Sports

Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees Named for 2026

Published

1 day ago

December 18, 2025

Eight outstanding individuals and one memorable team will be inducted as the seventh class of the Tufts University Athletics Hall of Fame in April 2026.

The group of honorees represents five decades and eight sports, as Tufts continues to recognize accomplished individuals and teams from its more than 150 years of athletics history.

This seventh class will be inducted at the Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame induction dinner on April 24 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Ticket information will be released in the coming weeks.

Meet the 2026 Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame inductees:

Chance Brady, A17

Football

Chance Brady rewrote the record book and changed the trajectory of the team during his four years playing football for the Jumbos. When Brady arrived at Tufts, the team was mired in a long losing streak. By the end of his career, the team had finished with a 7-1 record in his senior season, which was its best since 1998.

Brady set or tied 13 team rushing and scoring records. His 1,099 rushing yards in 2016 and 2,692 career total are both Jumbo all-time marks. His 19 touchdowns in 2016 and 35 for his career are also Tufts standards. Brady’s 210 career points scored broke the record of Fred “Fish” Ellis, after whom Tufts’ stadium is named.

In his final game, Brady had 285 total yards (rushing and receiving) and scored five touchdowns in a 48-35 win at Middlebury College. A two-time NESCAC Player of the Year, he earned New England Football Writers and Gridiron Club Player of the Year awards as a senior.

Mark Buben, A79

Football

After a dominant career on the defensive line at Tufts, Mark Buben was signed as a free agent by the New England Patriots of the National Football League.

One of just two Jumbos to play in the NFL during the modern era, Buben appeared in 35 games during three seasons in the NFL with the Patriots (1979, 1981) and the Cleveland Browns (1982). In 1981 he had an interception that he returned 49 yards to help set up a touchdown in a 33-17 Patriots victory over the Chiefs.

At Tufts he was a ferocious defender who intimidated opposing quarterbacks. His 31 career sacks still stand as the most in team history. The 12 sacks he recorded in both 1977 and 1978 remain tied for the most in a single season at Tufts. Buben’s dominant defensive play as the team won the final four games of 1978 helped set the tone for the Jumbos’ subsequent 1979 undefeated season.

Jo Clair, A14

Softball

A leader of two national championship softball teams at Tufts, Jo Clair graduated in 2014 as one of the most prolific hitters in NCAA Division III history. A four-year starter at catcher, Clair was part of the battery with Tufts Hall of Fame pitcher Allyson Fournier that led the Jumbos to NCAA titles in 2013 and 2014. She also helped head coach Cheryl Milligan’s team win three straight NESCAC Championships from 2012-14.

Clair’s 67 career home runs are third-most in NCAA history, and her 220 runs batted in are eighth-most all-time. The 24 home runs she hit in 2014 led the nation and are tied for the second-most in a single-season ever.

Her 156 total bases that year are fourth-best for one season in NCAA history. Clair’s 498 career total bases is another NCAA all-time top-10 mark. A three-time NFCA All-American and a four-time NESCAC All-Conference honoree, including Player of the Year in 2014, Clair was also an Academic All-American as a senior.

Fred Hintlian, A76

Men’s Track & Field

Tufts’ first-ever NCAA national champion in any sport, Fred Hintlian was one of the great hurdlers of his era in track & field. At the second-ever NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Berea, Ohio, Hintlian won the 440-yard hurdles title with a time of 52.15 seconds in 1975.

Due to the NCAA switching to metric measurements for race distances in 1976, Hintlian’s 52.15 mark stands in perpetuity as the Division III record for the 440-yard hurdles event. He was also the runner-up in the NCAA 400-meter hurdles in 1976, and had been third for the 440-yard race at the 1974 Nationals, making him a three-time All-American.

During his career at Tufts, Hintlian won four Eastern Intercollegiate titles in the hurdles and was the New England champion in 1974. A five-time team MVP (indoors and outdoors), Hintlian received Tufts’ Bennett Memorial Scholarship and Frederick Melvin Ellis Prize during his career for academic and athletic excellence.

Dennis Mink, A75

Men’s Basketball

A 6’7” forward, Dennis Mink was a force in the frontcourt for the successful Tufts men’s basketball teams of the early 1970s. Despite playing just three seasons, Mink graduated in 1975 as the Jumbos’ all-time leading scorer with 1,447 points (currently seventh all-time).

