General | 5/19/2025 10:59:06 AM

Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on May 19, 2025, for games played from May 12-May 18. It is the 37th and final Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2024-25 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s outdoor track and field.

 

MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD

TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Emerson Comer, SUNY Geneseo, So., Distance, South Kortright, NY/South Kortright

Comer shattered the all-time Empire 8 record and broke the meet record in winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the All-Atlantic Region Championship hosted by Williams College on Wednesday, May 14, as he crossed the finish line in a time of 8:54.32. That time is the 13th best in all of Division III to date this season and allowed him to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships in the event. It is Comer’s second E8 weekly honor this spring.

 

FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Gabriel Giannini, SUNY Brockport, Jr., Multi Events, Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute

Giannini finished second overall in the decathlon at the All-Atlantic Region Championship hosted by Williams College on Wednesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 15. Giannini finished with a personal-best score of 6,446, which moved him into 25th nationally in Division III. He was the top finisher in the 100-meter dash and long jump and was the runner-up in the javelin throw. It is Giannini’s second E8 weekly honor of the 2025 season.

WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD

TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Alexis Rodriguez, SUNY Brockport, Jr., Sprints/Hurdles, Williamson, NY/Williamson

Rodriguez won the 400-meter hurdles at the All-Atlantic Region Championship hosted by Williams College on Thursday, May 15 in a time of 1:01.36 which moved her into 10th nationally in the event and clinched a berth into the NCAA Division III Championships in the event.

 

FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Isabel Morse, Nazareth, Jr., Pole Vault, Ithaca, NY/Charles O. Dickerson

Morse won the pole vault at the All-Atlantic Region Championship hosted by Williams College on Wednesday, May 14 with a personal-best vault of 3.89 meters (12’ 9”), which moved her into 13th nationally and clinched a berth into the NCAA Division III Championships in the event. It is Morse’s second E8 weekly honor of the 2025 season.

 

ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE

The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit www.empire8.com.

 

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NEW ORLEANS – The 2025 Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame class was announced today by Ben Weiner Director of Athletics Chair David Harris and Hall of Fame Committee Chair Lenny Vangilder.

The five former student-athletes/coaches and administrators that were selected to the 2025 class include: women’s golf coach/administrator Sue Bower (1992-2016), football and track’s Devon Breaux (2012-16), volleyball/beach volleyball’s Tea Juric (2013-17), baseball’s Nathan Southard (2003-06), women’s basketball’s Leslie Vorpahl (2013-17). In addition, the 2008-09 women’s golf team will be inducted.

The Billy Slatten Award, given annually to someone who has given extraordinary service, commitment and support to Tulane University and its student-athletes, will be presented to Tulane board member emeritus and donor Richard Yulman. This award was established in 2004 in honor of William A. “Billy” Slatten, a longtime supporter of Tulane Athletics, a member of the Tulane Board of Trustees and the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee.

Joe Scheurmann, the head coach and athletic director at Delgado Community College, is the 2025 recipient of the Don and Lora Peters Career Achievement Award. This award honors a former Tulane student-athlete who earned his or her undergraduate degree while competing for the Green Wave. The recipient has combined his/her athletic experience with their Tulane education to achieve a career of distinction in an athletics-related field. This award was established in 2023 to recognize Donald “Don” and Lora Peters in acknowledgement of their steadfast support and dedication, and their commitment to helping prepare student-athletes for their futures post-graduation.

“We are fortunate to have an opportunity to induct another phenomenal Hall of Fame class in 2025,” Harris said. “Annually I am impressed by those that have laid the foundation of our athletics department. We are excited and thrilled to honor them and welcome them back to campus in September. Roll Wave!”

The induction ceremony for the 2025 Hall of Fame Class is set for Friday, September 12, followed by in-game recognition as the Green Wave take on Duke inside Yulman Stadium on Saturday, September 13.

2025 Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame Class

Sue Bower, Women’s Golf Coach, 1992-2005; Administrator, 2005-16

• Spent 24 years on Tulane staff, 13 as head women’s golf coach and 11 in athletic administration
• Inherited a program ranked 121st of 122 schools nationally in 1992, eventually leading the program to five postseason trips, including a team berth to the 2005 NCAA Championship
• Led Tulane to back-to-back Conference USA championships in 2004 and 2005; both of those teams finished the year ranked in top 20 nationally
• Earned Coach of the Year honors no fewer than nine times, including National Golf Coaches Association East Region Coach of the Year in 2003
• Transitioned from coach to administrator in 2005-06 when women’s golf program was discontinued in wake of Hurricane Katrina, then served as sport’s primary administrator upon a successful restart
• Served as senior woman administrator and chaired Hall of Fame committee for Tulane Athletics as an administrator
• Served as athletic director at Guilford College in North Carolina after departing Tulane
• Currently serves as AD at Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans

