EUGENE, Ore. – Qualifying for her ninth NCAA Championship of her career, Sydney Horn closed out her collegiate career with a Second Team All-American honor at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She placed 10th overall in the women’s pole vault on Thursday afternoon after clearing 4.39m.
 
“She’s had such a historic career,” Pole Vault Coach Scott Houston commented. “She’s a nine-time All-American – a seven-time first team, two-time second team. I think she’s the only female athlete that I can recall that’s qualified for every single NCAA championship she’s ever tried to qualify for so it’s a little bit bittersweet that she missed the first team this year.
 
“She jumped great indoors, reached a historic 15 foot bar as a female in college which is something that very few people in the country have ever done. Then she got a little bit of a hamstring injury through the beginning of outdoors, and we navigated it well. She broke the outdoor school record after coming back and was feeling good. Then she had some mental challenges moving back up polls and so we just missed a little bit here and there and that’s just the way the competition goes. Finishing 10th in the country is a phenomenal finish for anybody.”
 
DATE: June 12, 2025
SITE: Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon
EVENT: 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
 
Horn entered at the opening bar at 4.09m and cleared it on her second attempt. She moved up to 4.24m and cleared the bar on her first attempt. Maintaining her rhythm, she cleared the next bar at 4.39m on her first attempt. She took three attempts at 4.44m but was unable to clear it, finishing in 10th place overall.
 
This concludes Horn’s outstanding career at High Point, making her the most decorated athlete in HPU history.
 

#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam

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Antigua and Barbuda were handed a straight set defeat by St Lucia as they just missed the top podium spot in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championship held in St Kitts over the Whit weekend.

St Lucia’s Ericka Gaspard and Clio Phillip delivered a flawless run in the tournament, overpowering Antigua and Barbuda’s Jassania Joseph and Jaya Carr in straight sets (2-0), winning 21-11 and 23-21 respectively, to finish the tournament unbeaten. 

The St Lucian duo controlled the opening set with authority but had to dig deep in the second after trailing 19-20. Displaying calmness under pressure, coupled with sharp execution, Gaspard and Phillip rallied to close the match 23-21, completing their perfect tournament and claiming the gold medal.

In an interview after the victory, Phillip said, “We feel great, we are excited, we are happy. This is what we came to do, win the gold.”

Speaking about the match, Gaspard said, “We really had to work hard in the last set. Our confidence allowed us to push through the last points”.

Meanwhile, Dominica’s Alyssa Bully and Joyan Pascal secured an exciting bronze medal victory in three sets over Anguilla’s Deandra Fleming and Lavesha Richardson. Bully/Pascal came out strong to take the first set 21-14, but Fleming/Richardson fought back in a tight second set, edging it 22-20 to force a decider. In the third, Bully and Pascal regained control with a dominant 15-7 finish to clinch the 2-1 win and a spot on the podium.

The top three finishers of the event move on to represent the ECVA at the NORCECA World Championships Qualifier Tournament.

Meanwhile, Dominica’s Mervin Mingo and Bill Frederick were crowned ECVA U21 Men’s Beach Volleyball Champions for the second year in a row, delivering a confident 2-0 win (21-17, 21-15) over St Lucia’s Victor Rio and Peter Emmanuel in Sunday’s gold medal match also in St Kitts.

About The Author

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The senior’s throw earned her All-America Honorable Mention status and marked a powerful conclusion to a remarkable comeback journey. After missing two seasons due to injury, Sanders returned to competition last year and fought her way back to the national stage.

 

BEAVER RESULTS

Thursday

Javelin

18. Sara Sanders – 48.47m/159-0

 

OUR MISSION

Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary’s Beach Volleyball continues to build their 2025-26 squad in the Spring recruiting window, signing Isla Johnson out of Harbor High School in Santa Cruz. Standing at 5-8, Johnson played outside hitter for her school’s indoor team, while enjoying a benedettaandexler66@gmail.com
dominant career on the sand as well in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League. 

Over four years playing for the Pirates of Harbor High School, Johnson led her squad to four straight SCCAL Titles in beach volleyball, and two consecutive SCCAL Titles in indoor volleyball. On the hardwood, Johnson was a four time All-League honoree, culminating her prep career with League MVP honors. Following the culmination of both her prep indoor and beach career, Johnson was honored as Harbor High School’s Student-Athlete of the Year. 

Johnson originally committed to the University of Utah, but following the announcement of the Utes would be discontinuing their program, she re-opened her recruitment, and the Gaels were quick to reach out. 

Coach Harrer remarked,

“Isla is a well rounded player that will bring versatility to the team. She’s proven herself at high levels in California beach circuits and will add strength to our incoming freshman class!”

Johnson will join fellow true freshmen Bella Reyes and Ellasyn Scuba on the 2025-26 roster. 

#GaelsRise

By: Jonathon Zenk, Assistant Director of Communications

NATCHITOCHES—Two days. Two All-Americans.

It was a successful trip to nationals for Northwestern State as Roy Morris earned All-American honors Wednesday and now Maygan Shaw does the same Thursday evening.

Shaw clocked a 51.80 in the 400-meter dash to place 14^th and also earn a Second Team All-American spot during the women’s first day of nationals at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.

It is the first time a women’s sprinter has ever earned an All-American spot.

