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University of Utah Athletics

SALT LAKE CITY —University of Utah beach volleyball head coach Brenda Whicker announced today her retirement from coaching after spending the past eight seasons at the helm of the Utes. A member of the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame, Whicker was just the second coach in Utah beach volleyball history, taking over the program […]

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1 week ago

April 26, 2025

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SALT LAKE CITY —University of Utah beach volleyball head coach Brenda Whicker announced today her retirement from coaching after spending the past eight seasons at the helm of the Utes.

A member of the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame, Whicker was just the second coach in Utah beach volleyball history, taking over the program in 2018 after the team’s inaugural season. Whicker and the Utes concluded the 2025 season earlier today in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

“The University of Utah is like a second home to me,” Whicker said. “My time at Utah began as a player and I have been so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to come back here and coach. It’s been so fun to be a part of this program from the beginning and to see the growth of beach volleyball in college athletics. I have been very blessed to coach some amazing young women and I will forever cherish the relationships and experiences we’ve had together. I have learned and grown a lot because of them. Even though I won’t be on the court with them anymore, I will continue to cheer them on and support the program. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the journey. Go Utes!”

Whicker completed her eighth season leading the Utes on Friday, wrapping up a year in which her team surpassed the program record for wins in a season, with 21, and earned a top 25 ranking for the first time. The previous record for most wins was set by Whicker and the Utes in 2024, when Utah finished with 19 victories. Utah upset Arizona on Thursday to advance to today’s tournament’s semifinal round.

“Brenda Whicker has done a fantastic job leading our beach volleyball program,” said Director of Athletics Mark Harlan. “A Utah Athletics Hall of Famer, she finishes her coaching career having led the most successful seasons in the program’s history in her final two seasons, and I’m appreciative of the guidance, leadership and mentoring she has provided to the young women in her program. They have represented Utah Athletics in an exemplary fashion in competition, the classroom and our community. We wish Brenda and her family all the best in her retirement.”

Since taking over the reins of the program from JJ Van Niel, who coached the program’s inaugural season in 2017, Whicker has steadily built the program and raised expectations.

Whicker earned her first win as head coach with a 4-1 victory over CSU Bakersfield in 2018. Later in her first year at the helm of the program, Utah earned its first win over a Pac-12 Conference squad by defeating Oregon 4-1 in the first round of the Pac-12 Championships.

In 2019, Whicker and the Utes hosted the program’s first home event at the Lassonde Beach Courts, welcoming Colorado Mesa and Boise State. Utah has since made the Utah Beach Classic an annual event. Heading into the following year, Utah faced its tough slate of Pac-12 opponents and national powerhouses before the 2020 season was prematurely ended due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The 2022 season entered a new era for the Utah beach program as Whicker had a primarily beach-recruited roster for the first time. She welcomed 10 newcomers with eight of the athletes being beach-recruited freshmen. The schedule was highlighted by the program’s first regular season win over a Pac-12 opponent. The Utes took down Oregon 3-2 at the Pac-12 South Event and would later receive votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the first time in program history.

Whicker’s Utes rebounded in 2024 from a tough 2023 season, and finished with a 19-16 record. Utah put together its longest win streak in program history, with six wins in a row, including four straight during its home weekend. Throughout the season, Utah secured six wins by way of a 5-0 court sweep. In just its third season with a fully beach-recruited roster, the Utes set a season-high wins mark, nearly hitting the 20-win benchmark with an overall record of 19-16.

Whicker (formerly Brenda Barton) was an indoor volleyball player at Utah under current head coach Beth Launiere from 1994-97. She left Utah with the most kills, digs and aces in program history. Whicker was a three-time all-conference selection, and as a sophomore was an All-District honoree. She was a four-year starter for the Utes and was the first player in school history to be named an AVCA District VII All-American in 1995. Whicker was also the first Ute in program history to be named the AVCA National Player of the Week when she did so on Sept. 15, 1997.

She was just one of just six players that had recorded at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career while playing for Utah. She currently ranks fourth all-time with 1,565 career kills and sixth overall with 1,313 career digs. Whicker, the program’s all-time leader with 161 career service aces, was inducted into Utah’s Crimson Club Hall of Fame in 2010.

In addition to having played in the Salt Lake City AVP tournament back in 2013, Whicker also played a beach circuit from 2009-10 where she and her playing partner won in-state tournaments to qualify for a national event that was played in both San Francisco and Chicago. She won the Steamboat Tournament in Colorado back in 2013 and finished in third-place at the Motherlode Tournament on two separate occasions.

