Archives for February 2024

6 storylines to note ahead of the 2024 college softball season

February 7, 2024 by Tara S

KAITLYN SCHMIDT | NCAA

Opening day for college softball is Thursday, Feb. 8 — here are the hottest topics to gear your attention towards this season.

Jordy Bahl’s impact on Nebraska

The Papillion, Nebraska, native has taken the 450-mile trip north to the Cornhusker State to pitch her junior season close to home. The Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 tournament announced her departure from Oklahoma in mid-June of last year, not even two days after the Sooners held a campus-wide celebration for their most recent title. Jordy Bahl amassed a 44-2 record over 288.2 IP with a 1.00 ERA and 397 strikeouts as led the Sooners to consecutive national championships in her first two seasons there.

In Lincoln, Bahl will join forces with Sarah Harness and Kaylin Kinney in the circle, as well as play alongside superstar shortstop Billie Andrews and utility transfer Peyton Cody. As the lone Big Ten player on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year preseason watchlist, Bahl is projected to make a tumultuous ripple in the Nebraska softball legacy. She’ll likely be at the plate and playing more defense at Nebraska, and thus, the best of Bahl may still be yet to come.

Texas returns its core

The depth of Texas’ roster cannot be understated. The Longhorns return every core position player except outfielder Alyssa Popelka and 1B/flex player Courtney Day, who transferred to Washington and Ole Miss, respectively. Along with taking on Notre Dame transfer Joley Mitchell (IF), the Longhorns have a highly-touted recruited class to subsidize their already-talented depth chart.

First-year outfielder Kayden Henry will be joining Ashton Maloney and Bella Dayton on the green this season. Notching a .655 batting average in 2022, Henry was named No. 3 overall in Perfect Game’s Top 50 Class of 2023 recruit rankings and No. 5 (tie) in Extra Inning Softball’s 2023 Extra Elite 100. Henry’s speed and savvy base running skills — her most recent season saw 28 hits, 21 runs and 31 stolen bases — will make an early impact on the Texas lineup.

Standing at 6’0″, freshman Teagan Kavan will be a force in the circle, notching 1,444 strikeouts over 772.2 IP and six no-hitters in her previous club career. Along with this addition, Texas’ bullpen is already saturated with talented arms in Estelle Czech, Mac Morgan, Citlaly Gutierrez and Sophia Simpson.

Just two years prior, the Longhorns posted their best post-season finish in the WCWS Championship Series as the 2022 runner-up. Last year, a 9-0 shutout loss in the Knoxville regional booted the Longhorns from last year’s tournament. Thus, this is a team fully capable of making a deep run this season, and with a reliable roster, Texas has major potential this year to make it to OKC.

Can the Pac-12 ride its momentum from 2023?

In its last few months of existence, Pac-12 softball has the opportunity to make a statement in its leave. The conference boasts five teams in the USA Softball preseason poll: No. 3 Stanford, No. 8 UCLA, No. 10 Washington, No. 13 Oregon and No. 16 Utah.

Though it got double-eliminated by Oklahoma in the WCWS, Stanford posted an otherwise stellar postseason run. Despite the loss of pitcher Alana Vawter, the Cardinal will have NiJaree Canady returning as ace after a breakout freshman season. Canady finished with a 17-3 record with seven shutouts, becoming the fifth player in Stanford history to record 200 strikeouts in a single season (218).

Host of the Los Angeles regional in last year’s tournament, 2-seeded UCLA was shockingly eliminated by GCU and Liberty after a 52-7 season. Returning to the diamond with a refreshed pitching staff and reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Maya Brady (SS), the Bruins are hungrier than ever to return to their former glory — their most recent championship win was in 2019.

Utah made it to the WCWS last season for the first time since 1994, and their 2023 win percentage (.724) was the highest the Utes have posted in nearly 30 years. As for Washington, it’s coming off a 74.6 win percentage year, only dropping three games in Husky Stadium. So, we’ll see how things will shake out during the final year of Pac-12 play.

Arkansas’ highly-touted transfer class

Head coach Courtney Deifel fortified her batting lineup with quite the transfer class, earning an added 7.9 wWAA (Weighted Wins Above Average) according to D1Softball. Nia Carter from Iowa and Bri Ellis from Auburn are the headlining additions, as well as Morgan Leinstock (Southern Miss) and Reis Beuerlein (Mississippi State) for the pitching staff.