He is one of just two players in Tufts history to average better than 20 points per game for his career. As a senior in 1974-75, Mink scored 23.4 points per game, including a 40-point game. He was also #2 on the team’s career rebounds list upon graduation with 839 (still fifth).

Ineligible to play on the varsity team as a freshman due to NCAA rules, Mink was a sophomore on the 1972-73 Tufts team that won 22 games, captured the ECAC New England championship, and was inducted into the Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. He averaged 12.4 rebounds that year, the third-best mark in team history. Mink’s 640 career field goals made in three seasons remain fifth all-time at Tufts.

Jessica Stewart, A02

Women’s Volleyball

The Jumbo Volleyball program’s first Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Jessica Stuart took the Jumbos to another level with her play during her career from 1998 to 2001. An all-around player, at the time of her graduation Stuart was first on the Tufts career lists for kills (1665) and service aces (214), while also ranking fifth all-time in digs (1390) and ninth in blocks (207).

She posted two of the top three single-season kills marks, including a program-best 452 kills in 1999. At the time, she was the only Jumbo ever to record 30 kills in one match, doing it twice, including 31 versus Brandeis in 2001.

She also had two of the top three Tufts career service aces totals, led by the 73 aces she served in 2001. The NESCAC Rookie of the Year in 1998 and then a two-time All-Conference selection (2000 and 2001), Stuart helped lay the groundwork for a Tufts program that would blossom in the 2000s.

Jessica Trombly Rogers, A04

Women’s Soccer / Women’s Track & Field

One of the great multi-sport athletes in Tufts history, Jessica Trombly Rogers was a leading scorer for the soccer team and a national champion hurdler in track & field.

In her first semester at Tufts, Trombly was an offensive leader on the 2000 women’s soccer team that made a dramatic run to the NCAA championship game. She was NESCAC’s Rookie of the Year that season, a three-time All-Conference honoree overall and finished her soccer career fourth on the team’s all-time scoring list with 58 points (22 goals, 14 assists).

On the track, she won the 2004 NCAA Outdoor 400-meter hurdles title with a time of 59.98 seconds. Equally impressive, Trombly won five events—200m, 400m, 55-meter hurdles, long jump, 4×400 relay—at the New England Division III Indoor Track and Field championships in 2003.

A four-time All-American overall, Trombly still holds Tufts records in the 400 meters indoors and the heptathlon outdoors. She received Tufts’ Hester L. Sargent Award as Best Female Athlete in back-to-back years (2003 and 2004).

1985-86 Women’s Swimming & Diving Team

The 1985-86 Women’s Swimming & Diving team, who will be inducted into the Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame for 2025.

Formed in 1974, the Tufts women’s swimming & diving team quickly became one of the best in New England. The program’s early success peaked when head coach Nancy Bigelow’s 1985-86 team won the New England championship and then placed 10th at the NCAA championships.

With an experienced group of swimmers and divers who had helped the team earn back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1983-84 and 1984-85, the Tufts team then captured the program’s first-ever New England championship in 1985-86.

The Jumbos defeated rival Williams College for the first time to win the New Englands, with six individuals and three relays winning titles. The team’s top-10 NCAA finish was significant because the AIAW national organization had recently disbanded and the NCAA Division III championship meet remained as the only national competition attended by Division III teams.

Eight Jumbos earned All-American honors in 10 events at the national championship. All-Americans Kelly Brown, Jane Donahue, Ann Erickson, Laurie Frankel, Ceci Grimm, Beth Harris, Ann McCann, and Amy Moran led the team.

Brown & Blue Award

Included in the bylaws for the Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame is a provision that permits the Selection Committee to present an award designed to recognize alumni, donors, benefactors, staff, friends, and supporters who have made significant contributions to the success of Tufts Athletics over the years.

The name of this very special award is The Brown & Blue Award. This year’s recipient is Mike Skeldon. The outstanding progress that Tufts University has made in improving its athletics facilities over the past 15 years is largely due to the significant contributions of Skeldon.

As senior project manager of major construction projects for Tufts, he oversaw the construction of the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, which opened in 2012 as the sparkling new home of Tufts Athletics.

He also helped develop the Athletics Master Facilities Plan, worked on the Tufts Squash Center, which opened in 2020, was part of early iterations of what would become Sol Gittleman Park for baseball, and was involved in the first round of Aquatics Center work with a prospective design/build team.