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TCU beach volleyball wins first national championship

TCU won the program’s first beach volleyball national championship on Sunday by defeating Loyola Marymount 3-2 in the title matches in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Horned Frogs (32-5) became just the third school to win a national title since the national championship began in 2016, joining USC and UCLA. Advertisement With the match tied at […]

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3 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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TCU won the program’s first beach volleyball national championship on Sunday by defeating Loyola Marymount 3-2 in the title matches in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The Horned Frogs (32-5) became just the third school to win a national title since the national championship began in 2016, joining USC and UCLA.

With the match tied at 2-2, TCU’s duo of Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno came up clutch in the final set as the duo kept their unbeaten streak at Gulf Shores alive.

The duo of Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara also finished the tournament undefeated as they took the first set against LMU.

The Horned Frogs entered the 16-team field as the No. 2 seed and also defeated Georgia State, Texas and Cal Poly on their way to the national championship.

The win over the Longhorns in the quarterfinals was also a historic feat as TCU improved to 42-0 all-time against teams from the state of Texas.

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Hopkins Grabs Eighth Centennial Outdoor Track Title

Story Links COLLEGEVILLE, PA – The Johns Hopkins men’s outdoor track team earned eight medals, including three golds, and the Blue Jays used 15 top-five finishes on the final day of the 2025 Centennial Conference Championships to fuel a run to the eighth conference title in program history. The Blue Jays finished […]

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16 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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COLLEGEVILLE, PA – The Johns Hopkins men’s outdoor track team earned eight medals, including three golds, and the Blue Jays used 15 top-five finishes on the final day of the 2025 Centennial Conference Championships to fuel a run to the eighth conference title in program history. The Blue Jays finished with 218 points to unseat three-time defending conference champion Ursinus, which placed second with 171 points.

The 218 points the Blue Jays amassed are the third-most Johns Hopkins has earned in Centennial Conference Championship history.

In addition to the team title, the Blue Jays also nabbed the Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet in sophomore Sebastian Tangelson.

Johns Hopkins, which trailed by two points entering the final day of competition at the three-day championship, scored points in 12 of 13 events on Sunday to pull away from the Bears. Five of the 15 top-five finishes for the Blue Jays on Sunday came in the final three events.

First-place finishes and top performances for the Blue Jays on Sunday:

Triple Jump – The Blue Jays picked up the first of their three Sunday golds as Oluwademilade Adeniran eased to the title with a leap of 14.32-meters, which was more than a foot father than teammate Ethan Oluwole, who grabbed silver with a mark of 13.97-meters. Oluwole’s jump was a season best and Sebastian Tangelson added a fifth-place finish (13.46).

5,000-Meter – Junior Emmanuel Leblond continued his impressive season and became Hopkins’ second all-time champion in the 5000 as he cruised across in 14:07.20. The mark is a season-best for Leblond, a meet record and the 10^th-best time in the nation this season. Tommy Li (4^th / 14:45.73), Nash Minor (6^th / 14:55.84) and Sean Enright (7^th / 14:57.07) teamed with Leblond to grab 20 team points in the event for the Blue Jays.

4×400-Meter Relay – The third and final gold medal on the day for the Blue Jays came in the final event as the team of Alex Colletti, Spencer Ye, Fisayo Omonije and Joshua Lee crossed the line in a meet-record time of 3:16.65. This is the seventh time in Centennial Championship history that Johns Hopkins has won the event and the time is the second-best in Johns Hopkins history.

1,500-Meter – The Blue Jays earned a silver and placed four runners in the top seven to grab 18 points. Aiden Tomov finished as the runner-up with a time of 3:55.61, while Brady Ott (4^th / 3:58.42), Connor Oiler (6^th / 3:58.87) and Rowan Cassidy (7^th / 3:58.64) added crucial team points with their top-seven finishes.

4×100-Meter Relay – The Johns Hopkins team of Alex Colletti, Spencer Ye, Josh Lee and Carter Chui posted a Blue Jay school-record time of 41.68 to earn a runner-up finish.

100 & 200-Meter – Alex Colletti grabbed silver in the 100 and 200-meter dashes to earn 16 individual points to go along with his efforts on the first-place 4×400-meter relay and the runner-up 4×100-meter relay. He crossed in 10.78 seconds in the 100 and 21.85 in the 200. Joshua Gregory (5^th / 22.57) and Spencer Ye (6^th / 22.65) added top-six finishes with Gregory’s time a season best.

The final medal of the day for the Blue Jays came in the 800-meter run as the Blue Jays’ Evan Kelly grabbed bronze with a personal-best time of 1:52.93. Fisayo Omonije was just behind in fourth place as he clocked in at 1:53.16.

