EUGENE, Ore. – In his first NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship at Hayward Field, combined events student-athlete Cole Wilson was named a Second Team All-American in the decathlon. The Canadian compiled a program record 7,662 points across the 10 events to finish in 11th place.
 
Wilson became the first High Point combined events athlete to qualify and compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In March, he was the first HPU combined events athlete to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships where he placed 14th overall and earned Second Team All-American honors. Three months later, he made his second NCAA Championship appearance and improved by three placements for 11th overall after entering the competition with the 24th best score.
 
“Cole competed incredibly well,” Coach Hillary Holmes stated. “He was ranked last heading into this championship, and he moved up 13 places with a personal best score. That is not an easy task. With this being his first time in Eugene, and first Panther decathlete to compete at NCAAs, we are so very proud of how he represented HPU. Looking forward to more fun competitions in the future!”
 
DATE: June 12, 2025
SITE: Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon
EVENT: 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
 
On day one, Wilson competed in the first five events and posted solid marks to finish the day in 11th place. He began the week with the 100m dash and recorded a 10.95 time. He moved on to the long jump and jumped 7.01m for 10th in the field. In the shot put, Wilson threw 13.67m. In the high jump, he had one of the best clears in the field with a new personal best 2.01m for sixth place. In the last event of day one, he clocked 50.57 seconds in the 400m.
 
Moving on to day two for the last five events of the week, he opened on the home straight away with the 100m hurdles and clocked a 15.11 time. In the infield, he had a solid throw in the discus with a 40.96m mark to place 10th in the field. In the pole vault, he cleared three bars after entering at the 4.51m height. He posted a 4.71m height to finish eighth in the field.
 
“Cole has been working so hard for so long and done such a great job,” Pole Vault Head Coach Scott Houston stated. “On the pole vault side, he’s worked on being consistent and he’s gotten his consistency up. It’s been a dependable event for him so we’re happy to see him keep improving. Coach Holmes has done a phenomenal job with him and they’re a force to be reckoned with, so we’re excited to have him back next year.”
 
He threw close to his personal best in the javelin with a 52.98m launch for 10th place in the field. Closing out the final event of the decathlon, he clocked a 4:38.58 time in the 1500m.
 
In the end Wilson compiled a program record 7,662 points in his final meet of the 2025 season.

Along with Wilson on the men’s side, Ricardo Montes de Oca qualified for the NCAA Championships in the pole vault. During the competition on Wednesday afternoon, Montes de Oca experienced an injury and was unable to attempt a jump to register a height.

“Warmups were going well for Ricardo and then he caught a calf cramp at the beginning of the competition,” Houston added. “As a freshman, we’re excited for his future and for his ability to qualify for both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships. We’ve just got to get him healthy and teach him how to manage the travel and expectations with everything. He’s going to be a big hitter for us in the future and we’re looking forward to his success and that’s going to be something that all the High Point fans should really be looking out for.”

#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam

Despite following shortly after indoor, the outdoor season can feel like a blank slate for student-athletes due to the shift in events, format and competition environment. 

For the Texas men’s track and field team, the switch was a much-needed reset. After placing 14th out of 15 at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in its conference meet opener, the Longhorns focused on changing the narrative and restoring the expected high level of performance. 

“We’re all irritated, we’re all pissed off,” junior Logan Popelka said earlier in the outdoor season. “We all want to go be great, and we want to show everybody that. Just because we had a bad performance indoors doesn’t mean we are a bad team.”

Popelka and his teammates knew they were capable of rebounding. 

And they have.

The Texas men have been in the Top 20 of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association team rankings throughout the outdoor season, entering the SEC Championships at No. 13. It marked a clear improvement from indoor, in which the Longhorns continuously fell in the rankings and finished outside of the Top 25. 

At the SEC Outdoor Championships, held on Kentucky’s campus in mid-May, the Texas men came in seventh. That development led to the NCAA First Round in College Station, where championship qualifying spots were on the line.

Nine Texas men across seven different events qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, this week. Sophomore Osawese Agbonkonkon (high jump), junior Kody Blackwood (400-meter hurdles, 4×400-meter relay), junior Chris Brinkley Jr. (4×400-meter relay), sophomore Xavier Butler (200-meter, 4×100-meter relays), senior Kelsey Daniel (triple jump), Popelka (4×400-meter relays), junior John Rutledge (4×100-meter relay, 4×400-meter relays), senior Almond Small (4×100-meter relay) and junior Kendrick Smallwood (110-meter hurdles, 4×100-meter relay) make up the group.

The first day of men’s events was held on Wednesday, with the remainder being completed on Friday. Women’s events take place on Thursday and will conclude on Saturday. Ten Texas women in six different events will compete in Eugene, making it 19 total for the Longhorns.

On Wednesday, four of five Texas events competing in track semifinals advanced to Friday’s finals. 

The headliner is Smallwood, who qualified for the 110-meter hurdle final with the second-best semifinal time. He has not lost a race in the event all season and now owns the top eight fastest times in Texas history. Smallwood has the chance to close a perfect outdoor season by becoming an NCAA champion on Friday. 

He will also take part in the 4×100-meter relay alongside Rutledge, Small and Butler. The squad finished third in their heat but had the eighth-best time overall, earning them qualification for Friday.

Butler finished second in his heat in the 200-meter, allowing him entry into the final. He will be making two finals appearances in his first NCAA Championships. 

Blackwood advanced to the 400-meter hurdle finals after running the third-fastest time in the semifinals. Expect him to be in the mix down the stretch, as he has been amongst the top competitors in the event all season. Agbonkonkon, debuting on the championship stage, and Daniel, in his fourth NCAA meet, will have their field events to round out Texas’s action. 

