The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 campaigns still a little ways away.

Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing and how they’ve handled the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletic programs to see what shape they’re in and what prospects they have for the near future. We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it is performing under its current coaching staff, looking at the state of the program before he/she arrived and comparing it to now while also evaluating how that program fits into its new conference.

First up: Rita Stubbs’ volleyball program

How it looked before

After the retirement of former head coach Dave Rubio in January of 2023, Stubbs has since led the program. Her first season was one that most would like to forget.

The Wildcats finished with an 8-23 overall record and 3-17 in their final season in the Pac-12.

Inconsistency in serve receive as well as setting doomed Arizona for most of the season. One of the few highlights came from star senior Sofia Maldonado Diaz who led the team with 396 kills. Maldonado Diaz would transfer to Louisville for her final season.

Stubbs would fill the leadership vacancy by combining the experience of another senior in Jaelyn Hodge as well as bringing in the number one overall recruit in Carlie Cisneros.

Going into its first season in the Big 12 with so many unanswered questions and unknowns was not ideal, yet Stubbs took the opportunity by the horn.

Where things stand now

This past season started off strong with a perfect non-conference record at 11-0. However, reality hit when the Wildcats went on the road to Baylor and TCU, where they took back to back losses.

It was an uneven start to the Big 12. Arizona secured a home win against No. 20 BYU, but would then lose its next four ranked matchups. It was part of a five-game losing streak.

Then, Arizona would catch lightning in a bottle. After a key win against No. 8 Kansas at home, the Wildcats would end the regular season on a seven-game winning streak.

This gave Arizona a small chance at earning a spot in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, those dreams would not come to fruition.

The Wildcats did manage to make the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). They would also be a host team for the tournament.

After wins against Pacific, Wyoming, and Northern Colorado, Arizona would host Bowling Green for the tournament championship.

Going the distance, Arizona would pull off the win in five sets, giving Stubbs her first postseason championship as the Wildcats’ head coach.

Arizona’s season started and ended in 11-game win streaks.

Looking ahead to this upcoming season, two of the three leaders in kills come back for the Wildcats. This includes Cisneros, as well as senior Jordan Wilson, who led Arizona last season.

Arizona also brings back the four-time Big 12 rookie of the week in setter Avery Scoggins.

Big 12 vs. Pac-12

It may be too early to tell, but just from the first season in the Big 12, it seems as though Arizona has a brighter future ahead.

After winning just 17 of 60 Pac-12 conference games in the previous three seasons, the Wildcats posted a 9-9 record in the inaugural season in the Big 12.

This included upset wins at home against No. 20 BYU and No. 8 Kansas.

For the most part, Arizona beat who they were supposed to beat, outside of a surprising loss to Colorado at home.

Where the improvement and step-up may show is when the ranked matchups are played. Arizona went 2-6 in ranked Big 12 matchups last season.

Going .500 in those types of games, while also beating who they are supposed to beat, may just put Arizona in the NCAA tournament next season.

One big question

Can Arizona win big games and make it back to the NCAA tournament? If Stubbs can get her team in the NCAA tournament, it would be the first time since 2018 that Arizona would be in the tournament. Safe to say it would be a huge accomplishment for both Stubbs and the program as a whole.

One thing that kept Arizona out last season was a weak nonconference schedule. Stubbs has addressed that this offseason with trips to Washington and Nebraska.

Overall, Arizona is 30-29 in NCAA tournament games, with the last win coming in 2016. The furthest Arizona has ever gone in the tournament was the Final Four in 2001.

Arizona may not get to the Final Four anytime soon, but if Stubbs can continue the gradual improvements that her program is making, they might just strike gold one season.

The UK is currently bracing for the first heatwave of the year, with temperatures already beginning to soar. 

Understandably, the heat makes many of us want to plunge into the nearest body of water accessible – but for those of us who can’t just rock up to the nearest river, lake, or beach, it’s a little more complicated.

 While the British royal family also don’t have that luxury, many of them have got their own heatwave havens a little closer to home, in the form of private swimmings pools.

