• Carson Caraway of Jackson Academy was named the 2025 Gatorade Mississippi Volleyball Player of the Year.
• Caraway led the Raiders to the MAIS 4A Division I state championship match.

Jackson Academy’s Carson Caraway has been named the Gatorade Mississippi Volleyball Player of the Year for the 2025 season.

Gatorade announced its winners of all 50 states on Jan. 9, with Caraway being the fourth volleyball player to win the award from Jackson Academy since 2020.

“Carson was a threat the entire game,” Brandon coach Kelsa Walker said in a press release. “Her back-row attack is just as deadly, if not more than, her front-row attack. She’s able to run so many things from the front row that you really have to be disciplined defensively.”

The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Caraway as Mississippi’s best high school volleyball player.

The 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter was credited with 625 kills and 343 digs this season, leading the Raiders (32-9-1) to the MAIS 4A Division I state championship game. Jackson Academy fell to Madison-Ridgeland Academy 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 26-24).

RENO, Nev. — Different discipline, same dominance from Portland State runner Emma Stolte. After a standout fall cross country season in which she earned five top 10 finishes, Stolte opened her indoor track & field season with a 20-second win in the women’s mile Friday at the Silver & Blue Invitational.
  
Stolte won the mile while establishing a new facility record at Reno Sparks Convention Center with her time of 4:54.25. She led wire-to-wire in the race, stretching her lead with every lap and finishing with her fastest lap of the race. Stolte’s time put her 20 seconds ahead of No. 2 finisher Maya Crimin of St. Mary’s (Calif.), as well as 13 seconds ahead of her previous best at the distance from last year’s Spokane Invitational.
 
Stolte now ranks fifth all-time in the indoor mile at Portland State. She’s the first Viking since Bára Stýblová in 2023 to enter the top 10 in the mile.
 
Freshman Jack Macdonald highlighted the day for the Viking men. The freshman sprinter finished fourth in the finals of the men’s 60 meters. Macdonald shaved six-hundredths of a second off his time in the prelims while finishing in 6.93 seconds. The time represented the second-fastest mark ever by a Viking freshman, trailing only Josh Pikes’ time of 6.86 seconds from 2018. Additionally, Macdonald moved up to sixth in the overall rankings in the 60 meters.
 
Tori Forst finished second in the finals of the women’s 60 meters. Forst finished in 7.67 seconds, not a personal best but nine-hundredths of a second faster than her season opener last year when she finished in 7.76 seconds at the Spokane Invitational.
 
Sienna Rosario also qualified for the final of the women’s 60 meters and set a personal best while finishing seventh in 7.92 seconds.
 
Three other Vikings provided event wins for the program. Amir Ahmed and Hannah Butterfield swept the men’s and women’s 1,000 meters in what were both two-person races. Ahmed finished close to 22 seconds ahead of Trey Ciccio of San Jose State while winning the men’s race in 2:41.49. Butterfield, meanwhile, finished three and a half seconds ahead of Isabela Arreola of San Jose State while finishing in 3:07.26.
 
Butterfield’s time put her fourth in the freshman top 10 in the 1k. She was within half a second of the overall top 10, as Honisty Baek set the current No. 10 mark at 3:06.81 in 2008.
 
Daniel Coppedge won the first event of the day for the Vikings in the men’s weight throw. Coppedge won in a three-athlete field with a throw of 50-10.75 (15.51m). Teammate Carter Green set a personal best with his mark of 36-05.75 (11.12m), as he placed third.
 
Freshman Natalie Fisher moved up to eighth in the freshman top 10 on the women’s side of the weight throw. Fisher placed third Friday with a mark of 38-04.00 (11.68m), which came on her second attempt of the day.
 
The program’s hurdlers set three other personal bests for the Vikings. Deghlan Johnson and Aidan Sweeney both advanced to the finals on the men’s side of the 60-meter hurdles. Johnson finished fourth in 8.60 seconds, beating his best coming into the day by a tenth of a second. Sweeney finished fifth in the final in 8.68 seconds. His personal best came in the prelims when he placed fourth in 8.66 seconds.
 
