Sports
Vitale homegrown into Mexico boys wrestling HC
By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor
Jake Vitale has many reasons to be grateful to the Mexico boys wrestling program.
Most of Vitale’s 12 years of coaching high school wrestling have been spent with his alma mater, and it just named him the new head coach at the April 15 school board meeting. However, the four-time state medalist is most grateful to the program for growing him into the person he is today.
Vitale turned a successful high school career into a Division I wrestling opportunity for Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. Since 2014, Vitale has coached high school wrestling starting at Mexico and only spending three years away from the program as the head coach at North Callaway.
“It’s a privilege to take over a program that has had so much success,” Vitale said. “It built a very large part of who I am. I grew up wrestling for Mexico since I was 5-years-old. I spent about 20-25 years in the Mexico wrestling program, being part of that program, getting to build a lot of relationships and help a lot of kids reach their potential.”
Vitale takes over for Gayle Adams, who decided to step away after 16 years with the high school program. Adams was Vitale’s first wrestling coach when he was a boy and started wrestling around the same time as Adams’ son.
Of course, “it’s more fun to win,” Vitale said, and it becomes more possible with more hard work. That’s what Vitale tries to pass on to wrestlers after what he learned through his growth in the program.
“Even at 5, coach Adams was already setting the expectations,” Vitale said. “He made it fun for us, but he still wanted us to come in and work from a young age. He instilled that drive to win and to give everything I had whether I won or lost.”
Wrestling does bring more value than just winning as Vitale described in his coaching experience outside of high school. When Vitale was in high school, he would help coach the youth program when 8-year-old Kellen Ekern and Brit Wilson were there before going on to be multiple time state champions and assistant coaches in the program.
“We’ve got pictures of me coaching them at the state tournaments and handing out their medals when they were on the state podiums,” Vitale said. “I’ve always wanted to be a coach and have enjoyed coaching as much as I did competing.”
Vitale said he wants to continue helping kids reach their potential and growing leaders who are “always looking out trying to do their best” and “take all the steps to bring everybody else up around with them.” This applies to the wrestling mat but also in the classroom and in their lives after graduation.
Growing potential as the head coach isn’t unfamiliar to Vitale as he spent three years as the North Callaway head coach. He said he started with nine wrestlers in his first year until he eventually took a program-best 11 kids to state in his third year — the same year that North Callaway won its first wrestling district championship. Vitale was named the district coach of the year in his final two years and had six state medalists in his three years at North Callaway.
Vitale was glad he was able to help North Callaway flourish as a program in that time and knows what to expect going into his new head coaching job from that experience and as the middle school athletic director. He said Adams involved him in the decisions as soon as he started coaching high school in 2014 but is now fully aware what the head spot demands.
“As the assistant coach, my role was coming in and making decisions and getting to wrestle every day and showing technique,” Vitale said. “My role at North Callaway, it was my first time truly dealing with bus issues, kids skipping practice, parent communications and all sorts of little stuff like that.”
Athletic director Brandon Schafer said there is “a strong blend of familiarity and experience” in the Vitale promotion. Schafer said he thinks Vitale is “well-positioned” to lead the program into continued success because of his passion for the sport and commitment to developing young athletes.
“Coach Vitale has a deep understanding of the culture and expectations of Mexico High School athletics,” Schafer said. “His prior work with the program has earned the respect of our student-athletes, families and fellow coaches.”
Vitale expects to have a young team next season with three or four seniors but with some experience and state ability in the form of six returning state qualifiers and a returning state runner-up in Carlos Juarez Ramirez. Kyler Carr, Grant Walker, Evan Blair, Logan Hilderman and Travis Shramek also wrestled at the state tournament this year. Brayden Arnold missed state qualification after his first state appearance a year prior but is “right there,” according to Vitale, since he has beaten state medalists from this season. Kyler Benne was also “right there” with state qualifiers but suffered an injury at the end of the season.
“We’ve got a very bright future and are bringing in some talented freshmen who have had success with multiple state medals and being a state qualifier,” Vitale said. “We’re already hitting the ground running this offseason.”
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Carleton College junior Soren Kaster was selected as the MIAC Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week following his heptathlon performance at the M City Classic on Dec. 5-6. This is his third career conference weekly honor and second for indoor track & field.