NIA CARTER, ARKANAS RAZORBACKS SOFTBALL TRANSFER

A redshirt senior, Carter holds Iowa’s program record for career batting average at .415, and started all 62 games in right field last season. In 2023, she recorded hits in all but 10 of her games played, and recorded a career-high 30 RBIs. A seasoned player, Carter will add experience to the roster as well as versatility in the batting lineup. As for Ellis, she was one of two players for Auburn to start every game during her sophomore campaign and was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2022. Clocking a .989 fielding percentage at first base and 14 homers last season, she’ll be a crucial add on both sides of the ball for the Tigers.

Reigning SEC Pitcher of the Year Chenise Delce will be assisted in the chalk by Leinstock and Beurelein, whose ERAs were 3.30 and 3.13 last season, respectively.

Alabama without ace Montana Fouts

Following the departure of All-American pitcher Montana Fouts, the Tide will have some soul-searching to do to perfect a pitching staff. A generational talent in Tuscaloosa, Fouts hurled 24 complete games in 2023 and led the nation with 323 strikeouts, notching a 7.88 K/BB ratio. Despite tearing her ACL in the SEC tournament last year, Fouts finished out her senior campaign in the national quarterfinals ranked second in program history in strikeouts (1,181) and third in shutouts (35).

Now faced with a dilemma in the circle, head coach Patrick Murphy will turn to his depth in sluggers to find a good rhythm. The Tide picked up two transfers in Kayla Beaver (Central Arkansas) and Alea Johnson (LSU), whose pitching resumes vary from toughness to versatility. Beaver ignited the most successful season in Central Arkansas’ history in 2023 by logging a 21-8 record with 20 complete games and three shutouts. Johnson earned a 7-1 record with the Tigers, tossing two complete games and a shutout.

The lone freshman pitcher is Jocelyn Briski, hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, and topping her high school’s all-time leaderboard in wins (54), strikeouts (1,009), ERA (0.54), shutouts (30), no-hitters (8) and perfect games (2). Senior Jaala Torrence and redshirt junior Alex Salter will also be in consideration for the starting role. But, as Murphy told D1 Softball in their fall report: “I think it’s going to be a mix and match thing and it’s going to be fun.”

Oklahoma’s historic championship run

There’s really no other way to say it: Oklahoma softball is on a dynastic run. Finishing their 2023 campaign with a stellar 61-1 record — with their only loss coming from a one-run decision against Baylor — the Sooners were dominant in every facet on the diamond. Here are the statistical categories that Oklahoma led the nation in, by the end of last year:

Batting average: .366
ERA: .96
Fielding percentage: .987
Home runs per game: 1.89
On-base percentage: .456
Scoring per game: 8.08 R/G
Shutouts: 35
Slugging percentage: .666

Oklahoma has won the past three national championships, going undefeated in the final series for their last two titles. No school has ever accomplished a four-peat in the history of the sport; UCLA was the only other program to get a three-peat from 1988-1990. Already on a 53-game unbeaten streak, the Sooners are equipped with a loaded transfer class and returners hungry for their last shot at a perfect season; 2024 presents another chance for OU to make history.

Fiona O’Keeffe Reigns Supreme at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Historic Debut

February 5, 2024 by Tara S

By: Emilia Benton | Run O

On a hot and humid morning, the 25-year-old former Stanford star set a U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon record of 2:22:10. Emily Sisson and Dakotah Lindwurm went 2-3 to earn the final Olympic berths.

It’s no secret that Saturday’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials had one of its most stacked fields in history. In a field full of American legends, past Olympians and emerging stars, there were about a dozen women that made their way into fan and media predictions, with top athletes such as Emily Sisson, Keira D’Amato and Betsy Saina being popular picks as the race got closer.

It’s safe to say not many people had 25-year-old Puma-sponsored athlete Fiona O’Keeffe on their list, mostly because she had never run a marathon before. But it was O’Keeffe, running boldly amid the more experienced runners around her, who took the win in 2:22:10, setting a new U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon record. It’s the first time in history that a woman has won the event in her debut.

New Balance athlete Sisson, 32, the American record-holder in the marathon, took second in 2:22:42 to make her second Olympic team (she placed 10th in the 10,000 meters in Tokyo in 2021), and Dakotah Lindwurm, 28, also a Puma athlete, was third in 2:25:21 after quite the battle for that third Olympic spot. All three will run the marathon in the Paris Olympics on August 11.