Skeldon was a natural problem-solver who could creatively figure out ways to get things done in an economically common-sense way. He passed away in 2019, but left a legacy of work that invaluably supported Tufts’ varsity, club sport, and intramural/recreation programs. He also trained with the Tufts Marathon Team, under legendary coach Don Megerle, and finished the historic Boston Marathon in 2018.

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Jackson, Reilly Take Home AVCA Positional Awards – University of Nebraska

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1 hour ago

December 20, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Nebraska volleyball’s Andi Jackson and Bergen Reilly received top positional awards at the AVCA Awards Banquet at the Kansas City Convention Center on Friday.

Jackson was named the Middle Blocker of the Year, while Reilly was named the Setter of the Year. The AVCA positional awards are new this season.

Pitt junior Olivia Babock was named the AVCA Player of the Year for the second straight season, as well as Opposite of the Year. Wisconsin’s Mimi Colyer took home Outside Hitter of the Year, and Iowa State libero Rachel Van Gorp was Libero of the Year.

Reilly set the Huskers to a school-record .351 hitting percentage, as the Big Red concluded their season with a 33-1 overall record and 20-0 mark in Big Ten play en route to a third straight conference title. Reilly averaged 10.47 assists per set and 2.70 digs per set. She also totaled 73 kills, 67 blocks and 19 aces.

Reilly was named a first-team AVCA All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Setter of the Year, AVCA Region Player of the Year and All-Big Ten First Team. NU’s .351 hitting percentage ranks first nationally and is the best hitting percentage by a Big Ten team since 2009 Penn State.

A junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., Reilly set Nebraska to a .400 or better hitting percentage nine times this season, a school record in the rally-scoring era. Reilly had double-doubles in all six of the Husker matches that went longer than three sets, and she had four double-doubles in sweeps.

A three-time AVCA All-American and one of four finalists for AVCA Player of the Year, Reilly ranks No. 3 in school history in career assists in the rally-scoring era with 3,723. Her career assists per set average of 10.70 ranks No. 4 among active Division I players and No. 2 in school history in the rally-scoring era.

Jackson was chosen to the AVCA All-America First Team for the second straight year, as well as the All-Big Ten First Team. She was also an AVCA Player of the Year Semifinalist and AVCA All-Region Team for the third straight year.

The junior middle blocker from Brighton, Colo., averaged 2.74 kills per set on .467 hitting with 1.12 blocks per set and 16 aces. Her .467 hitting percentage led the nation and was the No. 3 hitting percentage in school history for a single season.

In conference-only matches, Jackson hit .559 to break the Big Ten record for hitting percentage in conference-only matches in a season, which was .541 by Arielle Wilson from Penn State in 2008. Jackson ended her junior season with a career hitting percentage of .437, which is the No. 1 mark in school history and the No. 1 mark among active Division I players.

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YSU Collegiate Invitational Presented by Southwoods Health Meet Information

Published

2 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

2026 Youngstown State University Indoor Track & Field 14th Annual Collegiate Invitational Meet Presented by Southwoods Health will start at 1 pm | Friday, Jan. 16

Entry Registration Opens up on Direct Athletics :

Friday, December 19 at 5pm

Time Schedule of Events

Running Events start at 1pm

All Field Events start at 1pm

Running Events — Rolling Schedule Women first, Men to Follow

1pm Women 5000M

Men’s 60M Hurdles Qualifying Round

Women’s 60M Hurdles Qualifying Round

Women’s 60M Dash Qualifying Round

Men’s 60M Dash Qualifying Round

Men’s 5000M

Men’s 60M Hurdles PRELIMS

Women’s 60M Hurdles PRELIMS

Women’s 60M Dash PRELIMS

Men’s 60M Dash PRELIMS

Women’s Mile Run

Men’s Mile Run

Women’s 400M

Men’s 400M

Women’s 60M Hurdles FINALS

Men’s 60M Hurdles FINALS

Women’s 60M Dash FINALS

Men’s 60M Dash FINALS

Women’s 500M Dash FINALS

Men’s 500M Dash FINALS

Women’s 800m

Men’s 800m

Women’s 200M Dash

Men’s 200M Dash

Women’s 3000M Run

Men’s 3000M Run

Women’s 1600M Relay

Men’s 1600M Relay

Field Events Start at 12noon

Seeded Women’s Pole Vault

Seeded Men’s Pole Vault

Unseeded Women’s Pole Vault

Unseeded Men’s Pole Vault

Women’s High Jump–Men’s High Jump to follow

Women’s Weight Throw–Men’s Weight Throw to follow

Men’s Shot Put–Women’s Shot Put to follow

Men (West Pit) and Women (East Pit)

Long Jump–Triple Jump follow 20 minutes upon completion of Long Jump

**Finals in field events will consist of the top Nine marks from the qualifying rounds.**

Meet : Open NCAA sanctioned Indoor Track & Field Competition.