Kaster placed third overall and second among NCAA Division III competitors in the heptathlon with 4,606 points. His score was the third-best in program history and ranks third in D-III this season. He clocked times of 7.44 in the 60-meter dash, 9.03 in the 60-meter hurdles, and 2:53.49 in the 1000-meter run; measured 10.09 meters in the shot put and a personal-best 6.31 meters in the long jump; and cleared 1.70 meters in the high jump and a MIAC-best 4.35 meters in the pole vault.
The Knights are off for the holidays but return to competition at the Ole Opener on Jan. 17.
Birmingham led the 49ers with 412 kills this season, averaging 4.00 per set on a .311 hitting percentage, earning American Conference First Team honors alongside teammates Annika Thompson and Jessica Ricks. Within conference play, she was sixth in the American with 212 kills (3.79 per set) and seventh with 241.5 points. She recorded 12 double doubles during the season highlighted by 28 kills and 11 digs in a win over UNC Greensboro, the second most kills in a game for an American player in the season. That performance earned her conference Offensive Player of the Week honors while being tabbed to the Honorable Mention list four times.
Full List of AVCA All-Region
The Niners thrived under Jenkins’ leadership in year one, starting the season with a historic 10-game winning streak and winning 14 of 15 matches, the best stretch in program history since 1981. In addition to Birmingham’s All-Region selection, Annika Thompson was named the American Conference Libero of the Year while being named to the All-Conference First Team alongside Jessica Ricks and Birmingham. Charlotte was the only school in the American to have three players named to the first team. Finishing season 17-12, Charlotte improved on their win total by 12, tying for the fifth best win increase from last year in the entire NCAA.
Clunis’ 6.61 time was a historic one for Kansas City in a multitude of ways. Most notably, it marks the first time a KC athlete, male or female, has ever held the nation’s top time in any event in program history. Secondly, the time went down in the record books as a new Kansas City men’s indoor 60m record, breaking the old program-best he set at 6.65 seconds last indoor season. The Kingston, Jamaica native leads the country by a hair, running 0.01 seconds faster than Darien Lawrence from Florida A&M. Clunis also leads the Summit League by over a tenth of a second and is the only sprinter in the conference to crack the sub-6.7 mark in the 60m.
For Clunis, it’s his first weekly conference award of the season and his third of his career. Clunis first broke out for the Roos at the season opening meet of the 2024-25 indoor campaign, running a then program-record 6.66 second time at the Bob Timmons Challenge and taking home his first Summit Peak Performer honor of his career. The senior broke this mark at the Tyson Invitational at Arkansas, coming in with a 6.65 second time to reset the program record at the time and earn his second and final weekly honor of the 2024-25 indoor season.
Clunis will run at the Iowa State Holiday Invitational this weekend, hoping to potentailly be the first men’s runner in the country to break the sub-6.6 mark in the 60-meter dash this season. Kansas City will run at Iowa State and Nebraska, also competing in the Husker Holiday Invitational this weekend.
The AVCA is proud to announce its 2025 Division I Women’s Volleyball All-Region teams and award winners.
There are 14 first-team All-Region members and an additional group of honorable mention selections for each of the 10 regions. A Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year were selected for every region.
The 213 student-athletes who made All-Region represent 109 different schools. Nebraska leads the way with seven All-Region selections, followed by Pittsburgh and Stanford with six apiece. Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin all have five All-Region first-team or honorable mention selections.
CENTRAL REGION
Player of the Year: Shaylee Myers, Kansas State University, OH, Sr.
Freshman of the Year: Jovanna Zelenovic, University of Kansas, RS
Coach of the Year: Bobbi Petersen, University of Northern Iowa
EAST COAST REGION
Player of the Year: Olivia Babcock, University of Pittsburgh, RS, Jr.
Freshman of the Year: Reagan Ennist, University of Virginia, OH
Coach of the Year: Dan Fisher, University of Pittsburgh
MIDWEST REGION
Player of the Year: Kenna Wollard, Purdue University, OH, Jr.