A Big Risk with a Big Reward

O’Keeffe, 25, who trains with Puma Elite, a Cary, North Carolina-based team led by former professional athletes Alistair and Amy Cragg, noted that it wasn’t necessarily the plan to have her run her first marathon in such a high-stakes event, but rather just how her training worked out after she debuted in the half marathon only two years ago (which was notable in that her 1:07:32 clocking at the 2022 Houston Half Marathon, was the fastest debut by an American woman at the time.)

O’Keeffe went on to place sixth in the 5,000 meters at the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. She missed time in 2023 after ankle surgery to recover from a staph infection, and finally earned her ticket to the U.S. Olympic Trials last December at the Raleigh Half Marathon (1:09:34) just a day before the qualifying deadline.

“[Debuting at the Trials] just naturally made sense in the progression of my training,” O’Keeffe said in the post-race press conference.

The women's field runs down the street at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. — About 150 of the best women runners in the country. started the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon on February 3 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo: Joe Hale)

As the front pack that started with about 14 women got smaller as the miles ticked off, Lindwurm was one of the first athletes to take the lead. O’Keeffe, meanwhile, didn’t make a significant move until mile 18, which was also still rather early considering how much distance the women still had left to cover. She eventually put in a 30- to 40-second gap on Sisson after mile 20, never looking back as she grinded to the finish.

“I just really didn’t want to have any regrets today, and I wasn’t sure at that point if it would be a mistake or if it would pay off,” O’Keeffe said. “I just wanted to go for it, see what happens, and trust the training and preparation.”

“Fiona was great, and I just tried to keep my eyes on her, thinking as long as I kept running my pace I could reel her back in and maybe pick it up in the last two miles, but I also just kept telling myself ‘Top three, top three, just make this team,’” Sisson added.

A New Era of American Distance Running

Several athletes had expressed concern about the late-morning start time, which was pushed up to 10 A.M. from an originally planned noon start. While starting line temperatures were mild in the high 50s, it warmed up quickly and clearly took its toll as several top athletes eventually dropped out, including D’Amato, Saina, and 2020 Olympic Trials champion Aliphine Tuliamuk, who had been recovering from a torn hamstring.

Hall, 40, dealt with the simultaneous heartbreak of missing another Olympic team in her eighth overall Trials, but expressed pride in achieving her highest placement with her fifth-place finish (2:26:06) in Orlando. Des Linden, 40, a two-time Olympian running in her fifth U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, finished 11th in 2:28:04; Stephanie Bruce, 40, competing less than five months after giving birth to a baby girl, finished 101st in 2:47:42. Jenny Simpson, 37, a former world champion in the 1,500 meters, who was competing in her first marathon, was among the top 20 women early but but eventually succumbed to the heat and the pace and stepped off the course after Mile 18.

Emily Sisson, Fiona O'Keeffe, and Dakota Lindwurm stand at the finish of the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon with American flags draped over their shoulders. — Emily Sission (second, 2:22:42), Fiona O’Keeffe (first, 2:22:10), Dakotah Lindwurm (third, 2:25:31) (Photo: Joe Hale)

O’Keeffe noted that although she’s been told as early as when she was in high school that the marathon might be her event, she didn’t really start to believe it until about two years ago, when she began training with her current team. She highlighted her coaches’ experience as being pivotal in her preparation, particularly Amy’s, as she won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles on an equally hot and humid February day.

“It’s been super valuable to have Amy with her personal experience on everything from the little details like decorating bottles to the bigger stuff like race strategy and making a commitment at the point in the race where it does start to hurt,” O’Keeffe said.

Lindwurm’s third-place finish was also a significant breakthrough after running a personal best of 2:24:40 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, which was preceded by a few difficult performances in Boston over the last few years, as well as dropping out at the 2022 New York City Marathon. After initially taking the lead, Lindwurm at one point fell back to seventh place before moving back up to battle for third with Caroline Rotich, the 2015 Boston Marathon champion, in the final miles.

“When it opened up and felt like the team was running away from me, I just reminded myself it wasn’t over, there was a lot of race left,” Lindwurm said. “I’ve done so many marathons that I know not everyone is going to close really hard, so I just held on tight and when I passed those women like Betsy [Saina] and Sara Hall, I reminded myself it wasn’t over.”