From an indoor pool at Buckingham Palace to a breathtaking outdoor pool in Montecito, find out all the details about the private royal swimming pools you probably didn’t even know existed, and will soon wish you had to yourself…

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s outdoor pool in Montecito

© Giggster

An outdoor swimming pool is one of many highlights at Prince Harry and Meghan’s family home in Montecito, Santa Barbara. Previous listing photos taken before the family moved into the property in 2020 showed the pool lined with sun loungers, parasols and secluded by hedges. 

It leads up to their home via a set of stone stairs and would be a great spot for Harry and Meghan to swim and splash about with their children Archie and Lilibet.

King Charles’ private pool at Buckingham Palace

© Unsplash

The monarch has a private indoor swimming pool at Buckingham Palace, which has long been a favourite spot for the entire royal family. It was originally commissioned by King George VI in 1938, who wanted to ensure the privacy of his daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, who had been having swimming lessons at the Bath Club.

Sophie Winkleman, wife of Lord Frederick Windsor and star of noughties sitcom Peep Show, confirmed the Buckingham Palace pool was very much still in use when she told Tatler that the late Queen Elizabeth II insisted she use the pool to recover from a car accident injury. 

After admitting to the late Queen her physiotherapy wasn’t working, the monarch replied: “We can’t have that. You have to go in the water.” 

Sophie continued: “She told us that when horses had broken backs, they swam, and so she let me use her pool at Buckingham Palace. That’s the reason I got better. It was so typically thoughtful.”

Although the pool is often used by senior royals including Prince William and Kate, it can also be used by members of the Staff Sports Club, provided it doesn’t clash with one of the royals’ swims.

Prince William and Kate’s family swimming pool at Anmer Hall

© Getty Images

The Prince and Princess of Wales reportedly have a swimming pool at their country retreat, Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate. The facility is ideal for the family to swim with their three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – when they visit at weekends and in the holidays. 

They are also reportedly frequent visitors to the swimming pool at Buckingham Palace when they are in London, and it is where the children had swimming lessons when they were younger.

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s swimming pool at Royal Lodge 

© Getty

Royal Lodge Windsor has been the official home of Prince Andrew since 2004, and he has spent a reported £7.5 million on renovating the property, with an indoor swimming pool among the additions he has reportedly made to the home.

While the pool is yet to be seen, it is no doubt a hit with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who could take their children Sienna, August and Ernest to swim in the family pool.

King Charles and Queen Camilla’s beautiful outdoor pool at Highgrove House

© Getty Images

The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla have an outdoor swimming pool of their own to enjoy during their visits to their country home, Highgrove House. 

Beautifully positioned within the garden of the house, previous photos from when Prince William and Harry were young showed it lined with a white picket fence and colourful flowerbeds.

Local surfers gave university competitors at the German contest a course in localism. Photo: Screenshot

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French freesurfers ignored lifeguards’ commands and paddled out into the middle of Germany’s official university surfing championships in Seignosse, France. A video posted by German surfer Maya Sauer shows one of the freesurfers dropping into her wave and forcefully pushing her down. 

According to Sauer, the local municipality fully sanctioned and permitted the event. Even so, disgruntled locals paddled out to interrupt it. 

“The event was fully approved by the city and paid for,” Sauer wrote on Instagram. “All the necessary licenses were in place for that stretch of beach, flags were up, and lifeguards on scene.”

“But still, a big group of freesurfers deliberately paddled out in the contest area,” she added. “They dropped in on us on purpose, yelled at us, insulted us, and got physically aggressive. The lifeguards tried getting everyone out of the water, but they didn’t listen at all.”

Sauer explained that the French surfer pictured in the video refused to apologize after they approached him, while also acknowledging that it can be difficult to watch your local surf spot undergo drastic change.

“The guy from the video who pushed me off the wave seemed to be proud of what he had done, showing no remorse after being confronted,” she said. “And let’s not forget: the contest had official permission for that stretch of beach, and the freesurfers had no right to be in the water during contest hours. On every other day, they’re the locals and may control the lineup, but not then.”

