DECATUR, Ill. – Members of the Millikin University community gathered Tuesday morning, May 20, to send off three Big Blue Track and Field athletes on their journey to the 2025 NCAA DIII Track and Field Championships.

Millikin sophomore Kyle Hensley (Mt. Zion H.S.) and first-year athletes De’Andranay Chism (Belleville East H.S.) and Ibrahim Diakite (Chicago Roger Sullivan H.S.) each qualified for the NCAA Championships and will compete at SPIRE Institute’s Outdoor Track & Field facility in Geneva, Ohio, May 22-24.

“ When you play football, you line up against another team and know who you’re competing with on the other team. Track is unique in that sometimes you could be qualifying against somebody running a thousand miles away, and you don’t know. All you can do is to do your best,” said Millikin Associate Athletic Director Bryan Marshall. “What these three athletes have accomplished is amazing, and they are all in the top 10 in the country. That is a great accomplishment.”

Hensley will compete in the pole vault on Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m. CT. He tied for the best Pole Vault performance in the NCAA DIII back in April, clearing 5.18 meters (17.0 feet). He was the 2024 NCAA Indoor Pole Vault National Champion and finished in second place at last year’s Outdoor Championships. In March, Hensley finished in fourth at the 2025 Indoor Track and Field Championships.

“Kyle is an incredible young man, and as just a sophomore, this is his fourth National Championship. Kyle is also a brilliant student in our Engineering Science program. He works really hard, and he does a great job there,” Millikin Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Andrew Craycraft said. “The pole vault is a very dangerous and a very scary event, and you couldn’t find somebody more fearless.”

Chism and Diakite, both first-year students, will run in the 200-meter prelims on Thursday, May 22, starting at 5:40 p.m. CT. The 200-meter finals will be on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. 

Diakite had NCAA Division III’s sixth fastest time of the season, turning in his qualifying performance last Wednesday, winning the 200 at the Augustana Twilight Final qualifier in 20.94 seconds. 

He broke the Millikin record in the 200 that dated back to 2000, held by Big Blue track legend Carl Alexander at 21.15 seconds. Alexander was a seven-time All-American, including the 2018 National Champion in the 100 Meters. 

Diakite was the Male Track Athlete of the Meet at the CCIW Championships, winning the 200 Meters in 21.19 seconds and finishing in second in the 100 Meters in 10.66 seconds. Diakite also ran legs on two Big Blue Relay Teams that earned All-Conference honors, finishing third in the 4×100 and 4×400 Relays.

“Ibrahim is just a freshman, and he’s been a welcome addition. Running 20.9 is a hard thing to put in perspective for 200 meters. Breaking Carl Alexander’s school record and being ranked in the top 10 in the country right now is just incredible,” Craycraft said. “Breaking 21 seconds is elite.” 

Chism’s qualifying mark of 23.78 was the fourth fastest in NCAA DIII, and she turned in the time at the CCIW Championships to finish second. She was named the CCIW Outdoor Track Championships Women’s Track First-Year Student Athlete of the meet. In addition to her second place in the 200 Meters, Chism was third in the 100 meters in 12.03 seconds, breaking her own Millikin record.

“De’Andranay has broken almost every sprint record she can as a freshman. It has been an inspirational story. She made the indoor National Championships this year and has been consistently, from the beginning of the indoor season until now, the top female long sprinter in the country,” Craycraft said. “She is a fearless competitor and has been fun to watch. We are so proud of her.”

Acting President Mary Black presented the athletes with shirts signed with well wishes by Millikin staff members. 

“We are all so excited for you to be heading to the National Championships,” Black said. “We want you to know that all of these folks here today are behind you, and the entire University is behind you. Congratulations and best of luck.” 

Thirteen Reno High athletes will sign national letters of intent with colleges Wednesday during a signing-day ceremony at 11:30 a.m. in the Huskies’ gym. Those players, which were provided by the school’s athletic administration, include:

Division I

* Grace Macharg, track and field, University of Montana

* Erick Simpson, track and field, Eastern Washington University (preferred walk-on)

Division II

* Sydney Porter, track and field, Concordia University

*Keira Dwindell, soccer, Northwest Nazarene University

Division III

* Lily Houston, volleyball, University of Redlands

* Melis Kavlicoglu, cross country/track and field, Pratt Institute

* Isabella Pfleiger, swim, Hendrix College

NAIA

* Haylie Banes, golf, Ottawa University

Junior college

* Jackson Berg, baseball, Yuba City

* Conall Chick, baseball, Centralia College

* George Hawk, Feather River CC

* Sawyer Morris, soccer, Truckee Meadows CC

* Tate Robertson, baseball, Feather River CC

* Hudson Sadler, baseball, Mendocino College

Staff report

GREENSBORO — UNC Wilmington captain Cooper Wright finished his track and field career with some great efforts in the Coastal Athletic Association Championships held at North Carolina A&T.

Wright was obviously fast when he was at East Rowan and had plenty of potential as a 6-foot-2 receiver, but he had no luck as far as injuries, and he also came through East during the two school years affected by COVID.

Track and field became Wright’s sport at East. He racked up all-county and all-conference accolades as a Mustang. Track and field also took him to the next level at UNC Wilmington, where he ran some terrific times in the 200 and 400. The 400 became his main event.

In the 2021 CAA Championships, Wright ran a 21.63 200 for fourth place. He was second in the 400 in 47.57 seconds and ran a leg on a third-place 4×400 team.

In the 2022 CAA Championships, Wright ran a PR 21.36 in the 200 for third. He was conference champ in the 400 with 48.46 clocking. He also ran on the championship 4×400 team that was timed in 3:20.68.

Wright battled some injuries after that. He was on the fifth-place 4×400 team in the 2024 CAA Championships.