Devon Breaux, Men’s Track & Field/Football, 2012-16

• A two-sport athlete who excelled in jumps and sprints on the track and was a wide receiver on the football field.
• Three-time NCAA regional qualifier in the long jump (2012, 2014, 2015), the first Tulane male track athlete to qualify three times in the regional era.
• Placed 19th in the long jump at NCAA outdoor championships in 2015.
• Won the American Athletic Conference indoor championship in the long jump in 2015 and was freshman of the meet at the 2013 Conference USA indoor championships after scoring in three events (LJ, HJ, 4×100).
• Three-time All-Conference selection in the long jump and high jump and twice earned conference athlete of the week honors.
• In four seasons as receiver for the Green Wave football team, caught 41 passes for 625 yards (15.2 avg) and five touchdowns.

Tea Juric, Volleyball/Beach Volleyball, 2013-17

• A native of Croatia was one of Tulane’s first volleyball players to play indoors in the fall and beach in the spring, excelling at both disciplines.
• Indoors, she ranks in Tulane’s career top 10 in six categories, including fourth with 1,479 career kills, eighth with 3.36 kills per set, fifth in total attacks with 3,914, sixth in digs with 1,291

,

and ninth with 2.93 digs per set.

• Was named Conference USA and Louisiana Freshman of the Year in 2013.  She was alsofirst-team All-CUSA in 2013, while garnering second-team All-American Athletic Conference

honors

as a senior in 2016.

• Earned First-Team All-Louisiana honors in 2015 and Second-Team All-State in 2014.
• On the sand, became the first player in Tulane history to win 100 matches and had a career record of 103-43.
• More than half (58) of her beach volleyball career victories came at the No. 1 spot in lineup.
• Twice earned All-Conference honors in Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA).
• Part of the first Tulane pair to be selected for AVCA College Sand Volleyball national championship.

Nathan Southard, Baseball, 2003-06

• A member of Tulane’s last team to reach the College World Series in 2005.
• Finished his career with a .321 batting average with 29 home runs, 168 RBI, 50 stolen bases and 277 hits.
• Ranks in the top 10 of 10 career categories, including doubles (sixth, 61), games played (seventh, 241), games started (seventh, 219), runs (ninth, 204), hits (ninth, 277) and triples (ninth, 8).
• Ranks in the top 10 of 10 single season categories, including triples (fourth, 5 in 2006), runs (fifth, 80 in 2005) and doubles (seventh, 24 in 2005).
• Posted his best season in 2005, hitting .341, third-best on the team behind current Tulane Hall of Famers Micah Owings and Tommy Manzella.
• Tied a school record with three home runs against Houston, becoming only the second player in conference history to achieve this feat.
• Batted .500 (8-for-16) in New Orleans Regional and was named to the All-Tournament team.
• Was consistently named to the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and was repeatedly recognized as a Tulane Scholar-Athlete throughout his four years with the Green Wave.
• Drafted in the 17th round by the St. Louis Cardinals and played three years in their minor league system before embarking on his professional business career. 

Leslie Vorpahl, Women’s Basketball, 2013-17

• Started 87 of 129 games in four seasons in a Tulane uniform, scoring 1,255 points, dishing out 558 assists and connecting on 192 three-pointers
• Ranks third in school history in career assists, fifth in three-pointers and sixth in minutes (3,679)
• Her 15 assists against Grambling on Nov. 12, 2016, are the most in a game in school history, one more than the 14 done twice by current head coach Ashley Langford
• Won the American Athletic Conference’s most improved player award in 2016 and the league’s scholar-athlete of the year and sportsmanship award in 2017
• A member of the Conference USA All-Freshman team in 2014 who twice was named Third-Team All-Conference in The American Athletic Conference, in 2016 and 2017
• Twice earned CUSA Freshman of the Week honors in 2013-14 and was named to the Tulane Classic all-tournament team in 2016
• She has played professionally for eight seasons overseas

2008-09 Women’s Golf Team

• The program was reinstated after three years following Hurricane Katrina and won the 2009 Conference USA championship by 23 strokes
• Finished 20th at the 2009 NCAA National Championship
• Finished 5th at 2009 NCAA East Regional Championship
• Final National Ranking of 28th in 2009 (Golfstat)
• The team won 2 tournaments and finished second in two other events in 2008-09
• Produced the conference’s Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year

