College Station, Texas – North Dakota State’s Sam Roller and South Dakota’s Tre Young punched thier tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday to headline the opening day of competition amongst Summit League atheltes.
Kansas City
Tory Lanham claimed one of the top three automatic spots in his heat by sprinting a 20.73 in the 200-meter dash. The Roo sophomore ranks 12th heading into the quarterfinals on Friday at 7:50 PM.
North Dakota
Ethan Thomas (shot put) and Jiri Ceska (800 meters) were the first North Dakota track and field athletes to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Wednesday.
Thomas finished 35th in the shot put with a toss of 57-11 1/4 (17.66m). His throw gave him the longest throw at the NCAA Regional in program history and he also now owns the best finish in the event in school history on the men’s side at the meet. The previous best shot put throw for UND at the NCAA Regional was owned by Shawn Johnson, who had a toss of 53-9 1/4 (16.39m) at the 2014 NCAA West Preliminary Round. By throwing the shot, Thomas became just the fourth UND athlete on the men’s side to compete in the event at the meet in program history.
Ceska took 40th in the 800 meters with a time of 1:50.64. With his time, he now has the second-fastest 800-meter time on the men’s side at the meet in school history, trailing only Jesse Middendorf, who ran a time of 1:50.50 at the 2023 NCAA West Preliminary Round. Ceska is now the fourth runner in UND history on the men’s side to compete at the meet in the 800 meters.
Ceska drew heat one and was shy of the time to qualify for the 800-meter quarterfinal on Friday. The final qualifying time in his heat went to Edouard Lecrivain of Texas Christian, who ran a time of 1:48.96.
North Dakota State
Senior javelin thrower Sam Roller advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday to headline the opening day of competition for the North Dakota State men’s track & field team at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.
Roller (Thompson, N.D.) is headed to the NCAA Championships for the first time, throwing a career best 231-1 (70.43m) on his final attempt for eighth place in the javelin on Wednesday. The top 12 finishers in each event advance to Eugene, Ore., for the national meet.
Bison senior Zack Ramos finished 19th in the shot put with a throw of 60-00.50 (18.30m), an improvement of 16 places over his seed entering the meet.
Bison sophomore Jayden Williams placed 27th in the long jump in his NCAA debut with a leap of 23-11 (7.29m).
NDSU’s 110 hurdle trio of Blake Nyenati (13.92), Brooks Turner (13.96), and Brock Johnsen (14.20) finished 28th, 32nd, and 40th respectively.
South Dakota
South Dakota senior Tre Young punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships during Wednesday evening’s NCAA West Preliminary competition in College Station. Young will make his first trip to Eugene, Oregon and the NCAA Championships after placing 12th at Wednesday’s pole vault semifinal with a clearance of 17-5.5 (5.32m).
Spencer Buley also cleared 17-5.5 during Wednesday’s competition, but he needed third attempt clearances at all of the bars he went over putting him outside of the top 12 to finish 14th. Beau Karst cleared 16-11.5 (5.17m) in his first NCAA West appearance. Wyatt Stewart competed as well, but was not able to clear the opening bar at 16-5.5 bar.
On the track, all three Coyotes advanced to the quarterfinals Friday evening. In the first race of the night, Jaden Damiano ran 13.68 in the first heat of the 110-meter hurdles, taking the third qualifying spot in the heat. In the final heat of the 110 hurdles, Mikael Grace did the same thing as Damiano, taking the third qualifying spot of his heat with a time of 13.75.
Mason Sindelar was not able to claim one of the top three automatic in his heat, but the 1:48.93 time he finished with placed him 22nd out of 24 qualifying spots.
Damiano and Grace compete in the 110-meter hurdle quarterfinal at 6:15 p.m. Friday. Sindelar’s 800-meter quarterfinal is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
South Dakota State
South Dakota State’s Pierre Lear competed in the preliminary heats of the 110-hurdles Wednesday at the NCAA West Regional.
Lear posted a time of 13.76, placing 21st to qualify for the quarterfinals on Friday at 6:15 PM.
Lear’s teammates take the track Thursday to continue the Jackrabbits’ week in Texas.
Thursday, May 29
6 p.m. 100-meter hurdles (Brielle Dixon)
9:10 p.m. 10,000-meter run semifinals (Jessica Lutmer and Courtney Stadter)
Setter: Madison Markwardt, Round Top-Carmine, soph.
Libero/Defensive Specialist: Ana Servin, Sulphur Bluff, sr.
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Professional Volleyball League team Choco Mucho Flying Titans announced four addition to their team, Eya Laure, Jaila Atienza, Alina Bicar, and Caitlin Viray, for 2026 on Wednesday.
“The Choco Mucho Flying Titans welcome 4 new players to the team! They bring the grit, speed, and fire that will make every match unforgettable,” they wrote in their post.
This came after Royse Tubino, Bia General, Cherry Nunag, and Aduke Agunsanya ended their stint with the team. (Instagram/Choco Mucho Flying Titans)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – – Belmont University student-athletes recorded another remarkable semester in the classroom as 2025 fall semester grades were finalized last week.
For the 2025 fall semester, the departmental grade-point average (GPA) was 3.530, which marked the 56th consecutive semester that Belmont student-athletes have earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher. In addition, it was the 12th straight semester that the department GPA was over a 3.5.
“Our student-athletes continue to do an amazing job in the classroom,” said Scott Corley, Belmont’s Vice President/Director of Athletics. “That success is a credit to our student-athletes, coaches, and academic support staff who continue to maintain our department’s commitment to academic excellence.”