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Louisville economy helped by volleyball Final Four at KFC Yum! Center

The volleyball championship is tied with the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball regional for the highest economic impact of any NCAA championship event the city has hosted. Video: One-on-one interview with Louisville volleyball coach Dan Meske Louisville Cardinals volleyball coach Dan Meske sits down with The Courier Journal to discuss his career and vision for the […]

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17 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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The volleyball championship is tied with the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball regional for the highest economic impact of any NCAA championship event the city has hosted.

These numbers were determined by the Economic Impact Calculator from Destinations International, which Louisville Tourism has used since 2017.
Last year’s NCAA volleyball championship, which spanned four days, set multiple attendance records at the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville is known nationally as basketball country. But those who live in the city are well aware of its love affair with volleyball.

The sport’s NCAA championship returned to Louisville in December — 12 years after it first hosted the event — and left a grand financial mark.

The 2024 national semifinals and final had an estimated economic impact of $12.7 million, Louisville Tourism director of sports market development Gen Howard told The Courier Journal. The accompanying American Volleyball Coaches Association convention had an estimated economic impact of $2.6 million, making for a total impact of $15.3 million. It’s tied with the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball regional for the highest economic impact of any NCAA championship event the city has hosted, Howard said.

These numbers were determined by the Economic Impact Calculator from Destinations International, which Louisville Tourism has used since 2017. D.I. is “the global association for destination professionals,” and its calculator is an industry standard used by more than 375 destination entities in North America. The calculator takes two types of data into account when evaluating the economic impact of a given event:

One, event-specific data.

Two, city-specific data.

Event-specific data includes information like type of event (in this case, a sporting event, but more specifically, a volleyball tournament), attendance (including athletes participating in the tournament or meet), ticket sales and length of stay. Louisville Tourism gets this information from the event producer. For the volleyball championship, that was the NCAA.

Last year’s NCAA volleyball championship, which spanned four days, set multiple attendance records at the KFC Yum! Center. The semifinals between Louisville vs. Pitt and Nebraska vs. Penn State on Dec. 19 had an announced attendance of 21,726 — an NCAA semifinals record. The final between Louisville and Penn State on Dec. 22 broke the national indoor record with an announced attendance of 21,860.

City-specific data remains unchanged by Louisville Tourism. This information takes into account eight different sources of industry information like local taxes (such as sales tax, which is 6% in Kentucky), cost of living and average room rate.

The 2012 NCAA final between Texas and Oregon was the fourth most attended volleyball match in Division I history at the time, attracting 16,448 to the KFC Yum! Center. It still sat inside the top 20 ahead of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The 2012 national semifinals between Oregon-Penn State and Texas-Michigan entertained 13,385 in-person fans, making those the 13th most attended volleyball match at the time.

The 2023 NCAA men’s basketball regional had an economic impact of $15.3 million, Howard told The Courier Journal. The regional semifinals between Alabama vs. San Diego State and Creighton vs. Princeton drew 20,289 spectators, according to NCAA records. The regional final between SDSU and Creighton drew 20,051 fans.

The city of Louisville has previously hosted the NCAA men’s cross-country championship in 2012, 2015 and 2017. And the 2023 NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup was played at 15,300-seat Lynn Family Stadium. But it’s the KFC Yum! Center’s 22,090-seat capacity that makes it optimal for hosting high-profile events.

Louisville volleyball ended its 2024 campaign as national runner-up to Penn State. The Cards are now led by former associate head coach Dan Meske, who took over for Dani Busboom Kelly after she accepted the head coaching job at her alma mater Nebraska. U of L most recently defeated rival Kentucky 3-1 in a spring match April 18 at L&N Arena.

Reach college sports enterprise reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

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TCU knocks off Loyola Marymount to claim 2025 Women’s Beach Volleyball NCAA National Championship

The TCU Beach Volleyball team won its first national title in program history Sunday, beating Loyola Marymount 3-2 in five sets. The women were the first program not named USC or UCLA to win the NCAA title since beach volleyball was deemed a championship sport in 2016. Over nine total championships (2020 was canceled due […]

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21 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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The TCU Beach Volleyball team won its first national title in program history Sunday, beating Loyola Marymount 3-2 in five sets. The women were the first program not named USC or UCLA to win the NCAA title since beach volleyball was deemed a championship sport in 2016.

Over nine total championships (2020 was canceled due to COVID), USC won six titles and UCLA won two before TCU claimed this year’s title. Now, the celebration can begin and go all the way back to the great state of Texas.

You can see the winning point and celebration below. TCU won with its No. 1 pair of Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno.