Fiona O'Keeffe receives a hug from Dakota Lindwurm. — (Photo: Joe Hale)

2024 Women’s U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon Results

1. Fiona O’Keeffe, Cary, North Carolina, 2:22:10, $80,000*
2. Emily Sisson, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:22:42, $65,000*
3. Dakotah Lindwurm, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2:25:31, $55,000*
4. Jessica McClain, Phoenix, Arizona, 2:25:46, $9,000
5. Sara Hall, Crested Butte, Colorado, 2:26:06, $9,000
6. Caroline Rotich, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:26:10, $9,000
7. Makenna Myler, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:26:14, $9,000
8. Lindsay Flanagan, Boulder, Colorado, 2:26:25, $9,000
9. Emily Durgin, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:27:56, $9,000
10. Annie Frisbie, Edina, Minnesota, 2:27:56, $7,000
* = Secured 2024 U.S. Olympic Team berth for the marathon in the Paris Olympics

SYDNEY TIEMANN NAMED 2024 USA LACROSSE D-II WOMEN’S PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR

February 5, 2024 by Tara S

By: USA Lacrosse Magazine

A banner 2023 has Tiemann and Maryville positioned for more success.

Maryville attacker Sydney Tiemann is the USA Lacrosse Division II Women’s Preseason Player of the Year, USA Lacrosse Magazine announced Friday. Tiemann also secured Preseason Attacker of the Year honors.

Tiemann buried 115 goals in 2023, a Division II single-season record. She added 156 draw controls, 36 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers on top of her offensive production.

“She was a game changer for us,” Maryville head coach Melissa Gyllenborg said. “She’s a great leader.”

Maryville earned an NCAA tournament berth but fell to UIndy in the first round. With Tiemann back for another season, hopes are high for more.

Continue below to see the three other players with preseason positional recognition.

USA Lacrosse’s 2024 D-II Women’s Preseason All-Americans

PRESEASON ATTACKER OF THE YEAR

Sydney Tiemann, Maryville

Tiemann broke the NCAA Division II single-season record with 115 goals in 2023 and led the nation with 5.75 goals per game. Her monster season included at least three goals in 18 of 20 contests.

PRESEASON MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR

Hannah Stanislawczyk, West Chester

With 210 career goals, including 92 last season, Stanislawczyk has a chance to become only the second player in Division II history to reach 300 goals. She even has an outside chance of breaking the all-time Division II goals record of 310.

PRESEASON DEFENDER OF THE YEAR

Alexandra Quinn, Pace

Quinn was one of the defensive anchors of the 2023 national championship for Pace, ranking among the team leaders with 118 draw controls, 29 caused turnovers and 35 ground balls. She helped the Setters lead the NE10 in scoring defense at 7.91 goals allowed per game.

PRESEASON GOALIE OF THE YEAR

Jessica Gorr, West Chester

Gorr is coming off a stellar 2023 season in which she finished fourth in the nation in boths goals-against average (7.61) and save percentage (.522). She owns a career record of 33-2 as a starter.

“HOPEFULLY THE AFL AT SOME POINT MAKES THAT COMMITMENT”: COX ON EXPANDING THE AFL AUDIENCE TO U.S SOIL

February 1, 2024 by Tara S

BY FRANK SEAL | SEN

Taking up our great game at 23 years old, Mason Cox has grown into the most successful American to ever grace Aussie Rules turf.

Standing 211 cm and boasting a nice NCAA division 1 basketball career in college, matching up on superstars like NBA MVP Joel Embiid, Cox would eventually take his large frame and American swagger to the footy field.

He debuted on the grandest of all stages, ANZAC Day, in front of 85,000 at the MCG, where within 90 seconds of play, he marked and goaled with his first touch in the big time, sending the Magpie army wild. This would not be the only time.

Now a premiership Pie and reaching the twilight of his playing days, 32-year-old Cox is forging his post-career passion, expanding the AFL audience to U.S soil.

Speaking with Gerard Whateley during the Boxing Day Test on SEN Cricket, Cox shared this passion for the Australian game and his experience filming an interview for 60 minutes US.

“That would have probably reached 20-30 million people… almost the population of Australia,” he said.

“That’s a massive piece for people just to get interested.

“We’re such a diverse world of people from all different walks of life and different places that you can find fans anywhere in the world that will support whatever sport they have.”

