By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a former University of Southern California water polo coach’s bribery conviction arising from his role in the nationwide “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a trial judge wrongly overturned a jury’s 2022 verdict finding Jovan Vavic guilty of conspiring to commit federal programs bribery by accepting payments to help wealthy parents’ children gain admission to USC as fake athletic recruits.

The judge had set Vavic’s conviction aside and ordered a new trial after concluding the prosecution during closing arguments misstated what it needed legally to prove its case, which arose out of the investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.”

But U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman, writing for a three-judge panel, said that while part of Vavic’s conviction could no longer stand following an appellate ruling in a different “Varsity Blues” case, the prosecution’s closing arguments were not contrary to the judge’s jury instructions on the law.

The ruling opens the door to Vavic being sentenced three years after the jury’s verdict. His lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

He was among dozens of people charged in 2019 in the investigation, which exposed how some wealthy parents went to extreme lengths to secure spots for their children at schools like Yale, Georgetown and USC.

They did so with the help of William “Rick” Singer, a California college admissions consultant who was sentenced in 2023 to 3-1/2 years in prison after admitting he facilitated college entrance exam cheating and helped bribe coaches to secure his clients’ children’s admission as phony athletes.

More than 50 people, including coaches and parents, pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors claimed that in exchange for more than $200,000, Vavic helped mislead USC admissions officials into believing children of Singer’s clients belonged on his championship team.

While prosecutors said some money that Singer paid went toward Vavic’s children’s private school tuition, another $100,000 went to a USC account used to fund the water polo team.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio)

By: Hunter McKay

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Chance Cross of the Kennesaw State men’s track and field team punched his ticket to Eugene, Oregon in the 100m at NCAA East First Rounds Friday at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
 
Cross ran a time of 10.09 seconds to finish third in his heat and tenth overall. Cross’ time is the fastest wind-legal men’s 100m mark in program history. He is the second Owl to reach the semifinals in program history joining Drew Duggans, who went in 2015. The junior will compete in the semifinals at 8:25 p.m. ET on Wednesday, June 11.
 
Notable Performances

• Chance Cross, Xavier Parris, Nicholas Mabilo, and Eric Young II ran a time of 39.32 seconds in the 4x100m relay to place 13th. That time established a new school record and narrowly missed qualifying for Eugene.
• Justin Campbell closed his KSU career with a personal-best mark of 15.79m (51’9.75″) to finish 13^th. That mark ranks sixth in program history.
• Fellow senior Lloyd Hill also wrapped up his career placing 21^st in the triple jump with a leap of 15.43m (50’7.5″).
• Kenyatta Bennett cleared a personal-best height of 2.15m (7’0.5″) to place 13^th in the high jump. The freshman’s mark tied for the fourth-highest mark in program history.
• In his final race as an Owl, Jeremiah Sims placed 19^th in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.73 seconds.  
• Four women will compete for KSU on day four of the NCAA East First Rounds on Saturday, May 30.

 
The Owls Fund
The Owls Fund is the primary fundraising arm of Kennesaw State Athletics with the goal of supporting our student-athletes, coaches and each of our 18 NCAA Division I programs. Through initiatives such as Legacy Lockers, the Dot Martin Scholarship Golf Classic, sport-specific giving opportunities, general donations and season tickets, The Owls Fund connects fans with KSU’s programs and student-athletes. Members receive exclusive benefits such as hospitality seating areas and events at Kennesaw State home games, and more. Joining The Owls Fund here and discover more opportunities on how you can support Kennesaw State Athletics.
 

RESULTS

On the final day for the men at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, the Northern Arizona track and field team punched three more tickets to Eugene, Ore., for the Division I NCAA National Championships.
 
Less than 48 hours after both punched tickets in the 10,000-meters, Drew Bosley and David Mullarkey qualified in the 5,000-meters while Colin Sahlman punched his ticket in the 1,500-meters.
 
For the third-straight season, Sahlman is off to the NCAA Championships in the 1,500-meters. He finished fourth in his heat and fourth overall to auto qualify, clocking 3:40.17.
 
In the 5,000-meters, both Mullarkey and Bosley ran under the facility record. Mullarkey raced in the first heat and qualified by time, clocking a near personal best of 13:33.85 to finish sixth in his heat and eighth overall. It marks his third-straight appearance in the 5,000-meters after qualifying the previous two years for Florida State.
 
Bosley auto-qualified, placing fourth in his heat and 10^th overall with a time of 13:34.58. He will be making his first outdoor NCAA Championship appearance.
 
Rounding things out in the 5,000-meters, Justin Keyes place 18^th with a time of 13:44.62, followed by Santiago Prosser (13:49.83, 23^rd), Corey Gorgas (14:15.59, 41^st) and Ford Washburn (14:16.57, 42^nd).
 
The quartet of Ian Lipsey, Kyle Smith, Lamar Smith and Khamis Hassan placed 19th in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 40.10.
 
Jeret Gillingham finished 30^th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:01.39.
 
In the field events, Desmond Lott placed 42^nd in the discus with a throw of 52.03-meters and Sirr Butler placed 39^th in the triple jump with a leap of 14.81-meters.
 
Today concludes action for the men in the NCAA West Preliminary round. The Lumberjacks will send four onto the NCAA Division I Championships in four events from June 11-14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. They will be represented by Trevor Hook (javelin), Drew Bosley (10k, 5k), David Mullarkey (10k, 5k) and Sahlman (1500m).
 
The women conclude their portion of the meet tomorrow, beginning at 3:15 p.m. with the 1500-meters. The meet is broadcast on ESPN+ and live results are available here.
 

He becomes the first Long Beach State sprinter to advance to the NCAA finals in the men’s 100 since Brent Gray in 2008.

 

Just over an hour later, Flores returned to the track for the 200-meter quarterfinals and tied Gray’s 2007 school record of 20.46. He placed second in his heat to automatically qualify. Flores joins Gray (2007, 2008) and Jaime Barragan (1995) as the only Long Beach State athletes to qualify for nationals in the 200 since Andy Sythe took over the program in 1990.

 

The NCAA Championships are scheduled for June 11–14 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. Flores will be joined by teammates Ryan Gregory (decathlon) and Claudine Raud-Gumiel (heptathlon) in representing Long Beach State.

 

The 100-meter semifinals are set for Wednesday, June 11 at 5:25 p.m. PDT, followed by the 200-meter semifinals at 6:29 p.m. The decathlon will be contested June 11–12, with the heptathlon running June 13–14. Coverage will air on the ESPN family of networks.

 

In the Field

In the high jump, Long Beach State’s TJ Funches and Kyle Jankans both cleared 6 feet, 8 1/4 inches. Jankans advanced with a clearance of 7-0 1/4 on his first attempt but fell just short of qualification after missing at 7-1 1/2. He finished 13th overall, one spot shy of advancing.

 

In the discus, Canaan Wharry posted a mark of 182 feet, 3 inches on his second attempt, placing 27th out of 48.

Novye’ James delivered a season-best 50 feet, 6 inches on his opening triple jump attempt. Despite fouling on his final two jumps, he climbed 12 spots above his seeding to finish 29th.

 

Up Next

Rahni Turner will compete in the women’s 100-meter hurdles quarterfinals Saturday at 4:15 p.m. PDT. The event will be streamed live on ESPN+.

 

~#LongBeachBuilt~

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