Highlights from the fall semester included:
64 percent of student-athletes achieved a semester GPA of 3.5 or higher
85 percent of student-athletes achieved a semester GPA of 3.0 of higher
15 percent of student-athletes earned a perfect 4.00 GPA
9 Bruin teams posted a team GPA of 3.5 or higher for the semester.
About Belmont University
Located two miles from downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont University comprises nearly 9,000 students from every state and 33 countries. Nationally ranked and consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report for innovation in higher education, the University offers more than 115 areas of undergraduate study, 41 master’s programs and eight doctoral degrees. With a focus on whole-person formation and data-informed social innovation, Belmont is committed to forming diverse leaders of character equipped to solve the world’s complex problems. For more information, visit www.belmont.edu.
After winning the women’s Volleyball Nations League and the FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship earlier in the year, Italy crowned a great season with the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship title. Turkiye reached a World Championship final for the first time in history and settled for silver, while Brazil completed the podium with bronze. The year’s top event was held in Thailand from August 22 to September 7.
The first World Championship under the new biennial cycle and with an expanded 32-team format marked a breakthrough moment for the sport, with unprecedented audiences across volleyball’s major markets. Volleyball World’s OTT platform, VBTV, added further momentum with more than 7 million views across the championship. The Italy v Brazil semifinal attracted 350 thousand viewers, while the final drew 250 thousand, underscoring the global appetite for premium volleyball coverage beyond traditional broadcast. Social media popularity of the competition was expressed in 7.8 thousand posts and 145 million impressions, as well as 48 million YouTube views.
The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight round-robin pools of four for the first phase of the competition. Reigning Paris 2024 Olympic champions Italy cruised through Pool B undefeated, dropping a set only in their match against Belgium. They went on to sweep their eighthfinal against Germany and their quarterfinal against Poland in straight sets. In a hard-fought semifinal against Brazil, the Italians came back from a set down twice before emerging with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 28-30, 25-22, 15-13) victory. The gold medal showdown in Bangkok was also pushed to five sets. This time Turkiye came back from a set down twice to get closer than ever to the world title, but the trophy went to Italy after they prevailed in the tie-breaker, 3-2 (25-23, 13-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-8). It was the second world crown for Italy, after their 2002 triumph. They also won silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022.
“I still can’t believe it,” Italian super-star opposite Paola Egonu said after the gold medal match. “I’m really proud of the team and incredibly happy. This is a moment I’ll never forget. It’s probably the last time for some of our players, too, and my heart is full now.”
Turkiye also reached the final undefeated. They did not lose a single set in Pool E, shut out Slovenia in the eighthfinals and beat USA in four sets in the quarterfinals. Another four-set victory, a 3-1 (16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 27-25) comeback in the semifinal against Japan, propelled Turkiye to their first ever World Championship final and secured them their first ever World Championship medal.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship silver medalists Turkiye
Brazil also won Pool C unbeaten, but only after coming back from two sets down to reverse-sweep their match against France. After a four-set eighthfinal victory over the Dominican Republic and a tight straight-set quarterfinal against France, they lost narrowly to Italy in the semis, but bounced back in the third-place playoff against Japan. A nail-biting 3-2 (25-12, 25-17, 19-25, 27-29, 18-16) win added the sixth medal to their World Championship collection. Brazil now have four silvers and two bronzes.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship bronze medalists Brazil
Japan, USA, the Netherlands, Poland, France, China, Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Slovenia, Ukraine, Spain, Sweden, Kenya, Greece, Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Czechia, Colombia, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Slovakia, Vietnam and Cameroon, in that order, took the places from fourth to 32nd in the final standings.
Italy’s 27-year-old setter Alessia Orro was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Championship. She also headlined the Dream Team, which featured opposite Melissa Vargas (Turkiye), outside hitters Mayu Ishikawa (Japan) and Gabriela Guimaraes (Brazil), middle blockers Anna Danesi (Italy) and Eda Erdem (Turkiye), and libero Monica De Gennaro (Italy).
The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Dream Team
Click here for the official FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship website.
Jasper Samuelson and Emmett Schumann on their way to first and third-place finishes in the freshman-sophomore 600-meter run.
A small crew represented Bonac boys indoor track at a crossover meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood on Dec. 21, but the track and field athletes who did compete turned in impressive performances.
Coach Kevin Barry said only half of the team was able to participate because of winter recess and illnesses. At least seven runners were out with the flu.
The highlight came from Eduardo Calle, who became the first Bonac long jumper to break 20 feet in 15 years, with a leap of 20 feet 1 inch — good for third place.
“This is his second winter track season,” Barry said. “He jumped 19 feet 1 inch last year and has been improving every meet so far. Twenty feet was the goal for him going into the season. Now he has new goals to set.”
Jasper Samuelson and Emmett Schumann finished first and third over all in the freshman-sophomore 600-meter run, with times of 1:31.89 and 1:36.41. Samuelson also won the 300-meter dash immediately afterward in 40.38 seconds. Samuelson is now the fastest sophomore in Suffolk County, while Schumann is the second fastest freshman, both in the 600-meter distance.
Sean Perez, a senior, finished the 1,000-meter run in 2:50 — good for fifth place.
Coach Barry called his athletes “very dedicated and hard-working,” and said they’ll keep at it over winter recess. “As a team, we are hoping to get some good work done during the holiday break and survive the flu that is going around to set us up for the big meets coming in January.”