With the rival NRL competition hosting round one of their season in Las Vegas, calls for the our code to follow suit may confront Andrew Dillon and the AFL house in the very near future.

“Hopefully the AFL at some point makes that commitment,” Cox added after raising the NRL experiment.

“Hopefully at some point in my life or maybe post my career I could help make that happen.”

There is obviously much potential to grow the game exponentially with an American audience, the USA being home to over 330 million people, many of which share the love of sport that unites millions of Australians.

“If you get 1% of the population of America to care about AFL it’s more than the whole population of Melbourne,” Cox added.

“It’s a huge ability to make some kind of financial income for the AFL and hopefully they can realise that.”

Cox has played 113 AFL games across his career for the Magpies, spanning eight seasons and culminating in the 2023 AFL premiership.

Already A State Champion, Arelle Middleton Has Her Sights Set On Paralympic Glory

February 1, 2024 by Tara S

by Lela Moore | usparatf

Arelle Middleton knew her throw of 12.02 meters was good enough for a California state title in the shot put last May.

What the Los Osos High School freshman did not know at the time was that the mark would have won her a gold medal in the women’s F64 classification at the Para track and field world championships later that summer.

Middleton found that out in December when U.S. Paralympics Track & Field named her its High School Female Field Athlete of the Year. The 15-year-old received one of the top honors among 44 athletes who made the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School All-American list.

“It was a pretty big deal to me,” Middleton said. “To get recognized for all the work, to see that other people think I’m a good thrower.”

Sandra Van Embricqs, Middleton’s mother, said that the recognition was “totally unexpected” and a “nice surprise” after watching her daughter’s talent for throwing develop over the years.

Van Embricqs, a high school basketball coach and French teacher at Chino High School in California, has always encouraged Middleton to compete in sports.

In 2019 and 2020, Middleton won Southern California sectional matches in wheelchair tennis, and she now competes at a high level in both track and wheelchair basketball.

Currently, Van Embricqs drives Middleton, now a sophomore at Los Osos, an hour each way to wheelchair basketball practice twice a week, before or after school. Van Embricqs said she is relieved now that her daughter can train for track and field at her high school. Middleton did not participate in indoor track this season but is preparing for her outdoor season this spring.

Middleton’s left leg is about six inches shorter than her right, and her left hip is also underdeveloped, because of a congenital femoral deficiency. Officially classified as F44, she would have competed in F64 at the world championships as F44 was not on the program for shot put.

While Middleton has competed in Para track and field meets like the Angel City Games, where she first realized her throwing talents, Van Embriqcs encouraged her to try out for her high school track and field team and to compete against able-bodied athletes in the sport.

“As a mom, as a coach, I’ve just been watching it in awe because I knew what she could do in the Para world,” Van Embriqcs said.

Middleton has participated in Para track and field clinics since age 12 and, more often than not, she wound up at the top of the podium at those competitions.

“But to see her compete against able-bodied people in the way that she has this past year, that’s been pretty amazing,” Van Embriqcs said.

While Middleton thrives in both the discus and the shot out, she prefers the shot put because it requires less footwork, which is more complex for her because of her shorter left leg.

Van Embriqcs termed Middleton’s success in track and field as “icing on the cake” for her daughter.

“Having a disability and always having people look at you as ‘less than’ or ‘less capable than,’ and then to have her beat them out as a freshman, that was amazing,” Van Embriqcs said.

Middleton’s teammates, as well as her high school coaches and athletic director, have embraced her.

“I’m really happy for that, because not everybody has that experience,” Van Embriqcs said.

“The older you get, the less people really care about it,” Middleton added.

Set to graduate in 2026, Middleton aspires to compete in college and beyond in both wheelchair basketball and track and field. Right now, though, she said mostly basketball programs have been approaching her. Some programs will allow her to do both sports, and she believes that the cross-training will benefit her performance in each one.

Before Middleton even considers college offers, there’s a gigantic athletic opportunity in the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 this August. The prospect of competing on the world’s largest stage would be enticing no matter what, but Middleton has family in Europe who would provide a large cheering section for her if she qualified for the Games.

Both mother and daughter are learning the ropes of the Paralympic qualification process as they go.

“There’s a lot to learn,” Van Embriqcs said. “(But) I’m excited for Arelle. Her future looks bright, and I think 2024 is going to be an exciting year.”

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