Beach Volleyball is a 2 vs. 2 matchup, which means every athlete is a utility player. They can serve, dig, block and hit a ball in one rally. There are also no substitutions, so the pair must play the match in its entirety.

TCU wins 2025 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship

TCU won 3-2 in the game’s dual meet format. It’s formatted in five best-of-three sets, played to 21, while winning by two, in the first two sets. If there is a third set, it’s played to 15, while winning by two.

Since TCU won 3-2 overall, the Horned Frogs played Loyola Marymount to five “flights,” which are the pairs of players. Seeded No. 2 in the NCAA Tournament, they previously beat No. 15 Georgia State 3-0, No. 7 Texas 3-0, No. 6 Cal Poly 3-1 and finally No. 4 Loyola 3-2. Loyola Marymount upset UCLA in the semifinals to reach the championship match.

The NCAA Tournament is held over three days at Gulf Place in Gulf Shores, Alabama. UAB is the host school and it’s been the tournament location since the sports’ inception under the NCAA banner.

This was the first national finals appearance for TCU in program history and now hold an overall record of 7-6 at the championships. Going into 2026, TCU will surely be a team to watch out for to repeat as national champions.

The 2025 NCAA Championships consisted of 16 teams in a single elimination format. Each team had 10 student athletes split into five pairs for each dual.

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Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Place a Solid Fifth at 2025 America East Championships

Story Links Durham, NH—The UMBC women’s outdoor track and field squad finished fifth with 105 points at the 2025 America East Championships, held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire. The Retrievers received individual gold medal performances from sophomore Genelle Stephens and juniors Leanne McDonald and Marie Abongwa. […]

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25 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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Durham, NH—The UMBC women’s outdoor track and field squad finished fifth with 105 points at the 2025 America East Championships, held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire.

The Retrievers received individual gold medal performances from sophomore Genelle Stephens and juniors Leanne McDonald and Marie Abongwa. In addition, the Dawgs won the 4 x 400 relay to cap a terrific showing.

Stephens won her second consecutive title in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the line in a new school-record time of 58.86. She also picked up a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash (55.16), giving her squad six points.

McDonald won the 400-meter dash in 54.74, the third-best result in program history. It was the fourth straight year that a Retriever has captured the event. McDonald also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 24.57. It was the eighth-best time in program history.

Abongwa, who won the shot put at the America East Indoor Championships this past winter, picked up 10 points by winning the event again with an effort of 13.68 meters (44’10.75″). In addition, she placed third in the hammer with a school-record toss of 55.20 meters (181’1″). Abongwa was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer at the conclusion of the event.

The Retrievers’ 4 x 400 relay overwhelmed the field with a time of 3:42.98. The group comprised Stephens, McDonald, junior Shannel Sibblies, and sophomore Dalcye Schmidt.

UMBC also performed terrifically in the 4 x 100 relay, finishing second in 46.30. Sophomore Charliana Dacosta, McDonald, senior Za’Kayza Parsons, and freshman Anna Creel scored eight points for the squad.

Junior Lyna Beraich grabbed a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters with the 10th-fastest time (4:40.78) in school history. Sophomore Izzy Ostvig also placed third in the high jump with a leap of 1.60 meters (5’3″). It tied for the 7th-best performance in program history.

Junior Lily Strelecki recorded the third-best effort in program history in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with an effort of 11:03.23 and picked up three points in the event.

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Bednarek runs this year’s world-best 200m to win at Miami Grand Slam | Billings News

American Kenny Bednarek set the fastest time in the world this year by winning the 200 meters in 19.84 seconds at Sunday’s Grand Slam Track series Miami meet. The 26-year-old from Tulsa, the 200m runner-up at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, defeated Britain’s Zharnel Hughes by 0.29 of a second with Jamaica’s Oblique Seville third, […]

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32 minutes ago

May 5, 2025

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American Kenny Bednarek set the fastest time in the world this year by winning the 200 meters in 19.84 seconds at Sunday’s Grand Slam Track series Miami meet.

The 26-year-old from Tulsa, the 200m runner-up at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, defeated Britain’s Zharnel Hughes by 0.29 of a second with Jamaica’s Oblique Seville third, also in 20.13.

Bednarek, also a 200m runner-up at the 2022 world championships on home soil in Eugene, captured the Miami men’s 100 title on Saturday in a wind-aided 9.79 seconds.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the 400m in 49.69 seconds, beating fellow American Anna Hall by 1.99 seconds.

Two-time reigning Olympic 400m hurdles champion McLaughlin-Levrone won her specialty on Saturday with the fastest time in the world this year of 52.07 seconds.

McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record last August in capturing the title in Paris with a run of 50.37.

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