“I totally understand that it’s frustrating when your home spot feels more crowded every year. I’ve been coming to Hossegor for 11 years now, and I’ve seen how the vibe in the water has changed,” she added. “There’s a lot of tension, and learning to deal with that can be tricky. But there’s a line. And violence, especially against women, should never, ever be part of surfing. It breaks my heart to see things heading in this direction. Surfing is supposed to bring people together. We’re all out there because we love the same thing. I hope we don’t lose sight of that.”

Sauer received a flood of support in the comment section of her Instagram post. German Olympic surfer Tim Elter chimed in and said, “I was about to write a book. But I chose not to. We love you, Maya.”

The event website says (via Google Translate) that the festivities include “surfing, a surf flea market, beach volleyball and spikeball tournaments, live concerts, and parties in a bungalow village right behind the dunes.”

The German university surfing championships, which run from June 14 to 21, are open to students of any state-recognized university in Germany. This year marks the 20th edition of the event.

The greater Green Bay area is expecting a heat wave.

It is Hunt’s second time earning the title this year after winning the honor during the indoor season.  

Hunt, in his ninth year as assistant coach at Princeton, mentored Mena Scatchard through an outstanding outdoor season that saw the senior break program records in the 800m, 1500m, and 5000m.

At the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Scatchard earned All-America honors after placing ninth in the 1500m final. 

Scatchard won Ivy League titles in the 1500m and the 4×800 at Outdoor Heps, before moving on to set a new personal best and program record in the 1500m at NCAA East Regionals.

That Tiger 4×800 squad of Stella Vieth, Hannah Riggins, Olivia Martin and Scatchard set a new Heps record as they clocked in at 8:27.31 to win the gold. 

Hunt’s athletes also boasted the top-two times in the 800m in the Mid-Atlantic Region, with Scatchard’s 2:00.81 and Riggins’ 2:02.95. 

In addition to serving as an assistant coach for the track program, Hunt is also the head coach of the Tigers’ cross country team. Winning the cross country championship in the fall, Hunt laid the groundwork for Princeton achieve a historic third Ivy League Triple Crown when they won the Outdoor Heps title in the spring. 

With Hunt’s athletes combining for 55 points, and the Tigers scoring in 19 of 22 events, Princeton clinched the Outdoor Ivy title with a score of 202.5 – the most points ever scored by a women’s team and the first time a team has broke the 200-point threshold. 

Hunt and the Tigers now look back on an outstanding outdoor season that saw Princeton win six individual Ivy championships, set a new 4x800m Ivy Championship record, qualify 16 for regionals and have three athletes earn All-American honors at NCAAs.

 

EUGENE, Ore. – Indiana State freshman thrower Olivia Marshall wrapped up her debut season as a Sycamore Friday, placing 11th in the shot put at the USATF U20 Championships.
 
Marshall recorded a top throw of 13.61m (44-8) in Friday’s competition, which also closed the 2024-25 season for Indiana State. The Sycamores had four freshmen – Marshall, Gnister Grant Peyton Smith and Emma Yoder – earn spots at the U20 Championships.
 
The 2024-25 season was a strong one for Marshall, as she placed in the top 10 in the MVC in four of the five events she competed in between the indoor and outdoor conference championships. She finished in a scoring position for the Blue and White in the shot put at the indoor championships, and placed in the top 10 in both the shot put and hammer throw at the outdoor championships.
 
With the 2024-25 season coming to a close Friday, the future for Sycamore Track and Field remains extremely bright. More than 80 percent of the Sycamores’ scoring from their MVC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship came from freshmen and sophomores, while nearly 60 percent of the Sycamores’ 200-plus points in the MVC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship came from underclassmen. Indiana State also had six program records, including one MVC record, and 45 program top-10 marks set during the 2025 outdoor season.
 
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For the latest information on the Sycamore Track & Field and Cross Country teams, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
 

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