Coming out of a veteran-laden third heat in lane No. 4, she put heat on the top two qualifiers, but the top two qualifiers—Georgia’s Dejanea Oakley (50.18) and Iowa State’s Rachel Joseph (50.77) pulled away in the home stretch and were ultimately the only two to make it from the heat.

“I am so proud of her,” associate coach Adam Pennington said. “She really went for it today and just came up a little short. But to be a top 14 girl in the entire country is nothing short of amazing.

Making it last year was great, but making it individually is much different. I believe she is now the first All American sprinter in an individual event in NSU history. That’s alone tells you where she sits as the greatest.”

She will now prepare for USA championships but until then we will celebrate today and her amazing career. She loves cheese cake so we might end the night with that .

Shaw was out in front of Tennessee’s Javonya Valcourt, one of the 10 fastest 400-meter runners in college athletics, but Valcourt came back to squeak past Shaw to finish fourth in the heat and 13^th overall with a time of 51.65.

To qualify for Saturday’s finals, a runner has to finish in the top two of her heat or be one of the three next fastest times.

While only nine qualify for the finals, Shaw did once again earn a spot as an All-American.

It is the second consecutive All-American honor for Shaw, also doing so as a member of the 4×400 relay team, which also made the second team.

Shaw wasn’t the only member of the Southland Conference to earn an All-American spot, as Southeastern Louisiana’s Onyah Onyinye Favour also made the second team after finishing 16^th the event and sixth in her first heat, running a 52.39.

Another familiar name—former NSU runner Sanaria Buter—placed 21^st with a time of 52.78 for Arkansas.

Georgia went 1-2 in the semifinals, as Aaliyah Butler, the favorite in the event, ran a 50.16, finishing just .02 ahead of Oakley.

All nine finalists are from power conference teams, including five from the SEC, two each from Georgia and Arkansas.

This ends arguably the best career for any NSU sprinter ever, finishing it off with a bang with another All-American spot.

As a senior, she broke both the indoor and outdoor school records, including clocking a Southland Conference record 51.19 at the LSU Alumni Gold, shortly after breaking the SLC and school records two weeks before at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational with a 51.87, also breaking the meet record as well as the Walter P. Ledet Complex record.

Now Shaw gears up for the USA Championships, which will also be held at Hayward Field, starting on July 31 in Eugene.

Barrington’s Mia Sirois won the Class 3A girls cross country title in November at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Sandy Bressner/Shaw Local News Network

Aside from unfinished business in baseball and softball, the 2024-25 high school sports year is a wrap.

Not surprisingly, we dominated.

By “we” I mean the Daily Herald coverage area, our 80-plus high schools spread throughout Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Kendall counties.

Were there disappointments? Of course, but we saw far more triumphs. There were team and individual performances that won’t soon be forgotten, if ever.

Here’s a look at the 2024-25 school year, by the numbers.

18

The area piled up a whopping number of team state titles this school year.

That includes sweeping Class 3A boys and girls cross country (Downers Grove North and Barrington), boys and girls swimming (Hinsdale Central and Rosary) and boys and girls water polo (Naperville North and Stevenson).

Montini snared a Class 3A state football title, while the Broncos’ girls basketball team won a 3A basketball title and Benet’s boys claimed the 4A boys basketball title.

Fremd snared a piece of history by winning the IHSA’s first flag football state title.

53

That’s how many individual state titles were won in the area. Impressive.

Barrington sophomore Mia Sirois is a dynasty in the making after winning the 3A cross country title and the 3,200 meters in track and field.

Marmion senior Regan Konen wrapped up his high school career by winning a second straight Class 2A golf title.

It’d take a book to list all the individual champions, but check this out. The area won eight girls and boys swimming titles, 10 boys wrestling titles, seven girls track titles and six boys track titles.

Looking at the number of underclassmen on the list, we’ll be looking at another big medal haul in 2025-26.

1:26.75

While state titles are nothing new to the area, national records are rare.

But on Feb. 28, Hinsdale Central’s boys swimming team set a new NFHS record in the 200-yard medley relay in a stunning time of 1:26.75. The team of seniors Henry Guo and Josh Bey, junior Matt Vatev and sophomore Luke Vatev broke the previous record of 1:26.88 set by Carmel, Ind. in 2022.

15:53.40 and 10:01.12

Speaking of Sirois, she set a Detweiller Park course record in the state cross country meet while winning the race in Peoria by 37 seconds. Her 3-mile time topped the previous record, set in 2015 by Naperville North’s Judy Pendergast, by four-tenths of a second.

Last month in the state track and field meet, Sirois broke the 3A record with a time of 10:01.12 to win the title in the 3,200.

36-0

And speaking of Stevenson girls water polo, the Patriots were perfect in the pool while winning a third straight state title for the program’s second three-peat.

Only two other girls water polo teams in IHSA history have notched 36 wins — the unbeaten Stevenson teams in 2015 and 2019.

1,045

Boy, that’s a lot of wins … just ask Elk Grove softball coach Ken Grams.

On March 31, Grams — the Grenadiers’ coach for the last 45 years — helmed his team to a 3-2 win over Fenton for his IHSA record-breaking 1,045th victory.

Grams topped former St. Joseph-Ogden coach Randy Wolken, who retired after the 2018 season. They and Barrington’s Perry Peterson are the only IHSA softball coaches to eclipse the 1,000-win mark.