli-Trey Jackson, 4×400 relay (8)
• Jaden Roskelley, decathlon (4)
• Ben Barton, decathlon (9)

Utah

• McKaylie Caesar, 10,000 (19)
• Morgan Jensen, 10,000 (20)
• Megan Rose-Emily Martin-Bailey Kealamakia-Chelsea Amoah, 4×100 relay (22)

Utah State

• Shelby Jensen, steeplechase (20)
• Logan Hammer, pole vault (7)

Utah Valley

• Kelsi Oldroyd, javelin (8)
• Gavin Stafford-Cameron Franklin-Kade Thompson-Gabe Remy, 4×100 relay (20)

Weber State

• Peter Visser, steeplechase (9)

Southern Utah

• Ajia Hughes, high jump (18)

INDIANAPOLIS – UIndy volleyball first-year head coach Haley Case (Kindall) announced the program’s 2025 schedule on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Encompassing 29 regular-season matches, the Greyhounds have 21 in-region opponents on the docket, including 13 GLVC contests. Notably, UIndy hosts one of its three tournaments before traveling to Cedarville, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Fla., prior to conference play opening on Sept. 26. Outside of their six GLVC matches in Ruth Lilly Fitness Center, the Hounds host Ursuline and Kentucky State in out-of-conference bouts in September.
 
UIndy welcomes nine-time national champion Concordia-St. Paul and 2024 DII tournament selection West Virginia State in the first weekend, while also battling in-region Parkside to open the season on Sept. 4.
 
This year’s Midwest Region Crossover is slated for Oct. 17-18 in Hammond, Ind., with the GLVC Championship Tournament returning to Williamsville, Ill., from Nov. 21-23.
 
The complete schedule can be found here.

Julianna Reichenbach joined the WAKA Action 8 News team as a Sports Anchor/Reporter in 2023.

She grew up in Gainesville, Florida. Some of her fondest memories involve gathering around the couch on Saturdays to watch college football with her family.

Julianna went on to attend the University of Florida. Here, she fell in love with storytelling and sports journalism. She served as a WUFT News Sports Anchor and News Anchor/Reporter. She was also an on-air contributor for ESPN Gainesville and wrote for The Independent Florida Alligator and FloridaGators.com.

Over the summer of 2022, Julianna interned as a Studio Host/Reporter for the Northwoods League. Some of her best memories include the volleyball and softball beats, football games in The Swamp and covering the Gators’ 2023 College World Series run in Omaha.

Julianna is thrilled to stay in SEC Country because she knows how passionate the fans are about sports.

In high school, Julianna played three sports: volleyball, weightlifting and track and field. She later joined the UF club beach volleyball team. Nowadays, Julianna continues to enjoy staying active— she loves any adventure, whether traveling, hiking or trying new foods.

She is excited to be part of the River Region community and looks forward to telling your stories.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana State track and field heads to the heart of TrackTown, USA, this week, competing at the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. 

Action from Historic Hayward Field begins Wednesday and continues through Saturday. The entire meet will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2, with online streaming available through ESPN+. 

Concluding one of the greatest seasons in program history, Montana State will have a record seven student-athletes across four entries donning the Blue and Gold in Eugene. 

The Cats’ four entries are tied for the third-most in program history behind only the five in 2023 and 2022. The Cats also qualified four to the national meet in 2015. 

The two entries on the women’s side mark just the fourth time in program history that MSU has qualified multiple athletes on the women’s side (2015, 2012, 2006). 

Rob McManus (3,000 meter steeplechase), Harvey Cramb (1,500 meters), Hailey Coey (long jump), and the women’s 4×400 meter relay team of Olivia Lewis, Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, Caroline Hawkes, and alternate Jadyn VanDyken will all compete at the American cathedral of track and field after rising to the top at the NCAA West First Rounds two weeks ago in College Station, Texas. 

McManus, a senior from Cashmere, Washington, makes his third straight appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. The current face of ‘Steeple U’ is making his fourth career appearance at the NCAA Championships after placing 15th in the mile at NCAA indoor nationals in March. 

Over the past five years, the Cats have sent ten total qualifiers to the national meet in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, with Duncan Hamilton going three times, Levi Taylor three times, McManus three times, and Owen Smith once. 

McManus, a three-time All-American, finished 16th in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 2023 and 13th in 2024—one spot out of making the final after being passed in the final moments of last year’s semifinal by teammate Levi Taylor. 

This season, McManus enters the competition holding the sixth-fastest time in the field (8:26.83), qualifying for the national meet on the back of a dominating performance at the NCAA West Regional, where he recorded the third-fastest time (8:30.65). 

The two-time defending Big Sky champion in the steeplechase is just the fourth Bobcat in history to compete at three straight NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, joining Levi Taylor (2022-24), Duncan Hamilton (2021-23), and Nick Lam (2007-09). The distance runner is also one of just five Bobcats ever to earn at least three All-American honors (Taylor, Hamilton, Lyle Weese, Shannon Butler), and with a fourth All-American nod this week, would rise to second all-time behind  his former running mate in Hamilton, a six-time All-American in track and field. 

