GLASSBORO, NJ — College Sports Communicators has honored Molly Lodge with a selection to the CSC Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-American Team.

2025 CSC ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN LIST | ROWAN’S ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS

Lodge, who was named to the third team, is the fourth student-athlete in program history and second in as many years to earn the distinction. Last year, Izzy Deal (2024) joined Sharon Crow (2003) and Johanna Kline (2003) to represent the Profs.

A Computer Science major, Lodge has amassed a bevy of academic and athletic honors this past season. She was also voted a CSC Academic All-District selection, named a USTFCCCA Division III All-Academic Athlete, was a member of the NJAC All-Academic Honorable Mention list and was chosen the Philly-SIDA All-Area Women’s Track & Field Performer of the Year.

On the track, the recent graduate scored an All-American accolade at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the 400-meter hurdles. She was named a USTFCCCA Outdoor All-Region honoree in four events (200 meters, 400 meter hurdles, 4×100 relay, 4×400 relay) and earned Indoor All-Region honors in the 4×400 relay as well.

Additionally, Lodge was named the Outstanding Track Athlete at the 2025 NJAC Indoor Championships and captured the 2025 NJAC Outdoor title in the 200 meters. She also set school records in the 100 and 400 hurdles this season.

 

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women’s track and field team’s Kayla Behkne (Sr. – Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) earned first team Academic All-America honors from College Sports Communicators for the 2025 season. CSC announced the women’s track and field Academic All-America Teams Tuesday.

Behnke is the first member of the Blugolds’ women’s track and field team to earn first team Academic All-America honors since 2013. A standout in throwing events, Behnke sports a 4.0 grade-point average. Athletically, she earned three first team All-America honors this season with top-eight finishes in discus, weight throw and hammer throw at indoor or outdoor nationals.

Behnke was also the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion in weight throw this indoor season, an event she holds the UWEC school record in. She helped the Blugolds finish fourth as a team at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this spring.

In the classroom, Behnke maintains a perfect GPA despite double majoring in computer science and mathematics and statistics and applied math.

 

CLOQUET — Cloquet Public Schools agreed to a sponsorship deal with Community Memorial Hospital to provide the district with funds to upgrade its high school weight room in exchange for advertising.

The Cloquet School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to accept a $150,400 payment from CMH. The district will provide advertising for the hospital at sporting events and other programs.

“Schools have kind of become a business to a degree,” said high school principal and former varsity boys basketball coach Steve Battaglia. “We have to improve our facilities. We don’t have $150,000 lying around.”

The deal, which was led by Battaglia and athletic director Paul Riess, expands on a previous agreement between the district, the hospital and Park Avenue, a Cloquet-based fitness center that provides training for high school athletes.

Under the former deal, the hospital paid the district $15,040 monthly, which was then paid directly to Park Avenue for its services.

Under the new sponsorship deal, CMH will pay the district the same annual amount, but this time in a lump sum.

Under a separate agreement, Park Avenue will continue to provide the same services to the district at no cost in exchange for advertising. This will allow the district to use the proceeds to equip its weight room.

“It’s a really good deal,” Battaglia said. “Super-excited about this to bring our weight training facility up to the top level, and I think be in line with most of our other facilities.”

Advertising will include signs at sporting events and other programs. Signage includes an acknowledgment that CMH and Park Avenue provide orthopedic and sports medicine services.

“I just wanted to give Steve and Paul a lot of credit for really going out and making this work,” Superintendent Michael Cary said.

The district is set to receive the funds within 30 days, which should allow it enough time to outfit the weight room before the start of the school year, according to Battaglia.

“It’s a phenomenal space we put in place a couple years ago, but the equipment is just not what it needs to be with our space,” Battaglia said. “I think we need the right equipment in there. We’ll have the best weight room, I mean, around. And I mean around.”

Macklin Caruso is a reporter for the Cloquet Pine Journal. You can reach him at mcaruso@pinejournal.com or 218-461-8278.

SHENZEN, China – Portland Pilots Women’s Basketball continues to shine internationally, with two Pilot alums – New Zealand’s Emme Shearer and Australia’s Alex Fowler – excelling at the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup with their respective national teams.

The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup is an international basketball tournament where every two years national teams from both FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania compete for a chance to qualify for the FIBA World Cup. The winner earns an automatic qualification for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup while the next five finishers (2^nd-6^th) advance to the global qualifying tournaments. New Zealand and Australia are two of eight teams in the Asia Cup, with New Zealand competing in Group A and Australia in Group B.

Shearer is the leading scoring through two games for New Zealand, averaging 15 points a game along with 5.5 rebounds and three assists. She scored a team-high 22 points in the opening game against Korea, adding four rebounds and three assists as well. New Zealand is currently 1-1 in Group A, sitting in third by tiebreaker.

Fowler, meanwhile, is third in scoring for Australia at 11 points a game while adding six rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest in just 21.7 minutes per game. Australia finished first in their group, with Fowler shining in each contest. She posted 11 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Philippines and tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists against Lebanon for stellar all-around performances.

Shearer and Fowler are two of the most accomplished players in Pilots history, having played crucial roles in Portland’s recent success. Shearer was with the Pilots this past season, helping lead Portland to a 31-5 record, a program-best for wins. She averaged a team-high 16.7 points per game along 4.2 rebounds and just under two steals. Shearer – who twice earned All-WCC First Team honors as well as honorable mention in the 2022-23 season – finished her Pilot career as the all-time leader in both games played (158) and games started (135), fourth all-time in steals (289) and fifth all-time in points (1,688) and field goals made (615). She was a part of two WCC Tournament Championship-winning teams in 2023 and 2024.

Fowler goes down as not just one of the best players in Pilot history, but among WCC players as well. A four-time All-WCC First Team selection, a two-time WCC Tournament champion (2020, 2023) and a two-time WCC Tournament MVP, Fowler is Portland’s all-time leader at the Division I level in points (2,132), field goals (832), field goal percentage (.550) and rebounds (882). She is second all-time among all Pilot players in all those categories. Fowler ranks third all-time in scoring average (17.5), fourth in free throws made (415), sixth in rebounding average (7.2) and 10^th in blocks (89). She is the only Pilot ever to make four All-WCC First Teams.

The Pilots put together an incredible season, finishing 31-5 overall and 17-3 in WCC play. They earned a share of the WCC regular season title and also broke a program record for wins in a season. They earned their first ever two playoff wins on the road after qualifying for the WBIT, making the quarterfinals. They also advanced to their third straight WCC Tournament championship and their fourth in six years.

Group play is finished for Australia, who advance to the semifinals with six points total in Group A. New Zealand has a chance to make the semifinals of the tournament, facing off against the Chinese national team tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. PST.

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