Bloomington South to Compete in the Unified Track and Field State Finals The Bloomington South Panthers are set to compete in the IHSAA Unified Track and Field State Finals this morning beginning at 11 AM at North Central High School in Indianapolis. This is the third State Finals Appearance for Bloomington South and third in a row as the Panthers are competing in third straight State Finals. The Panthers finished 11th in 2023 with 64 points and tied for 5th place with 88 points in 2024 with Gavin Adams and Peyton Shute taking home the Mental Attitude Award. Bloomington South won its First Regional Title and Bloomington North took home the Sectional Title this year. There are six events with the Long Jump, Shot Put, 100 Meters, 400 Meters, 400 Meters Girls and Boys Relays.
This is the 9th time a Monroe County school has competed in the Unified Track and Field State Finals. Bloomington North has made four appearances. The Cougars finished 10th with 77 points in 2019, 5th with 91 points in 2021, 6th with 95 points in 2023 and 11th with 76 points in 2024. Andrew Cockerham and Justin Lovell took home the Mental Attitude Award for Bloomington North in 2023. Edgewood has made two appearances as the Mustangs competed in the first state finals in 2014 scoring 71 points and finishing 8th and scoring 65 points in 2016 with an 11th place finish.
Monroe County Well Represented in the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals Monroe County will be well represented during Today’s IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals at North Central High School in Indianapolis beginning at 3 PM. 11 Monroe County Athletes will compete in 12 Different Events and 5 Relays will compete in 3 Different Relay Events. Bloomington North finished second with 41 points as Hadley Lucas state two state records in the Discus and Shot Put and Dede Eberle won the 100 Meter Hurdles. Lucas took home the Mental Attitude Award. Lucas and Eberle have graduated as Lucas is competing at the University of Wisconsin. Bloomington South won the Sectional and Regional Titles for the first time since 2018 in sectionals and 2021 in Regionals ending the Cougars dominance.
Bloomington South will have 8 athletes competing in 9 events and all three relay teams with Violet Hall in the 200 Meters and Long Jump. Ellie Barada in the 800 Meters, Lexi Kollbaum in the 1600 Meters, Aurelia Martogolio in the 3200 Meters, Jasmine Martogolio in the 3200 Meters, Maya Jackson in the 400 Meters, Mary Asplund in the 800 Meters along with the 4X 100 Relay, 4X400 Relay and 4X800 Meter Relays. Edgewood will have three athletes competing in three events with Avery Rayl in the 400 Meters, Ella LaRoche in the Pole Vault and Hannah Crain in the 3200 Meters. Bloomington North’s Lucas Feagans will compete in the 400 Meters along with the 4×400 Relay and 4X800 Meter Relays.
Tyrese Haliburton’s Game Winner Lifts the Indiana Pacers to a Win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma Cty Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 111-110. The Pacers were down by as many as 15 points. They had never led in the game, until the last second in the fourth quarter. With the Pacers down one point, Tyrese Haliburton pulled up from just inside the three-point arc. His shot rattled home with just a fraction of a second on the clock. “I think we’re just a really resilient group,” Haliburton said. “We just do a great job of just sticking in and just settling into the game. Through the course of the game, it kept getting, it felt like it could get ugly, who knows where this game is heading. I thought we did a great job of just walking them down… I don’t know what you say about it. I just know that this group is a resilient group and we don’t give up till it’s zero.”
“We have a lot of experience in these kinds of games and our guys have a real good feel for what it’s all about. Giving ourselves a chance,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We got fortunate, but made plays.” “It’s a resilient group,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said. “A team that just plays till the very end and have continued to do that. I think I sound like a broken record but we have to continue to do that. Very proud, obviously, but not satisfied. We still got work to do.”
“Just constant belief,” Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith said. “We just always believe, believe, believe. I said it earlier, any hole that we dig ourselves in, we dug it ourselves. so, we can dig our way out of it.” This was the Pacers fifth time coming back from down 15 or more points to win in the 2025 playoffs, which is the most in one playoff run since 1998. The Pacers lead the series 1-0 after the victory. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m.
Avry Tatum and Ava Vickers Headed to Big Ten Volleyball Media Days Senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum and junior middle blocker Ava Vickers will serve as Indiana’s representatives at the 2025 Big Ten Volleyball Media Days. The veteran duo will join head coach Steve Aird in Chicago at the network studios to kick off the new campaign (July 28-29). For the fourth-straight season, the Big Ten has set the tone in the growth of women’s volleyball at the national level. All 18 conference programs will converge on the Windy City to take part in television interviews, social media hits and in-depth sit downs with Big Ten Network hosts. The conference continues to take the sport to new levels. 2024 featured a record slate of games on national television – a number that is expected to increase this season. IU will do its part in growing the game by moving its rivalry match with Purdue to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on October 16th.
Tatum and Vickers were selected to represent the program by the coaching staff due to their on-court play and their well-spoken nature. Tatum is one of the best returning players at her position in the league and is coming off a campaign that saw her provide a career high 348 kills. Vickers started all 20 Big Ten matches last season and hit .314 with 1.17 kills per set. IU opens its 2025 season with a trip Coral Gables to take on Miami (Fla.) for the third-straight season. The Hoosiers will also meet VCU on opening weekend at the end of August.