Freshman of the Year: Teodora Kričković, Indiana University, S
Coach of the Year: Dave Shondell, Purdue University
NORTH REGION
Player of the Year: Mimi Colyer, University of Wisconsin, Sr., OH
Freshman of the Year: Ava Poinsett, Yale University, OH
Coach of the Year: Kelly Sheffield, University of Wisconsin
NORTHWEST REGION
Player of the Year:Julia Hanson, University of Minnesota, OH, Sr.
Freshman of the Year: Alanah Clemente, University of Oregon, RS
Coach of the Year: Keegan Cook, University of Minnesota
PACIFIC REGION
Player of the Year: Elia Rubin, Stanford University, OH, Sr.
Freshman of the Year: Logan Parks, Stanford University, S
Coach of the Year: Kevin Hambly, Stanford University
SOUTH REGION
Player of the Year: Eva Hudson, University of Kentucky, OH, Sr.
Freshman of the Year: Kassie O’Brien, University of Kentucky, S
Coach of the Year: Craig Skinner, University of Kentucky
SOUTHEAST REGION
Player of the Year: Flormarie Heredia Colon, University of Miami, OH, Sr.
Freshman of the Year: Lily Hayes, University of Florida, L
Coach of the Year: Heather Gearhart, Winthrop University
SOUTHWEST REGION
Player of the Year: Torrey Stafford, University of Texas, OH, Jr.
Freshman of the Year: Cari Spears, University of Texas, RS
Coach of the Year: Sam Erger, Southern Methodist University
WEST REGION
Player of the Year: Bergen Reilly, University of Nebraska, S, Jr.
Freshman of the Year: Suli Davis, Brigham Young University, OH
Coach of the Year: Dani Busboom Kelly, University of Nebraska
2025 AVCA DIVISION I REGION COACHES OF THE YEAR
The following coaches have been selected as this year’s AVCA Region Coaches of the Year. Each of the honorees can be considered for the AVCA National Coach of the Year, and the awards will be presented at the Coaches Honors Luncheon in Kansas City on Dec. 18, at the 2025 AVCA Convention.
CENTRAL REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Bobbi Petersen, University of Northern Iowa
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 26-6
Petersen was named the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year for a conference-record, fourth-straight season. She helped UNI win 20 or more matches for the 22nd time in her 26-year career, and the squad gave her a 13th MVC regular-season championship and a third-consecutive undefeated conference season.
EAST COAST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Dan Fisher, University of Pittsburgh
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 28-4
Pittsburgh has been a force again this season under Fisher, who is in his 13th season on the sidelines for the Panthers. Fisher guided his 2025 squad to the school’s fourth-straight ACC title, and they are 28-4 heading into the regional round of this year’s NCAA Championship. He picked up his 400th win as a head collegiate coach in early September.
MIDWEST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Dave Shondell, Purdue University
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 26-6
The 24-year coaching veteran is enjoying another very successful season. In addition to notching career coaching win No. 500, he weathered losing a number of key transfers and kept Purdue playing at an elite level in 2025. Among his squad’s many accomplishments, they have recorded nine wins over ranked teams so far this season.
NORTH REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Kelly Sheffield, University of Wisconsin
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 26-4
Another year, another stellar season for Sheffield and the Badgers. The veteran coach’s team is finding its stride at the right time, as they rolled through the early rounds of the 2025 NCAA Championship with a pair of sweeps and head into this week’s regional on an 11-match win streak. Early this season, he earned his 600th career coaching victory.
NORTHWEST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Keegan Cook, University of Minnesota
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 24-9
Cook has done a lot of impressive things in his career, but the fact that his team is in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Championship is remarkable. His Gophers, who began the season ranked 12th, lost four starters to season-ending injuries early in the year. The team persevered, stayed in the poll all season, and got sixth in the Big Ten.
PACIFIC REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin Hambly, Stanford University
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 29-4
Despite losing a number of key players from last season, Hambly and the Cardinal have enjoyed a very successful campaign so far in 2025. His ninth season at Stanford included an Atlantic Coast Conference title and another NCAA Championship Sweet Sixteen appearance. Late this season, he earned his 400th career coaching victory.
SOUTH REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Craig Skinner, University of Kentucky
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 27-2
Skinner more than earned his second-consecutive Region Coach of the Year award, as his team has taken no prisoners in 2025. They enter the Sweet 16 on a 24-match winning streak and ran the table in the Southeastern Conference, earning both the regular-season title—the school’s ninth in a row—and SEC Tournament championship.
