PELLA — Two more Central College track and field athletes are coming home from the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships with All-American recognition after the meet’s final day of action Saturday.

Gunner Meyer (junior, Fairbank, Wapsie Valley HS) qualified for Saturday’s men’s 110-meter hurdles final in fifth place and was running well through eight of the 10 hurdles before taking a fall on the final hurdle. His time of 15.52 seconds was the slowest of nine runners in the final.

However, after protesting the results, it was revealed that the runner in the lane next to Meyer crossed the line and clipped his hurdle. He was disqualified, pushing Meyer to an eighth-place finish and a spot on the podium.

“He ran a great race until the last hurdle or two,” coach Brandon Sturman said. “The runner on the inside lane had his trail leg hit Gunner’s ninth hurdle. That’s just the sport; we caught a break. Gunner was deserving of a spot on the podium, but it just played out differently.”

Men’s triple jumper Kale Purcell (senior, Holton, Kan.) finished in 11th with a mark of 48 feet, 1.25 inches. A loaded field saw seven jumpers clear 15 meters (approximately 49 feet) after only six did it all season. Purcell still earned second team All-American honors.

“We obviously would have loved to make finals, but in the end he was happy with how he jumped,” Sturman said. “He jumped right around his PR. It was a tough competition. He was happy with how it ended but not satisfied.”

In her second event and third race of the weekend, Peyton Steffen (junior, Marion) was 19th in the women’s 5,000 meters in 17 minutes, 14.21 seconds.

“It was a lost faster race than last year,” Sturman said. “She was happy with how she ran. She hit her goal, but the faster race made it harder to get into those top 16 spots.”

           

In the team standings, the Dutch men tied for 26th and the women shared 52nd place. It was the men’s best finish since 2019, when they finished tied for 24th.

 

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See all the images from the boys and girls IHSA State Water Polo finals Saturday, May 24, 2025 at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The Northeast 10 Conference landed multiple student-athletes on the NCAA Division II All-America Track & Field squads at the association’s championship this weekend in Pueblo, Coloardo.  Cameron Belton headlined the group, taking second in the men’s shot put with a career-best throw.

Belton entered the NCAA Championship seeded 10th through the regular season but having come in third at the NCAA Indoors.  He then launched an 18.87 throw for his sixth 18m+ effort this academic year.  The throw was 0.05m short of an NCAA Championship for Belton.  Southern Connecticut State teammate, Natanael Barbosa Torres took home 20th in the chotput at 16.38m.

Hannah Caiola claimed the league’s best finish on the women’s side with a sixth place crossing in the women’s 400m.  Caiola ran in 53.03 seconds.  She earns All-America status for the second consecutive season.

SCSU’s cohort in Colorado wrapped up with Lawrence Hicks high jumping 2.07m — third-best of any freshman male and good for 11th overall.  Hicks is a Second Team All-American.  Osaretin Osagie finished 11th in the prelims of the men’s 110m Hurdles.

Returning All-American Malina Bohlmann checked in at 10th in the women’s Javelin from Assumption.  Bohlmann threw 46.16m.  It was her best throw since her career-high at last year’s NCAA Championship.  She was named All-American again.

Finally, Nile Love placed 18th in the men’s Long Jump at 7.18m while Gabrielle Teel went 13th in the Triple Jump and Jada Kamtha 15th in the prelims of the 100m Hurdles.  Jordany Dely earned the league’s final of three All-American nods, running the 110m Hurdles in 14.03 seconds in the athletic competition for his school as a member of the NE10.

His finish in the final earned Dely All-America honors, but his performance in the prelims earned him a new career high.  Dely’s 13.77 sec time is his new best.

ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 11 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.

Fans can subscribe via this link to follow NE10 NOW on FloSports this season.  The partnership between the NE10 and FloSports works to provide funds back to the athletic departments of the Northeast-10 Conference in support of student-athletes while promoting the league on a national platform.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay is seeking NCAA approval to compete in The Basketball Tournament, an event that typically features former college basketball players and offers a $1 million prize to the winning team.

ESPN says that Green Bay is seeking an NCAA waiver that would enable it to compete in this event rather than going on an international tour. NCAA rules allow college teams to make an overseas trip to play in exhibition games once every four years.

Green Bay athletic director Josh Moon told ESPN that the request was about providing the team more opportunities to play and suggested the prize money could go to a charity if the Phoenix happened to win the single-elimination tournament.

According to ESPN, Green Bay made the same request last year but received a denial that arrived too late for the school to file an appeal. Green Bay went 4-28 last year in the inaugural season of Doug Gottlieb’s coaching tenure.

The Basketball Tournament started in 2014 and often features teams of former college or pro players representing their alma maters.

This year’s championship game will take place Aug. 3.

Colleges cutting sports programs

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Purdue Fort Wayne joined a line of schools dropping sports because of budget cuts and the looming era of revenue sharing with athletes, announcing Friday it would discontinue its baseball and softball programs immediately.

The university announced $6 million in budget cuts Thursday, and discontinuing the two sports will save about $1 million.

The Mastadons are members of the Horizon League and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and will sponsor 14 Division I sports.

Athletic director Kelley Harley-Hutton said budget challenges across the university, in combination with changes in the NCAA model, led to a re-evaluation of the athletic program.

Stephen F. Austin announced Thursday it would drop bowling, men’s and women’s golf and beach volleyball. Eastern Illinois announced on May 12 it would discontinue men’s and women’s tennis.

Berlin thinking 2036 Games

BERLIN — Berlin is making a bid to host the Olympics again, possibly 100 years after the city hosted the 1936 Games under the Nazis.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner is to present bid plans, with help from four other German states, on Tuesday at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

The invitation sent on Friday to the presentation does not mention which Games the city is bidding for, but the next available edition will be in 2036 — the 100th anniversary of the Berlin Games. The German Olympic Sports Confederation has said a German bid for the 2040 Games is also possible.

Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Olympics and Brisbane the 2032 Olympics.

Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, known as Olympiastadion in German, was built for the 1936 Games.

Isles hire new GM from Tampa

The New York Islanders hired Mathieu Darche as their general manager on Friday.

Darche joins the Islanders after spending the past six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has two Stanley Cup rings during his time as director of hockey operations and was also assistant GM to Julien BriseBois for the past three years.

The 48-year-old former player was considered the top NHL assistant who has never held a job running a team in the league.

Darche beat out more experienced executive Marc Bergevin for the job. He succeeds Lou Lamoriello in the role after the 82-year-old longtime executive’s contract was not renewed.

He played 268 regular-season and playoff games from 2001-12 as a winger with Columbus, Nashville, San Jose, Tampa Bay and Montreal.

Geneva, Ohio – May 24, 2025 – Springfield College senior Samantha Paul (Albany, N.Y.) represented the Pride at the 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships on Saturday afternoon in the triple jump.

Paul, who entered her second appearance this year on the national stage seeded 13th in the triple jump, registered a mark of 11.54-meters (37 feet, 10.5 inches) this afternoon to finish in 20th place.

Paul had a very successful senior campaign that saw her claim NCAA Second Team All-America honors in the triple jump at the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships. She also set the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship meet record and claimed a gold medal in the triple jump with a leap of 11.93-meters.

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