Sports

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SPORTS 8/30/24 11:01pm

Elon University football falls to Duke, offense fails to find rhythm

By Miles Hayford

Despite the gaping difference between the two programs — Duke was in a Power Four conference in Football Bowl Subdivision football and Elon in the Football Championship Subdivision — the Phoenix came into the game with a fighting chance. They faced a Blue Devils squad that reeked of inexperience due to a brand new head coach and quarterback debuting against Elon. Yet, Elon couldn't pick up momentum on offense and lost 26-3. The phoenix will now look to face North Carolina Central on the road at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon University cross-country team embraces change as season approaches

By Miles Hayford

After five straight years of dominance, the Elon cross-country team faces a new challenge this year. Following five CAA championships by the women and sustained success by the men, the team now has an uncertain future under new leadership. After seven years at Elon, head coach Kevin Jermyn resigned and became Duke University’s head coach. Former Eastern Michigan University head cross-country coach Mark Rinker was hired in the offseason and has big shoes to fill. Rinker acknowledges there is already an expectation of success, but he said he hopes to bring his personality and technique to the table.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon Dance Team prepares for nationals after two, second place finishes

By Benjamin Berfield

Elon University’s dance team is continuing to raise expectations before the season, said Coach Elly Dirks described the team’s growth mindset as a valuable component throughout each performance. Senior dancer Sarah Whiting agreed with Dirks and said the team’s aspirations continue to rise with their recent success. She attributed this toward the talent around the roster. Elon’s dance team has enjoyed a successful three year period thus far. In 2022, they won first place in the hip hop category at nationals and followed that up with two consecutive second place finishes in 2023 and 2024. Three members, including Whiting, remain from the 2022 team.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon University football looks to take another step in 2024

By Benjamin Berfield

There is plenty of optimism surrounding Elon University’s football team heading into the 2024 season. Despite not making the 2023 Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, they finished with a 6-5 season which included a 6-2 record in conference play. While they are ranked sixth out of 16 teams in the Colonial Atlantic Conference in a preseason poll conducted by all of the league’s head coaches, head coach Tony Trisciani believes Elon is more than capable of exceeding those rankings. As for the previous season, Trisciani said Elon is aiming to take the next step after missing the playoffs by one game.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon University football quarterback grows from adversity

By Miles Hayford

Matthew Downing, the starting quarterback for Elon University’s football team, said going into his seventh year has created a lot of doubt from others, but he remains steadfast in his decision to keep coming back to football. Downing’s seven year college football journey is not normal by any means. College football quarterbacks typically only get four years of eligibility. But Downing was plagued by a lack of playing time, injuries and playing through COVID-19. All three roadblocks provided a path for the NCAA to grant Downing more years of eligibility as his college career went on.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon volleyball comes into season with new mindset, experience

By Miles Hayford

A reinvigorated Elon University women’s volleyball team will be stepping onto the court this season — hoping for a better result than last season. The team, led by head coach Mary Tendler, ended last season with a 5-22 record. With six new additions to the program last year, inexperience was one of many pitfalls the team faced throughout the season. The players’ inexperience in the tough environment of college athletics was clear with the team going 0-11 at away games. However, Tendler doesn’t think that will be as much of a problem since those freshmen will now have the experience needed to find success.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Elon University men’s soccer looks to finish the job, win conference

By Miles Hayford

After losing in the Coastal Athletic Association Championship two times in the last three years and falling short in a penalty shootout in the CAA Tournament semifinals last year, the Elon University men’s soccer team is entering the 2024 season with a sense of determination. Head coach Marc Reeves said the team is aiming to finally win the CAA Tournament for the first time and get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Reeves said considering the small margins of college soccer, the team needs to maximize the strength of the players they’ve got and set them up to be successful.

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SPORTS 8/30/24 12:00am

Defender Katie Lowe hopes to end collegiate career on high note

By Benjamin Berfield

Graduate student defender Katie Lowe had an opportunity to return to Elon University’s women’s soccer team for a fifth year after being granted another year of eligibility with COVID-19, and now Lowe wants to take advantage of the chance to suit up one more time. In her senior season, Lowe was named team captain and recently selected to her third Preseason All-CAA honorable mention team. However, Lowe said she feels like there’s still unfinished business. She cited last year’s 3-9 record as one reason why she’s coming back.  

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SPORTS 8/21/24 10:17am

Elon University alumni work 2024 Summer Olympics

By Miles Hayford

Elon alumna Zora Stephenson ’15 got to spend her summer exploring the streets of Paris with her husband and witnessing history. As a reporter for NBC Sports, she got a front-row seat to moments such as Simone Biles’ All-Around gold medal win. Caroline Brehman ’18 also spent her summer in Paris covering the Olympics and photographed various events for EPA Images. And while she wasn't in Paris, Ellie Whittington ’18 further represented Elon at the Summer Olympics through working in Stamford, Connecticut, at NBC Sports headquarters — helping create in-studio content and running various social media accounts.

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SPORTS 8/19/24 2:22pm

Elon University’s GLC assistant director analyzes Olympic women’s boxing controversy

By Miles Hayford

One of the biggest things to come out of the 2024 Paris Olympics was the division and social media backlash around Algerian and Taiwanese boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting — whose genders were questioned on an international stage. After Khelif defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini in 46 seconds early into the Games, a social media outburst arose questioning if Khelif and Yu-Ting were eligible to participate in women’s sports as biological women. Despite both being born as women and always having identified themselves as women, there are some who question their gender and the fairness of them competing.

