Byrd nabs runner-up honors at NCAA indoor track championships

KJ Byrd knows nothing about a sophomore slump.

In fact, the 2024 East Burke High School graduate is only getting better.

As a freshman member of the University of Louisville’s track and field team last year, Byrd earned All-American status in the men’s heptathlon during the indoor track season before doing the same in the decathlon during the outdoor season. And the second-year collegian recently became an All-American once again after finishing as the runner-up in the heptathlon during the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Byrd ultimately totaled 6,132 points as he improved five spots from his seventh-place finish at last year’s national meet, with only Oregon junior Peyton Bair (6,503 points) outscoring him this time around. Along the way, Byrd set a new American record and broke his own collegiate record for pole vault in a heptathlon — he cleared 18 feet, 3.25 inches — while also posting the third-best heptathlon pole vault mark in world history.

The 20-year-old Connelly Springs native also broke his own Louisville program record in the open pole vault after previously clearing 18 feet, 2.5 inches to win the men’s title during the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor championships on Feb. 26 in Boston. Additionally, Byrd finished 11th in the high jump (6 feet, 6 inches) and 14th in the long jump (23 feet) at the conference championship meet on Feb. 26 and 27, respectively.

Besides finishing first in the pole vault last weekend, Byrd also came in sixth in both the long jump (24 feet, 5.75 inches) and the 1000-meter run (2:43.36) as part of the heptathlon, setting new personal bests in both. As for the other four heptathlon events, he finished eighth in the shot put (44 feet), ninth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.22), 10th in the 60-meter dash (6.99), and 11th in the high jump (6 feet, 5.5 inches).

Byrd’s second-place finish at nationals was the best finish by a Louisville male in any event at the indoor national championship meet since 2007, when Tone Belt (long jump) and Andre Black (triple jump) won NCAA titles. Furthermore, the Cardinals tied for 19th in the men’s team standings, the second-best finish in program history.

Byrd has now turned his attention to the outdoor track season, which began on Friday and continues today (Saturday, March 21). Louisville currently has athletes at both the USF Alumni Invitational in Tampa, Fla., and the Black and Gold Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

Clay at Catawba

Madison Clay (Patton 2022) completed her senior season of indoor track at the NCAA D-II South Atlantic Conference Championships Feb. 28 through March 1 at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

Clay finished first in the women’s 5000-meter run with a time of 16:52.70, and she also posted a personal-best time of 9:52.10 to finish third in the 3000-meter run as the Indians came in third out of 12 teams in the women’s team standings, the highest finish in program history at the SAC championship meet. Clay previously recorded a personal-best time of 16:45.58 in the 5000 meters during the ASICS Last Chance Invite on Feb. 21 in Winston-Salem as well, breaking the program record in the event in the process.

Catawba is presently participating in the Charlotte 49er Classic, an outdoor track meet that began on Thursday and continues through today at Irwin Belk Track and Field Center.

Roscoe at Lees-McRae

Indoor track athlete Cayden Roscoe (Patton 2025) enjoyed a solid freshman season for the Bobcats, with his top marks in the long jump (ninth; 20 feet, 11.75 inches) and the high jump (18th; 5 feet, 10.75 inches) coming at the season-opening Liberty Kickoff in Lynchburg, Va., during the first week of December.

Roscoe’s other regular events included the triple jump (season-best mark of 42 feet, 1.5 inches, which was good for 19th place at the VMI Winter Relays on Feb. 7 in Lexington, Va.) and the 60-meter dash (season-best time of 7.16 on Feb. 14, which was good for 38th place at the Tryon International Collegiate Meet in Mill Spring), and he is also expected to be in action during the 49er Classic as Lees-McRae — which competes at the NCAA D-II level — opens the outdoor track season.

BASKETBALL

Stilwell at Lees-McRae

After a history-making career at East Burke that ended in 2025, freshman guard Braelyn Stilwell helped the Bobcats make history as well when they won the Conference Carolinas tournament for the first time ever with a 67-60 victory over Chowan on March 8 at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on the campus of Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C.

Fifth-seeded Lees-McRae defeated the sixth-seeded Hawks in a game that saw Stilwell make two free throws — both in the final minute of the fourth quarter — to go with four rebounds, four assists, and a steal in 28 minutes. And while the Bobcats subsequently lost at top-seeded Lincoln Memorial on March 13 in the opening round of the NCAA D-II tournament — Lees-McRae was the No. 8 seed in the Southeast Region — they won a program-record 23 games against just eight losses and finished 15-5 in league play.

