Track and Field
Dedrick Burnett’s Owls track and field teams boasted another impressive weekend with two school records set at the 2025 Belhaven Invitational meet last weekend.
Cortland Earl became the first Owl with a sub-one minute time in the men’s 400-meter hurdle, clocking in at 59.03 to finish in sixth at the meet.
Malachi Stafford picked up the other record in his third-place finish in the men’s high jump, posting a leap of 1.85 meters.
Earl earned St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s Player of the Week honors for his performance while the women’s weekly award went to Hali Sinegal, who was the lone Owl to win an event over the weekend.
Sinegal finished third in the long jump and took first in the triple jump with a leap of 10.97 meters.
“Cortland has been putting in the work and learning a lot this year,” Burnett said. “I’m happy to see him applying the information I’m sharing with him. Ms. Hali is just getting started and I’m looking forward to seeing her progress as the season goes on.”
Basketball postseason awards
Six W basketball players were honored by the College Sports Communicators in the 2024-25 Academic All-District team. The recognition goes to players who are at least a sophomore, have competed in 90% of their team’s games or started in at least 66%, and have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average.
Women’s team hoopers Conley Langford, Diamond Rayford, Claire Leak and Leileigh Moody were recognized.
“The great thing about all of these kids is that you never have to even think about them in terms of whether they are taking care of business in the classroom,” MUW Head Women’s Basketball Coach Eric Vaughn said. ”Because you know that they are.”
Along with the four women’s team representatives, men’s team players James Dukes and Jackson Reid were also named as All-District honorees.
“We are proud of both James and Jackson for the honor that they have each worked to bring to themselves, their families, and our program in being named CSC Academic All-District,” men’s basketball head coach Dean Burrows said. “We don’t shy away from the fact that the priority for all of our guys is to develop them as men – first and foremost – for the journey that awaits them, and the academic component is one of the areas we pour into them.”
Tennis
The W men and women had different results at Rust College over the weekend. The men fell, 7-0, to the Bearcats while the women left with a 5-2 win.
With the victory, the women’s team moves to 3-3 on the season under interim head coach Brian Merkel.
Owl of the Week
This week’s Owl of the Week recognition went to Zach Johnson for his production at the plate in a wild series win over Fontbonne University to start conference play.
Johnson averaged .538 at the plate in the doubleheader sweep of the Griffins, driving in seven runs. Six of those came in a baffling 33-17 win in Game 2, in which Johnson set school single-game records with eight at-bats, five hits, three doubles and six RBIs.
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