“Rob has been comfortable in all of his races but especially in the steeple races this year,” Weese said. “It’s just an event that he has a high level of comfort and a lot of confidence in. I think a key for him is just taking that into the race and not over-thinking it, but just punching his way through to the final while not worrying too much about saving energy or anything else, just finding a way to get to the final.” 

McManus runs in the first of two heats of the national semifinals for the 3,000 meter steeplechase on Wednesday night, toeing the line at 4:38 p.m. PT/5:38 p.m. MT on ESPN. The top five finishers from each of the two 12-man heats advance to Friday night’s final, with the next two-fastest times rounding out the field. 

Cramb, a sophomore from Brisbane, Australia, makes his first appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1,500 meters. It’s the second career appearance at a national meet for Cramb, who placed 11th in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach in March. 

The reigning Big Sky Champion cruised through both of his races at the NCAA West Regional in Texas two weeks ago, winning his first round heat before taking an auto-qualifier in the national quarterfinal. The Australian owns the 23rd-fastest time in the country this year (3:37.31). 

“Harvey is a great championship racer,” Weese said. “The way that he likes to race with a fast close fits in really well at these meets, so the 1,500 is a really good event for him and something that he’s really comfortable in. I anticipate that he will go out and compete really and has a really good chance to fight his way through to the final on Friday.” 

Cramb runs in the second of two heats in the 1,500 meters on Wednesday night, with the start time scheduled for 4:21 p.m. PT/5:21 p.m. MT on ESPN and ESPN+. The top five finishers from each of the two 12-man heats advance to Friday night’s final, with the next two-fastest times rounding out the field. 

Coey, a junior from Billings, makes her first appearance at the NCAA Championships in the long jump, becoming the first Bobcat on either the men’s or women’s side to ever qualify in the event. 

The school record-holder won a Big Sky title and set the conference record indoors before carrying that momentum outside this spring, where she set the school record in the sand with the second-best jump in conference history (21-03.50). Seeded ninth in the West entering the Regional meet, the Montana native came up clutch with a 21-foot leap to place eighth and secure one of 12 tickets to Eugene this week. 

“Hailey compared to pretty much every long jumper is one of the most consistent jumpers in the entire country,” Weese said. “In a meet like this where you just get three attempts to make it through to the final, I think she’s in a really good situation and has a reasonable chance of making it to the final because of her consistency throughout the year. She has been over in the high-20’s and low 21-feet in almost all of her competitions throughout the year, so obviously it would be great if she hit a really great mark, but at the same time you don’t always have to do that—you just have to do what you’ve done before in order to advance to the next part of the competition.” 

Ahead of the conference meet in Sacramento in early May, Coey told Parker Cotton of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle “In the past, I used to compare myself to the rest of the conference. Now, I compare myself to the rest of the country.”  

The junior has now backed that up with her performances in the postseason, and will get another chance to do so on Thursday in the long jump at the NCAA Championships, scheduled for 5:40 p.m. PT/6:40 p.m. MT on ESPN+. 

Rounding out Montana State’s contingent of national qualifiers is the women’s 4×400 meter relay team, making history as the first-ever Bobcat relay to make it to the national meet on either the men’s or women’s side. 

The quartet of Olivia Lewis, Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, and Caroline Hawkes punched their ticket to Eugene with a heroic effort at the NCAA West Regionals, grabbing the final spot out of the final heat on the final day in College Station with the second-fastest race in school history (3:34.31). 

Montana State is one of only two teams outside of the Power Four conferences to race in the 4×400 meter relay (Harvard). 

“Having a relay here is very exciting,” Weese said. “Like we’ve talked about before, it just takes a one-off for an individual to make it through, but it takes at least four and oftentimes five or six to get a relay through to the NCAA Championships. Just overall, we’re really excited about that—it’s a great sign of where that long sprints program is at. The 4×400 at the NCAA Championships is crazy—when you look at the teams, they would be some of the top teams for a lot of the nations throughout the world that would be put together for the world championships or Olympic Games teams. They fit in with that really well because of what they’ve done this season. I think this is an environment where they could even take a couple seconds off their school record.” 

The Cats will run out of lane two on Thursday night in the first of three heats at 8:36 p.m. MT on ESPN. The top two finishers from each eat plus the next three fastest times advance to Saturday night’s final. 

“It’s another step forward for us getting this many individuals to the NCAA Championships and getting a relay here while continuing the recent history of getting a lot of men’s distance through,” Weese said. “Obviously it’s so exciting having Hailey here in the long jump. Both the long jump and 4×400 are very, very challenging events to get people through to the NCAA finals, so we’re just really excited about that and can’t wait to see what they do this week. We do have a lot of newcomers where this is their first NCAA meet. Rob McManus is the only one who has competed at these outdoor championships before, so I’m sure there’s a lot of excitement throughout the group. However, there are also a lot of individuals who have a lot of championship experience, whether it’s those pressure situations at regionals or conference championships.” 

MEET SCHEDULE 

Wednesday:  

Thursday: 

• Hailey Coey, long jump (6:40 p.m. MT) 
• 4×400 meter relay (8:36 p.m. MT) 

#GoCatsGo