He came back with a great year as a fifth-year performer.

He ran a PR in the 400 — 47.37 — in last week’s CAA Championships and finished sixth.

A more amazing effort came in the 4×400 where he ran the swiftest 400 of his life to close his career — 46.52 — on the third leg. UNC Wilmington finished third in the event, but it was a school record run for the Seahawks.

Wright graduated with a degree in accounting and finance and is launching a career as a financial planner.

For good and bad, senior goalie Martynas Bieliauskas stopped lots of shots this season for the Riverside Brookfield High School boys water polo team. 

“Not always the best stat to have but I’ll take it,” Bieliauskas said. “It’s a good reflection on me. I try. That’s all I can say.” 

When senior teammate and friend Avi Ponnappan checked halfway through the season, Bieliauskas’ total saves were on pace for historic proportions.  

GLASSBORO, NJ – Rowan University introduced new director of athletics Shawn Tucker today as University president Dr. Ali Houshmand, provost Tony Lowman and Board of Trustees member Joe Cosgrove led the event that welcomed Tucker and his family to the campus community.

Tucker comes to Glassboro after serving as Rutgers’ vice president for Athletic Development, where led a comprehensive fundraising program that supports athletics’ priorities through engagement and stewardship.

Tucker thanked Houshmand, Lowman and Cosgrove, as well as the members of the search committee. “This entire process has been first class from the beginning… I stand here before you just very proud to be a Rowan Prof.”

Tucker recognized the tremendous success of Rowan’s programs, which includes 34 conference championships since 2019, and particularly the current spring sports teams. The Profs’ softball and baseball teams are competing in the NCAA Super Regionals this week and are one step away from the College World Series in their respective sports. The men’s and women’s track teams will have 27 student-athletes competing in this weekend’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships while the women’s lacrosse team set a school record for victories and advanced to the NCAA round of 16.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 200 student-athletes and Rowan well-wishers, Tucker spoke of what attracted him to Rowan and what he expects in the future. 

“There were numerous boxes for me, checked for ‘why Rowan’… From my initial conversations with Rowan officials, coaches and student-athletes, it was abundantly clear that Rowan University not only desires to be a premier destination for academics and elite athletics, but there’s an internal drive to be a national leader, one of one, across all disciplines,” Tucker said.

“I love the conference championships— (winning) Super Regionals, is a job well done. But the mindset that we’re going to have here is national championships.” Tucker continued, “You need an athletics department filled with high achieving, relentlessly pursuing, integral professionals and student-athletes who are determined to put forth their very best, day in and day out, to execute on that very vision. You need a Rowan community of alumni, donors, parents, friends of this beloved institution growing together to reach each milestone along this success journey.”

He played an instrumental role in securing a $15 million gift—the largest in Rutgers University Athletics history. Tucker planned and managed a campaign that raises approximately $20 million annually through engaging nearly 75,000 Rutgers supporters, including multiple seven-figure gifts and corporate opportunities. He also worked directly with NIL partners and the corporate sponsorship team to increase brand visibility and direct student funding for more than 700 student-athletes. 

Tucker joined the Rutgers athletics administrative team in April 2010 as assistant director of student-athlete development. His most significant achievement was the development and launch of the Rutgers Leadership Academy (RLA). 

Through programming and counseling, RLA helps support student-athletes at Rutgers with valuable information and tools to guide decision-making in critical life-shaping areas such as career choice, personal enrichment, leadership, community and civic engagement and professional growth. 

Through RLA, his team offered specialized programs and career, leadership and personal enrichment events for more than 650 student-athletes annually.

Earlier in his career, as associate athletic director of student-athlete development at Rutgers, he also oversaw the Rutgers Athletics Internship Program and helped launch R Care—a program dedicated to providing a comprehensive care and communication system in the areas of academic support, sports medicine, sports performance and the RLA. He had staff oversight in the areas of career enrichment, leadership training, personal development and community engagement.

Between his two most recent appointments at Rutgers, Tucker, from 2018-2022, served as associate vice president and director of Athletics at New Jersey City University. There, he led the transformation of its athletic department, doubling the number of athletics programs to 24 and tripling the number of student athletes.

He also increased private and corporate giving which supported the Rising Knight Institute for student success. Under his leadership, facilities were improved and the department’s operational budget increased by more than 100 percent.

Tucker’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for Rowan, a top 100 public research university that has doubled enrollment over the past decade and is ranked as the third fastest growing research university in the nation. During this time of great transformation, Rowan Athletics has grown to become one of the most successful DIII athletic programs in the nation.

Rowan competes in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), offering 18 programs. The University has captured 26 NJAC team championships and has had 19 appearances in the NCAA Championships in the last five years. Last year, it was ranked 21st nationally in the Learfield Division III Directors Cup. Rowan Athletics earned its fourth consecutive NJAC cup in 2023-24, making it the most successful program in the NJAC five times over the past six years.

Tucker comes to Rowan after the retirement of Dr. John Giannini, who was athletic director from 2020-2024. Longtime athletic department leaders Penny Kempf and Gabby Lisella served as co-directors during the national search for the new director.

As a former standout wide receiver and team captain for Rutgers Football, Tucker will bring a unique perspective and passion for athletics to Rowan. He was a four-year letter winner and three-year starter for Rutgers and was a key member of two bowl squads, including the 2006 Texas Bowl champions. Tucker earned three Preseason All-BIG EAST honors and had 115 receptions for 1,559 yards and four touchdowns in his career.

Tucker earned a master’s degree in City & Regional Planning from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. He earned a pair of Bachelor of Arts degrees in Geography & Labor Studies from Rutgers.

Tucker was joined at the event by his wife, Mary, and sons, Miguel, Javier and Mario. He will officially begin his post at Rowan on June 16th.