SOUTHEAST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Heather Gearhart, Winthrop University
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 18-7
Gearhart made her third season as the head coach at Winthrop a memorable one. She helped the Eagles take home the 2025 Big South Conference regular-season title, after they went 12-2 in league play and closed the regular-season with a 10-match winning streak. The team had five players on the 2025 All-Big South teams.
SOUTHWEST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Sam Erger, Southern Methodist University
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 27-5
Erger and the Mustangs have solidified their place in the upper echelon of Division I volleyball in 2025. The fourth-year SMU coach has her team is in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history. In the NCAA Championship second-round sweep of Florida over the weekend, she picked up her 100th career win at SMU.
WEST REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Dani Busboom Kelly, University of Nebraska
2025 Record (as of Dec. 9): 32-0
Replacing a legend is never easy, but Busboom Kelly has proven that she’s up to the challenge in her first year as head coach at Nebraska. Her 2025 team has made history with a 30-0 regular-season record and 20-0 mark in Big Ten play. How dominant have the Huskers been? They enter the Sweet 16 having dropped only seven sets this season.
Check out the Division I Awards Archives, which include the All-Region Teams and Award Winners history.
Updated Dec. 9, 2025, 2:58 p.m. ET
The father of a Monroe High varsity volleyball player has filed a Title IX complaint against the district, charging that his daughter and others on her team were denied a chance to compete fair and square against another team because the other team had a transgender girl on its roster. He also said girls on his daughter’s team were forced to use the same locker room as the transgender player.
Sean Lechner, whose complaint was also directed at the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the state education department and the U.S. Department of Education, said the girls on his daughter’s team were not informed ahead of their September match against Ann Arbor Skyline High that one of their opponents was a transgender girl.
Lechner’s daughter, Briley Lechner, a sophomore on the Monroe varsity volleyball team, said the incident “was definitely very devastating for all of us girls. … This person disguised themselves to look female. So when we found out after, weeks after, that there was another male in the same locker room as us as we were changing and also playing with us, it caught everyone off guard.”
Briley Lechner said she did not see the transgender student in question in the locker room.
Sean Lechner and others, including Republican state legislators and candidates for office, who spoke at a Dec. 8 press conference in Monroe called for a ban on allowing transgender girls to participate in girls sports, saying they have an unfair advantage against cis-gender girls, or girls whose gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association issues waivers for transgender girls on a case-by-case basis. Geoff Kimmerly, MHSAA spokesman, said the organization, which governs high school sports in Michigan, issued a waiver for a fall 2025 transgender athlete.
Citing privacy rules, he would not identify the athlete’s team or the sport she played.
Kimmerly said schools are not required to inform opponents they have a transgender athlete on their team. Providing such information by a school or the MHSAA would be a violation of privacy rules.
In a prepared statement, Kimmerly said: “The MHSAA has communicated with members of the state legislature about this issue, as the legal landscape in this area – under both federal and state law – remains unsettled, and state and federal guidance have evolved in recent years often in competing ways.
“From our conversations with legislators, we know elected leaders from both parties recognize that the current issues surrounding eligibility and participation of transgender students remain subject to ongoing legal debate. The MHSAA has consistently emphasized that it must follow the law, and when conflicts in law arise, the MHSAA must rely upon the legislature or the courts to provide clarity.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on a case involving athletics and transgender participation for Jan. 13, 2026, and we hope that decision provides clearer guidance for our membership moving forward. We additionally await any changes from Michigan’s legislature on this issue.”
Said Erin Knott, executive director of Equality Michigan, a LGBTQ+ advocacy organization: “Title IX was written to protect students from discrimination and so that all girls can play sports. The law was never intended to force schools to disclose private information about children.
“Parents may have questions, but that doesn’t mean they can pressure schools to confirm or deny whether a student is transgender. Trans students have been participating in team sports for decades in Michigan, learning the same things all students learn about teamwork, dedication, and hard work.”
Lechner’s supporters said President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender girls from participating in girls sports is the law of the land and that the MHSAA is hiding behind Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com
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