Indiana University’s Zania Socka-Nguemen to Participate In 2025 USA Women’s Basketball U19 National Team Trials USA Basketball announced Thursday 27 athletes expected to participate in the 2025 USA Basketball Women’s U19 National Team trials at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Trials begin June 18 with the final 12-member roster expected to be announced following trials. The team will travel to Brno, Czechia, for the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup from July 12-20. Trials participants represent the high school graduating classes of 2026, 2027 and 2028 as well as incoming college freshman and sophomores. Athletes and coaches were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee. “On behalf of the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, I am excited to announce this special group of athletes who will compete for their spot on the 2025 USA Women’s U19 National Team,” said Cori Close, USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee chair. “These young women have a wealth of experience with USA Basketball, and I can’t wait to see what they bring to the trials. The FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup always provides great competition and challenges, and we look forward to selecting an outstanding roster and representing this country to the best of our ability this summer.”
Five incoming college sophomores will compete in trials, including Lanie Grant, Kayleigh Heckel, Jordan Lee, Alivia McGill and Zania Socka-Nguemen. They will be joined by incoming freshmen Sienna Betts, Aaliyah Chavez, Aaliyah Crump, Jasmine ‘Jazzy’ Davidson, Madison Francis, ZaKiyah Johnson, Emilee Skinner and Hailee Swain. The class of 2026 will be represented by Kelsi Andrews, Addison Bjorn, Autumn Fleary, Bella Flemings, Maddyn Greenway, Saniyah Hall, Kate Harpring, Jayla ‘Jordyn’ Jackson, Trinity Jones, Jerzy Robinson, Oumou ‘Mimi’ Thiero and Lilly Williams. De’Andra Minor and Sydney Douglas will represent the classes of 2027 and 2028, respectively.
The group features 26 athletes with past USA Basketball experience, 17 of whom have combined for 23 gold medals. Andrews, Bjorn, Grant, Robinson and Swain are two-time gold medalists having competed together at the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s AmeriCup and 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup. Crump, Jackson and Jones were all members of the 2023 U16 squad, with Skinner competing with the 2024 U17 team. Seven members of the USA’s gold-medal winning team at the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup will compete in trials, including Betts, Davidson, Francis, Heckel, Johnson, Lee and McGill. Davidson and Hall are gold medalists at the 2024 FIBA 3×3 U18 Women’s World Cup. As previously announced, coaches for the U19 team include Teri Moren (Indiana University), Jose Fernandez (University of South Florida) and Niele Ivey (University of Notre Dame). The trio led the 2024 USA Women’s U18 to gold at the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup last summer.
Court coaches for trials will be Carly Thibault-DuDonis and Aaron Roussell, both of whom will work with USA Basketball for the first time. Thibault-DuDonis has been the head women’s coach at Fairfield University since 2022, leading her team to back-to-back MAAC regular season and tournament championships and a pair of NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament appearances. Her father, Mike, a longtime WNBA coach and executive,won a pair of gold medals as a USA Basketball assistant coach at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup and 2008 and 2024 Olympic Games. Roussell, the head coach at the University of Richmond since 2019, is the 2025 ECAC Coach of the Year and two-time back Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2024 and 2025. Over the last two seasons, the Spiders have a combined 33-3 conference record. In April, Richmond advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
In Brno, USA Basketball will compete in Group A alongside Israel, Hungary and Korea. The red, white and blue will tip off vs. Korea on July 12 before taking on Hungary the following day, both at 2:15 p.m. ET. Group play concludes against Israel on July 15 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, which was launched in 1985, features the world’s top 16 U19 national teams who qualify based on their finishes the previous year at the biennial U18 zone championships (USA won gold at the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s World Cup). The USA has won the gold medal in nine of the last 10 competitions, including the last three.
Taylor University’s Livie Lehmann Named Softball Second-Team NAIA All-American The NAIA announced its All-Americans for Softball earlier this week, and Livie Lehmann was honored as a Second-Team NAIA All-American. Lehmann is the fifth softball athlete to earn NAIA All-American Honors for Taylor, after her teammate Kaylee Larkin, earned the distinction a year ago. Lauren Ehle, Alex Lovelace, and Davis Carter were also named NAIA All-Americans during their time on the Taylor softball team. The junior infielder earned the nod for the first time in her historic collegiate career at Taylor. A two-time First-Team All-Crossroads League award winner has moved up as she stepped up her game during the 2025 season.
Lehmann had her third season with 20 or more doubles as a junior, while no one else in program history has hit that mark. The Kenosha, Wisconsin native has rocketed 63 doubles in three seasons, nine more than anyone else in program history. The infielder’s power grew as she hit a career-best 13 home runs and drove in a program-record 65 runs. The righty put up video game numbers at the plate, with a .761 slugging percentage, .387 batting average, and .449 on-base percentage. Lehmann ranked in the top twelve in the NAIA in doubles, home runs, extra-base hits, and RBI despite playing fewer games than the majority of players in that group. The junior began the year on a 15-game hitting streak and reached base in all but six contests throughout an impressive campaign at the plate. Taylor has now received 29 NAIA All-American honors throughout the 2024-2025 year.