In the season-ending loss, Stilwell scored a team-high 15 points, knocking down three field goals and all nine of her free-throw attempts while also tallying two rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 31 minutes.

Stilwell didn’t start any games this winter, but she did appear in all 31 contests off the bench, averaging 7.2 points (fourth on team), 2.7 rebounds (fifth), 2.4 assists (third), and 1.5 steals (T-second) in 21.2 minutes (fifth) per game. The Connelly Springs native also shot 46.1% (59 of 128) from the field, 35.6% (21 of 59) from 3-point range, and 84.8% (84 of 99) at the free-throw line to rank third or better in all three categories.

Rhone at Brevard

The Tornados earned more overall wins and conference victories during the 2025-26 season than they ever had before in the NCAA era — which began with the 2007-08 campaign — ultimately finishing with a 23-5 record (16-2 in league play) after falling in the championship game of the NCAA D-III USA South Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.

Host Brevard was defeated by second-seeded Southern Virginia, 82-74, on Feb. 28, snapping a nine-game winning streak that also represented an NCAA-era record for the program. Notably, that was the only game that senior guard Christena Rhone (Freedom 2022) didn’t play in all season, although she did previously score a season-high 19 points in 26 minutes during her ninth start of the year en route to a 100-77 home victory over fifth-seeded William Peace in the semifinals of the conference tournament on Feb. 26.

All three of Rhone’s made field goals in the aforementioned contest came from 3-point range, and she also knocked down all 10 of her free-throw attempts while dishing out a team-high six assists, grabbing five rebounds, and coming up with two steals. For the season, she averaged 9.5 points (fifth on team), 3.0 rebounds (sixth), 2.3 assists (fifth), and 1.5 steals (third) in 20.9 minutes (sixth) per game, and her shooting percentages were 34.0% (72 of 212) from the field, 34.6% (53 of 153) from beyond the arc, and 76.6% (59 of 77) at the free-throw line.

Rhone nailed 122 3-pointers during her four-year career at Brevard, which currently ranks seventh in program history. In addition, she scored 583 points, pulled down 187 rebounds, supplied 152 assists, and recorded 88 steals in 86 career games (17 starts).

Caldwell at Mars Hill

Peyton Caldwell (Freedom 2025) appeared in 11 games as a freshman guard for the Lions (5-23, 2-20 NCAA D-II South Atlantic Conference), scoring seven points in a total of 39 minutes while also finishing with two assists and two steals.

Caldwell knocked down a 3-pointer, a 2-pointer, and both of her free-throw attempts.

WRESTLING

Khang at West Liberty

Freedom 2023 graduate Jeulenea Khang’s overall record during her junior season as a member of the West Virginia-based Hilltoppers’ women’s wrestling team was 14-10, and she capped the year with a fifth-place finish at 103 pounds during the NCAA D-II National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Super Region II Championships, which were hosted by West Liberty Feb. 20-21.

Three of Khang’s four wins at the Super Region II Championships came via pinfall, while her remaining victory was by technical fall.

BOWLING

Brown at McKendree

Cierra Brown (Draughn 2021) has excelled during her senior season with the Bearcats, who are currently competing in the NCAA D-II Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville, Ill., where play began on Friday and continues through Sunday.

Brown recently bowled two games — finishing with scores of 186 and 163 — during the Big Red Invitational hosted by the Nebraska Cornhuskers Feb. 20-22 before leading McKendree with a 69th-place finish out of 221 bowlers during the Music City Classic March 6-8 in Smyrna, Tenn., where she knocked down a total of 943 pins in five games thanks to a 208, a 180, a 191, a 188, and a 176. She also came in 13th out of 163 bowlers after knocking down 1,181 total pins in six games (201, 208, 224, 203, 135, 210) during the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Singles Sectional Championships on March 13 in Pittsburgh, although only the top six individuals qualified for nationals April 17-19 in Green Bay, Wis.

McKendree did qualify for nationals as a team and will head to Green Bay next month after finishing first in a field of 17 squads at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectional Championships March 14-15 in Pittsburgh. The Bearcats totaled 3,129 points in 16 games.