Savannah Beasley did not advance to the finals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles but still set a personal best by close to three-quarters of a second with her finish in 9.66 seconds.
 

The Vikings will continue at the Silver & Blue Invitational Saturday. Fisher will open the day for the Vikings again with the women’s shot put at 10 a.m. Stolte will return to the track for the women’s 800 meters at 11:30 a.m.

Silver & Blue Invitational

Reno Sparks Convention Center

Reno, Nev.

Jan. 9, 2026

 

Women’s Results:

60m (Prelims): 3. Tori Forst, 7.74; 7. Sienna Rosario, 7.94; 11. Aida Wheat, 8.14. 60m (Final): 2. Tori Forst, 7.67; 7. Sienna Rosario, 7.92. 1,000m: 1. Hannah Butterfield, 3:07.26. Mile: 1. Emma Stolte, 4:54.25; 9. Sam Sharp, 5:33.24; 11. Libby Fox, 5:45.67. 60H (Prelims): 15. Savannah Beasley, 9.66. Weight Throw: 3. Natalie Fisher, 38-04.00 (11.68m).

 

Men’s Results:

60m (Prelims): 4. Jack Macdonald, 6.99. 60m (Final): 4. Jack Macdonald, 6.93. 1,000m: 1. Amir Ahmed, 2:41.49. Mile: 5. Luke Gillingham, 4:29.48; 6. Farhan Ibrahim, 4:31.46. 60H (Prelims): 4. Aidan Sweeney, 8.66; 5. Deghlan Johnson, 8.68. 60H (Final): 4. Deghlan Johnson, 8.60; 5. Aidan Sweeney, 8.68. Weight Throw: 1. Daniel Coppedge, 50-10.75 (15.51m); 3. Carter Green, 36-05.75 (11.12m).

 

ATLANTA— Georgia State women’s track & field opened its season with two first place finishes and eight top five finshes at the the UAB Blazer Invitational meet on Friday afternoon.

Sessen Mahari claimed the top mark in the 800-meter run with a 2:37.71 time, and Zayna Fray clinched the winning weighted throw at 19.32 meters. 

 

The Lady Panthers also claimed a second place spot in the 800-meter with a 2:38.65 finish from Zariah Jacobs. Maya Anderson started her year off with a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles after running a time of 8.46.

Laila Reeves earned a third-place finish in the weighted throws after reaching a mark of 15.44 meters.  Jayla Kennedy placed herself on the podium with a third-place finish in the 60-meter with a time of 7.46.

 

Georgia State Rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth place finishes in the 400-meter with Janiyah Alibey and Mia Brown running times of 1:00.22 and 1:00.52 respectively.

 

The Panthers secured another fourth and fifth place finish with Kevell Byrd and Alonna Depalma running times of 39.72 and 39.83 in the 300-meter.

 

The 4 x 400 relay team of Alonna Depolma, Mia Brown, Kyla Ramey, and Nova Rhodes accumulated one last top five finish for the Panthers Friday after placing fifth in the event with a time of 4:00.83

 

 

Notes:

-Georgia State’s 4 x 400 relay A team composed of Tasheika Thompson, Janiyah Alibey, Destinee Frink, and Gabrielle Key finished seventh in the event with a time of 4:07.18

–Kyla Ramey finished seventh in the 500-meter with a time of 1:22.47

–Destinee Frink finished seventh in the mile with a time of 5:19.57 and eighth in the 3000-meter with a time of 10:41.71

–Asia Bryant and Kinsley Williams finished eighth and ninth in the shot put with their longest throws reaching 11.47 and 11.24 meters.

–Jayla Kennedy and Keniya Walker placed ninth and 10^th in the 300-meter with times of 40.33 and 40.51

The Panthers return to the track on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Samford Open. 

ELLENSBURG — Longtime head coach Mario Andaya, who just completed his 30th season at the helm, has accepted a new position as the Deputy Director of Athletics and is turning over the reins to Lauren Hersesth, who joined the program in 2020 and served as associate head coach for the past three seasons. 