Timing: Fully automatic FinishLynx system

Location: The Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS) on the YSU campus. The WATTS features a full-length Shaw Sportexe Power Blade HP+ synthetic turf system football field, a 300-meter state-of-the-art mondo track surface, two long-jump pits, a high-jump pit, four batting cages, protective netting, training room and locker rooms.

GPS address: 651 Elm St. | Youngstown, OH 44555

Entries: Entries are due by Tuesday, January 13 by 7pm on Direct Athletics, consisting of event entries with best marks from the previous year or realistic projected marks. All entries will be done on-line at www.directathletics.com.

Please visit the Direct Athletics website at your earliest convenience in order to familiarize yourself with how the entry process works.

Also, please limit FIVE athletes per event. If you have an event with more than five quality athletes, please text Brian Gorby at (330) 519-7591 and we’ll help to get more entry’s added, if needed.

We always try to help accommodate additional team /individual additional Entry’s.

**Note: Please check YSUsports.com after the entry deadline for changes or adjustments to the meet time schedule!

Internet Entry Lists: Final entry lists will be posted on our website, YSUsports.com on Thursday, January 15. Please check to make sure your athletes are entered correctly. If there are mistakes or scratches, please email bdgorby@ysu.edu & ysutrackmeets@gmail.com .

Entry Fees: $ 500 per each team, men & women genders are separate, consisting of 10 or more individuals in unlimited events are paid online, when you complete Entry’s on Direct Athletics or $ 25 per individual event entry & paid online at Direct Athletics.

ENTRY FEES

$ 25 per ENTRY (i.e. 2 events entered would be $ 50 ) Entry fees must be paid in advance online when you enter on DirectAthletics (all major credit and debit cards accepted).

Relay only Entry’s $ 7 per runner for a total of $ 28 per relay team.

REFUND POLICY

Outside of meet cancellation, there is a strict NO REFUND policy on entry fees.

Absolutely no refunds will be processed due to scratches, change of plans, inability to travel, illness, injuries, etc.

Spikes: ONLY 1/4 inch or shorter pyramid spikes will be allowed and all spikes will be checked prior to events. NO pin or needle spikes, spike elements, or any other type of spike will be allowed.

High Jump: All high jump competitions will be conducted on the Mondo surface.

Sections/Heats/Flights: Flights will be seeded by distance with best marks in the latest sections/flights.

Finals in field events will consist of the top nine marks from the qualifying rounds.

There will be prelims and finals in the 60 and 60h. All other races will be run as sections against time with the fastest heats being run first.

Implement Weigh-In: 30 minutes prior to event at the Throws area.

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Texas A&M volleyball advances to national championship with sweep of Pitt

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KBTX) – Texas A&M head coach Jamie Morrison and his squad have fought through the postseason for the ability to practice together one more time, he said.

This edition of Aggies will get the maximum number of practices a team can hold.

Thursday, third-seeded A&M swept No. 1 seed Pitt (29-27, 25-21, 25-20) to punch its first-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament national title game inside Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center.

The Aggies will face Southeastern Conference-mate Kentucky Sunday at 2:30 p.m. for a shot to hoist a national championship trophy.

“This is crazy,” middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla said. “This is an absolute crazy experience. We have had faith in ourselves all year, from the first game of the season. We knew that we were capable of this, but now living it, like, ‘Wow.’ This is insane. It’s really cool.”

Outside hitter Kyndal Stowers paced the Aggies with 16 kills, followed by Logan Lednicky’s 14. Pitt’s Olivia Babcock was the match’s leading attacker with 22 kills.

A&M dominated the service line through the match, which included six service aces.

The Aggies went hit-for-hit with Pitt through an opening set that saw 17 ties and eight lead changes. Pitt weathered four Aggie set points, and had two of their own, before A&M finally put Set 1 away with a kill from Stowers.