With six events on Friday, the Longhorns could return to Austin with podium finishes, confirming the success of their outdoor season bounce-back.

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.

Eugene, Ore. – Lilly Urban competed at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Thursday, placing third in the first flight and 11th overall with a best throw of 55.27m. 

Urban continued her form this season of having her best throw on her first throw, hurling the javelin 55.27m, and did not improve on her next two throws. Urban’s 11th place finish earned her All-America Second Team honors, her first All-America honor of her two year Nevada career. Urban also notched the highest finish in the NCAA Championship javelin competition by a Nevada athlete. 

Urban set the Nevada all-time record for javelin and will look to break more records next season, in her Junior year. 

This concludes the Nevada Track and Field outdoor season, the Pack will be back for indoor season with home meets starting this December. 

Nevada Results

Javelin

11. Lilly Urban – 55.27m 

IS EIGHT ENOUGH?: The Southern Regional boys volleyball team gathers around the NJSIAA Group 3 championship trophy and banner after defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 on June 12 in South Brunswick. (Photos by David Biggy)

Two years ago when the Southern Regional boys volleyball team defeated Bridgewater-Raritan for the NJSIAA Group 4 championship, Yeferson Figueroa had a chance to hold the trophy, but he didn’t have much of a part in the Rams’ success other than being a rah-rah guy from the sideline.

This season, as a senior, he finally occupied a roster position and actually played at various points of 12 sets. On June 12, he didn’t get into the Group 3 championship match against Scotch Plains-Fanwood, but he didn’t care.

“My mentality has always been that if I can’t be on the court, I have to help my people somehow, some way, whether that’s by being the loudest on the bench or encouraging them wherever they are,” Figueroa said after the Rams captured the title with a grueling, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 victory in South Brunswick. “I love these guys, and I’d do anything for them. I told them before the match, ‘We’ve had so many great experiences, so why not end it all with one great note?’ And it feels amazing. It’s been a pleasure playing with all these guys.”

The Rams (30-1) didn’t play amazing volleyball against the Raiders – at times, they were downright sloppy – but they scored points when they mattered most.

SECURED: Southern Regional junior Van Miller delivers the winning kill in the third game of the Rams’ grueling title victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

“We didn’t play well, but this, tonight, went way beyond volleyball,” said head coach Eric Maxwell, whose Rams now have won 11 state titles, including eight with the boys. “It was about toughness, sticking together, just keep fighting. A lot of it wasn’t pretty, but they just kept battling. Our guys know how to play volleyball, but the fight is what mattered tonight.”

With the first game tied 4-4, junior David Bruther delivered an ace to help set off a 7-1 spurt that gave Southern an 11-5 lead that SPF eventually trimmed to a point, 18-17. But after an Aiden Krinic kill to make it 19-17, Scotch Plains-Fanwood mixed in several points with several errors to remain behind by two, 21-19.

Southern middleman Van Miller hammered down a shot to make it 22-19 before the Rams closed out the set with kills from Jonah Krinic, Miller and Aiden Krinic.

The Raiders took a 5-1 lead in the second game, but it became more of a back-and-forth mess of mistakes by both squads. After Jonah Krinic scored on a block to tie the set at 22-22, Scotch Plains-Fanwood grabbed the lead with a kill, only to make a passing error that again knotted the set. SPF regained the lead on the next play; then Southern’s Jack Malandro hit a ball out of bounds to seal the second set for the Raiders.

SET IT UP: Southern Regional junior David Bruther winds up for a serve that dropped for an ace to give the Rams match point.

The third game was even more of a back-and-forth grind than the first two sets, with neither team going up by more than a point or two. After a net encroachment was called on Southern to give the Raiders (27-5) a 17-16 lead, Aiden Krinic bashed one of his 17 kills to tie the game, and the two teams traded punches from there.

Another net encroachment infraction by the Rams made it 22-21 in favor of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, but a passing error on the Raiders again created a deadlock before Aiden Krinic scored on another kill to push the Rams out in front to stay.

Then Bruther dropped the bomb – the delivery of a top-spin serve that fell between several Raiders, giving the Rams match point.

“I was nervous, so bad. I just wanted to get that ball in,” Bruther said. “I knew we could handle the stuff on our side, but I wanted to make them do something big to make a play on us. When that ball hit the floor, I was so joyful. All glory to God, but it was 100% the best ace of my life.”

Bruther served the next ball into the net to make it 24-23, but Miller hammered down a kill, his 12th of the contest, to the left side to secure the championship – the first in Group 3 after winning seven Group 4 crowns.

FIRED UP: Southern senior Brody Reynolds clutches the trophy as the Rams celebrate.

“This one is especially different because it puts us ahead of Bridgewater-Raritan for the most state titles ever,” Aiden Krinic said. “There was so much tension. I played against Old Bridge in the sectional final last year, and this had more tension than that. The crowd wasn’t heckling me, but I felt it.”

Jonah Krinic finished with four kills, 11 digs and an ace, while Jack Malandro added six kills, Brody Reynolds tallied 19 digs, and Logan Homme ended with 41 assists to go with 11 digs.

“We have a very special bond on our team,” Jonah Krinic said. “Every moment we’re on the court, we’re together, and yesterday in practice we talked about this. Maxwell said that no matter what happens, we’re a family and we deserve to win it. We stay close, and that’s the way we win these big matches.”

— David Biggy

biggy@thesandpaper.net