Andaya is proud of everything CWU Volleyball has accomplished during his tenure, including four conference championships and 13 consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II tournament. 

“The experience leading this program was more than I could have ever imagined when I began my coaching career over 30 years ago,” said Andaya, a former track and field athlete at Central who will begin his new position December 16. “All the people that I have shared this experience with throughout my tenure is what I will cherish the most. I am very sad to leave this current team and coaches, but I am so excited to see what they will accomplish in the future.” 

Andaya joined the CWU volleyball program in 1992 as a student assistant under the late John Pearson. He became junior varsity coach from 1993-94, and also served as assistant coach during the 1995 season. 

He was named head coach before the school’s penultimate season in the NAIA in 1996 and guided the program through its move to NCAA Division II. The Wildcats spent three years in the Pacific West Conference (1998-2000) before moving to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) in 2001. 

Under Andaya, the Wildcats have produced five 20-win seasons and 18 winning campaigns, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament every year since 2012. In 2024, Central had its best season since 2005, going 18-7 overall and 16-2 in conference play to capture the program’s third GNAC title. Andaya also earned his third GNAC Coach of the Year honor. 

The ‘Cats followed up their success this fall with another standout season, going 18-7 overall (14-4 GNAC) and earning a four-way tie for the GNAC regular season title, the program’s fourth under Andaya. The No. 7 seed Wildcats went on to defeat conference rival and No. 2 seed Simon Fraser 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA West Regional tournament on Dec. 4 before narrowly falling to Fresno Pacific 3-2 in the semifinals. 

Andaya completes his tenure at CWU as the winningest coach in program history with an overall record of 489-315. While he has mixed emotions about leaving the program he helped build into a Division II power, Andaya knows the Wildcats will be in capable hands with Herseth. 

“I am so excited for Lauren to step in as the new leader of this program and for the new era of CWU Volleyball,” he said, thanking Director of Athletics Dennis Francois and CWU President Jim Wohlpart for offering him a new role with CWU Athletics. “We have incredible people working in this department and institution, all who have high expectations and energy to achieve big things. I am excited to get started.” 

Herseth competed for the Wildcats from 2011-14, helping the program reach three NCAA tournaments. The former team captain finished ranked among the top 10 in program history for both sets and matches played. Herseth was a three-time GNAC All-Academic selection while majoring in Physical Education and School Health. She was heavily involved in CWU Athletics, during her time in Ellensburg serving three years as SAAC President and playing basketball during the 2013-14 season. 

Herseth said she is excited to transition into the head coaching role, and she talked about how much she benefited from working with Andaya over the past six seasons. 

“Coaching alongside Mario has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and our program will continue to do great things because of what he built over the last 30 years,” Herseth said. “I am honored to be stepping into this new role, with an extremely fun and talented roster,  and I can’t thank Dennis and Mario enough for investing in and preparing me for this moment. I love this program, and I am committed to carrying on the legacy of CWU Volleyball.” 

Francois applauded Andaya’s commitment to both the volleyball program and CWU Athletics. He looks forward to tapping Andaya’s proven leadership skills to move the entire department forward. 

“Mario’s passion for CWU is unmatched, and his commitment to excellence is evident in everything he does,” Francois said. “I am confident he will approach his new role as Deputy Athletics Director with the same level of commitment, and he will be instrumental in the future success of all of our programs.” 

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The 6-0 setter, who was an American Volleyball Coaches Association Second Team All-American and a unanimous Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-State selection, led Hamilton High School to a 39-8 record and the Division 1 state championship.

The Sussex, Wisconsin native amassed 953 assists and 307 digs, including 30 assists in Hamilton’s 3-0 win over Divine Savior Holy Angels High in the state final, and also recorded 162 kills, 67 aces and 63 blocks.

Baldwin is the second member of her family to earn Gatorade State Player of the Year honors. Her brother, Patrick, a 2022 NBA first-round draft pick by the Golden State Warriors, was the 2019-20 Wisconsin Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year.

 

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