Pitt put together an 8-0 run through the middle of the second set to take a 15-11 lead, but the Aggies immediately countered with their own 9-2 run to pull the match back in their favor. A 4-0 run ultimately put the set on ice, giving the Aggies a 2-0 lead.

A&M has built upon the experiences of the season and this set is was no different. In the Aggies’ Elite Eight win over Nebraska, the Cornhuskers put together an 8-1 run through the middle of the marathon fourth set that the Aggies ultimately dropped. Thursday, they cut off the skid before it cost them a set.

“We were like, ‘Hey, we’re not doing that again,’” Stowers said. “’They’re going on a run right now. We’re going to recognize that, props to them for what they’re doing, but we are going to go respond and we’re not going to let that keep happening.”

A&M closed out the third set on a 5-1 run to claim the match.

The Aggies hit .382 to Pitt’s .344 in the match.

“I’m proud of our team just because we talk a lot about staying present and enjoying moments and I thought, in all of those moments, we enjoyed every single second of it,” Morrison said. “Every single time we were pushed, we talked a lot about responses, and we had a response and that’s all you can ask for in these moments.”

The Aggies will be out for revenge Sunday, as Kentucky is the only squad that downed the Aggies in SEC play this season in a 3-1 Wildcat win in Reed Arena. It will be the first time in the history of the tournament two SEC teams will face each other in the championship game.

“Y’all keep hearing, ‘Why not us?’” Lednicky said. “Like, literally, ‘Why not us?’ I think we are considered the underdog in a lot of moments, just because we haven’t been here before. But we know we have all the right pieces so, ‘Why not us?’”

KBTX reporter Dylan Chryst Watkiss contributed to this report from Kansas City, Mo.

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Two Rams Named to the CSC Academic All-District Team

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The 2025-26 Academic All-District® Women’s Volleyball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

The CSC Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed at the links above.

Academic All-District® honorees were considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot.

For WSSU, Aria Caldwell and Zoe Chesson were named to the team.

Student-athletes selected as CSC Academic All-America® finalists are denoted with an asterisk and will advance to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced Jan. 13, 2026.

The Division II and III CSC Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2025-26 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs. The NAIA CSC Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported through the NAIA governance structure.

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Olivia Babcock Named Back-To-Back AVCA National Player of the Year

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

KANSAS CITY – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) named Olivia Babcock the 2025 AVCA National Player of the Year on Friday. Babcock becomes just the fifth player in the award’s history to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons. Additionally, she was honored as the inaugural AVCA Rightside Hitter of the Year, an award introduced this season.

Babcock once again swept the sport’s top individual accolades in 2025, earning AVCA National Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year and AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year honors. She is the only player in Pitt history to be named a three-time AVCA First Team All-American and was recently selected as the Pittsburgh Regional Most Outstanding Player after leading the Panthers to their fifth consecutive National Semifinal.

Earlier this season, Babcock set the program’s single-match kills record with 45 against North Carolina. She is the only player in NCAA volleyball this year to reach that mark and the first since Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson recorded 50 kills against UConn on Nov. 3, 2019.

Anchoring the Pitt offense, Babcock averaged personal-best marks of 5.17 kills per set and 2.09 digs per set. She earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors earlier this season and was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week five times during the 2025 campaign.

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Men’s Volleyball Individual Match Tickets On Sale

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

HONOLULU – Individual match tickets for the 2026 University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball season are currently on sale. Tickets may be purchased at www.etickethawaii.com or at the Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center box office (Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.).

Season tickets are still on sale starting as low as $150. Click here to purchase season tickets.

In addition, several promotions are also available for individual match tickets.

Save & Serve Wednesdays: $5 Tickets available while supplies last
Military: 30% off all matches & 50% off on April 17^th match
Hawai’i Hero’s Night: 50% off for First Responders on January 8^th match
*All special offers are based on availability and only in select seating areas.

Link to purchase individual games online: https://hawaiiathletics.evenue.net/events/MVBI

Individual Ticket Prices:
Lower Level (only single seats available)
Lower Level Sideline – $25
Lower Level Baseline
Adult – $24
Senior citizen (65 and over) – $20
Youth (ages 4-High School) – $15

Upper Level Sideline
Adult – $20
Senior citizen (65 and over) – $15
Youth (ages 4-High School) – $10
Upper Level Baseline
Adult – $17
Senior citizen (65 and over) – $10
Youth (ages 4–High School) – $8