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SPORTS 8/6/24 10:37am

Elon Athletics fosters academic excellence in student-athletes

By Miles Hayford

Elon University Athletics recently received some of its highest Academic Progress Rates scores in history from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. APR scores are a way for the NCAA to measure the academic performance of collegiate athletic departments. It is based on eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes. APR scores are based on a percentage of how much student-athletes retained from their total possible APR points. All 17 sports at Elon have multi-year APR rates of 980 — 98% — or above. The most recent scores are based on a multi-year rate that includes scores from the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years.

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SPORTS 7/25/24 5:30pm

Elon University football player named preseason defensive player of the year

By Miles Hayford

Elon University safety Caleb Curtain has been named the Coastal Athletic Association Football’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. The prestigious award for the junior defensive back is the cherry on top of a long line of recognition this offseason. Curtain comes off a fantastic sophomore campaign where he led Elon with 80 total tackles, 54 solo tackles and four and a half sacks. At CAA Football Media Day on July 25, Curtain said he is excited about the award — as well as the opportunity to improve in this upcoming season. 

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SPORTS 7/22/24 9:25pm

Elon University announces partnership with Ticketmaster

By Miles Hayford

Elon University announced a new partnership with Ticketmaster, a leader in the ticketing industry. The partnership will allow for an enhanced ticket-buying experience for Elon Athletics, cultural programs and other campus events. With the help of Ticketmaster’s experience at selling tickets globally, the aim is that the user experience will be more streamlined and easy. Ticket purchasers will also be able to transfer tickets to friends or family and resell tickets through Ticketmaster’s technology. This streamlined site will be located at elontickets.com, where tickets for the first events on Elon’s Fall Cultural Calendar will go on sale Aug. 27.

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SPORTS 7/9/24 11:05am

New Elon men’s tennis coach looks to build culture of excellence

By Miles Hayford

Maciek Sykut has been named the next head coach for Elon University’s men’s tennis team. Sykut will take over for Michael Leonard, who retired at the end of the 2023-24 season following 20 storied years leading the program. Following a career in professional tennis, Sykut began coaching at North Carolina State University in 2012 where he served first as a volunteer assistant coach before getting a full-time assistant coach position. Sykut also spent time at the University of Arizona as the associate head coach and helped lead the team in 2019 to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010.

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SPORTS 6/14/24 12:32pm

Elon University cross country coach resigns for position at Duke University

By Miles Hayford

Elon University Head Cross Country Coach and Associate Head Track and Field Coach Kevin Jermyn resigned from his position to accept the role of head cross country coach at Duke University. Jermyn was an instrumental piece in the recent rise of Elon’s cross country and track and field programs. Since arriving at Elon in 2017, Jermyn has helped the two programs break almost every distance school record in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field. Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mark Elliston is leading the national search for Jermyn’s successor.

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SPORTS 6/7/24 3:12pm

Sports information directors see Elon athletic department as opportunity for new graduates

By Benjamin Berfield

Ashlee Brackett ’23 grew up around college sports at a young age with her dad being a Division III softball coach. She said she hoped to be involved with college sports in some way after graduating college. Fortunately, Elon University offers many outlets for their alumni to stay involved, she said. When it comes to sports, the school’s athletic department is one particular place where former students can remain employed for the school’s athletic teams. It is a “well-oiled machine” as described by Assistant Director of Athletic Communications for baseball Gray Aust '22.

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SPORTS 6/3/24 12:48pm

Elon athletics feels impact of historic $2.8 billion NCAA settlement

By Miles Hayford

The NCAA and the Power Five conferences have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit by former college athletes. The NCAA and its conferences within Division I will pay $2.8 billion in damages over 10 years to both former and current athletes. They also agreed to a revenue-sharing plan, which allows each Power Five school to share up to roughly $20 million per year with its athletes. This means schools can pay athletes directly for the first time in the NCAA’s 120-year history. The settlement will impact Elon athletics significantly by creating strains on their budget and recruitment opportunities.

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SPORTS 4/28/24 2:37pm

Game, set, match: Elon University men’s tennis coach retires after 20 years, leaves behind lasting legacy

By Miles Hayford

Elon University Men’s Tennis Coach Michael Leonard will retire after 20 years of coaching at Elon following the 2024 season. Leonard is the winningest coach in Elon men's tennis history with a record of 295-173 over his 20-year career. He is a seven-time conference Coach of the Year and led Elon to six regular season championships. With a win on April 20 in the semifinals of the 2024 CAA Men’s Tennis Championship, Leonard reached the significant milestone of 300 career wins. Under Leonard's mentorship, the program had 74 all-conference selections, six conference Players of the Year and six conference Rookies of the Year.

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SPORTS 4/17/24 3:16am

Elon HealthEU programming supports student-athletes’ mental health

By Benjamin Berfield

Redshirt freshman Lawson Wheeler is one of two players representing Elon University’s baseball team on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee.The advisory committee meets with HealthEU once a month to go over topics such as wellbeing events, Wheeler said. “I think with what they’ve done so far, it’s pretty cool to see how they’re kind of promoting wellbeing for everyone on campus, and for our group,” Wheeler said.

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SPORTS 4/12/24 9:42am

City of Burlington serves up new Pickleball facilities

By Ellie Reasbeck

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports nationwide, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, and it's hitting Burlington.The Burlington City Council responded to trends with construction for a new 17-court complex at City Park with a shaded Championship court and ADA compliant courts, as well as six permanent pickleball courts at Fairchild Park. Pickleball has gained media attention nationwide and had a membership increase of 15% over 2023 with the target age range being between 18 and 34 years old. Elon itself formed a club team in fall 2023 that now has nearly 150 members.

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