Billy Slatten Award

Richard Yulman

• Helped lead the charge to return Tulane football to campus, making a $15 million naming-rights gift to the project
• Yulman Stadium, which opened in 2014, is named for Richard, his late wife, Janet and the entire Yulman family
• Served as a vocal advocate and proponent for Tulane Athletics during his tenure on the Board of Trustees at Tulane
• Retired chairman and owner of mattress manufacturing giant Sealy
• Parent of daughter, Katy Yulman-Williamson, who graduated from Tulane with a degree in psychology in 2005
• Along with Katy and Katy’s husband, Greg Williamson, renewed his support for Tulane Athletics through a lead commitment to Investing in Excellence, a major capital campaign to upgrade facilities and infrastructure across the university’s athletic programs
• Is credited as one of the champions of the modern-day renaissance of Tulane Football and Tulane Athletics

Don and Lora Peters Career Achievement Award

Joe Scheuermann, Baseball

• A New Orleans native who played for his Hall of Fame father “Rags” at Delgado Community College before transferring to Tulane for the 1983 season
• He played regularly on a pair of 40-win teams in 1983 and 1984 under Hall of Famer Joe Brockhoff, including the first-ever team to receive an NCAA at-large berth in 1983
• After graduating from Tulane in 1984, he joined Brockhoff’s staff as an assistant coach, along with other administrative roles, before succeeding his father as Delgado’s coach in 1990
• Now in his 35th year with the Dolphins, he has won more than 1,200 games – the most at one school by a coach in Louisiana history – and led his teams to five appearances in the Junior College World Series, most recently in 2023
• He added the title of athletic director at Delgado in 2013
• He led efforts to construct the Tom and Gayle Benson Athletic Complex at Delgado, a state-of-the-art facility that opened last fall
• Will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in June 2025; also a member of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the All-American Amateur Baseball Association Hall of Fame
• Won the Eddie Robinson Award from the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, for outstanding achievement in athletics, academics, sportsmanship and citizenship with limited resources

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EUGENE, OR – A trio of individuals along with the men’s 4×100 relay squad and the women’s 4×400 relay team all had podium finishes on Sunday as the Maryland track and field team concluded the final day of competition at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field.
 
The men’s 4×100 relay squad opened the day with an eighth-place finish. The foursome of Joshua Goffe, Tanner Leach, Roman Spikes, and Mykel Morman posted a time of 40.31 seconds in winning the first heat of the event.
 
Maya Valmon reached the podium with an eighth-place finish in the 400 meter finals (53.82 seconds) after qualifying for the event on Saturday. Shortly after, Eric Albright finished seventh in the 800 meters (1:49.13). From the field events on Sunday, Tolu Akinduro placed eighth after leaping 12.64 meters in the triple jump.
 
The 4×400 relay squads ended the meet with a pair of big performances.
 
On the women’s side, Samantha Payne, Lydia Robling, Maya Mosley, and Maya Valmon turned in the third-best time in program history (3:37.11) to place sixth overall.
 
The men’s team of Goffe, Isaiah Chapman, Aaron Abedin, and Sam Ford posted the seventh-best performance in program history as they clocked 3:09.83 to finish 12^th overall.
 
Other notable performances from the final day of the championships included Kami Joi Hickson placing ninth in the 800 meters (2:07.42) and Jennessa Wolfe finishing 15^th in the high jump (1.70m).

Maryland Big Ten Championship Performances (Day Three):

Triple Jump – Tolu Akinduro – 12.64m (8^th)

High Jump – Jennessa Wolfe – 1.70m (15^th)

4×100 (men) – Joshua Goffe, Tanner Leach, Roman Spikes, Mykel Morman – 40.31 (8th)

4×100 (women) – Bryce Hatcher, Victoria Teasley, Jewel Ofotan, Armanie Coleman – 45.51 (10^th)

400m – Maya Valmon – 53.82 (8^th)

800m (men) – Eric Albright – 1:49.13 (7^th)

800m (women) – Kami Joi Hickson – 2:07.42 (9^th)

5,000m – Katie Altieri – 17:11.67 (36^th)

4×400 (men) – Joshua Goffe, Isaiah Chapman, Aaron Abedin, Sam Ford – 3:09.83 (12th) – 7^th all-time

4×400 (women) – Samantha Payne, Lydia Robling, Maya Mosley, Maya Valmon – 3:37.11 (6^th) – 3^rd all-time

 

 

The Kenton Girls 8th Grade Volleyball beat Waynesfield-Goshen High School 2-0 Thursday.

The Wildcats used some strong serving and defense to win their last game at Kenton Middle School.

They will now travel to Bath on Saturday for the WBL tournament.

The first match begins at 10:00 am vs. St Marys.

All tickets are sold online only at: https://www.bathwildcats.org/TicketBoxOffice.aspx

The 2024-25 Southwest Florida High School Sports Awards is proud to announce the nominees for players of the year for all spring sports.