Latest news with #CSURams
The Guardian
a day ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Mya Lesnar, daughter of UFC and WWE champion, wins NCAA shot put title
Colorado State's Mya Lesnar won the women's shot put title at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships on Thursday, sealing the national crown with her very first attempt. Lesnar's opening throw of 62ft 4½in (19.01m) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, stood as the top mark throughout the competition. The only other competitor to come close was Illinois' Abria Smith, whose best effort measured 61ft 10¼in. Lesnar also registered the second-best throw of the day (61ft 11in), capping a commanding performance. It marked the second NCAA title for Lesnar, who also won the indoor championship in 2024. The 24-year-old senior is the first Colorado State athlete in 20 years to win an outdoor national title, joining Loree Smith (2005 hammer throw) in school history. She is now a four-time first-team All-American. BIG TIME start for Mya 💪Opening throw of 19.01m/62-4.5 has her in the driver's seat after round 1!📺ESPN+#Relentless x #CSURams Lesnar, daughter of former UFC and WWE champion Brock Lesnar, transferred to CSU from Arizona State and has since developed into one of the nation's top collegiate throwers under coach Brian Bedard. In 2024, she finished sixth at the Paris Olympics and entered this week's meet as the No 1 seed in the nation. Her personal best of 64-3¾ would have earned an Olympic bronze last summer. 'This one means a lot,' Lesnar said. 'It's taken a lot of work to get back to No 1.' Her national title echoes the collegiate success of her father, who won the 2000 NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship while competing for the University of Minnesota. In one of the most dramatic finals in tournament history, Brock Lesnar escaped from the down position in double overtime to secure a 3-2 victory. That win capped a 50-2 record at Minnesota and launched a career that would span the WWE, UFC and a brief NFL stint: a uniquely dominant athletic legacy now matched in part by his daughter's own rise to NCAA stardom. Elsewhere on the first day of women's finals, Georgia's Stephanie Ratcliffe defended her NCAA hammer throw crown with a toss of 234ft 2in. Washington's Hana Moll broke the collegiate pole vault record with a clearance of 15-8½, surpassing the previous mark held by her twin sister Amanda. And New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei shattered the meet record in the 10,000 meters, finishing in 31:17.02.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Ex-WWE and UFC star Brock Lesnar's daughter Mya stuns NCAA shot put rivals to win first outdoor national title
Before Brock Lesnar was a wrestling legend, UFC star or NFL hopeful, the former WWE champ was actually an NCAA title winner as a heavyweight grappler at Minnesota. Now it's his daughter Mya's turn to add some collegiate hardware to the family mantle place. The 23-year-old Colorado State senior won the NCAA shot put title with a first-round toss of 19.01 meters. She is the first Rams athlete to win an outdoor event title since Loree Smith did so in 2005. Just the sixth Colorado State athlete to win outdoor gold, the younger Lesnar previously won the NCAA indoor shot put title in 2024. What's more, Mya is the only competitor in program history to win both indoor and outdoor titles. 'Heck yeah it was. It was pretty awesome,' Lesnar told the school's athletics website, 'Obviously throws like that don't happen often, and to do it on my first one was pretty cool. I just went calm, hit my cues. [Rams coach Brian] Bedard and I have tons of trust, and that's exactly what we did. Mya Lesnar, daughter of Brock Lesnar, wins the NCAA shot put championship on her FIRST throw (19.01m) 🤯👏 — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 13, 2025 Mya Lesnar of the Colorado State Rams competes in the shot put during the Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Championship held at Hayward Field on Thursday 'I think it had more of an effect for me. It meant more for me to do it on the first one, to start off the competition strong. A lot of the other ladies responded. It was awesome.' While that remained the best throw of the day, Mya would nearly top it with an 18.8-meter effort for the top two results of the day. Remarkably, Rams coach Brian Bedard thinks Mya is actually capable of much more. 'I still think she missed the big one today because in training we've been seeing throws in the 19.30-meter range, so she didn't quite put it together,' Bedard said. 'She probably had a B-plus day for her, but when a training is going so well to have a big margin that she can maybe not hit her best and win it is awesome. 'It was a great start for her. We've been working on the mental game and trying to have some joy when she competes and really simplify some technical cues and managing excitement levels and all that, and I thought she did that today. When she came up and talked to me between throws, she had a really good awareness of what she was doing in the throw and what she was feeling. I just loved her mindset today. It was mature.' To put Mya's top throw into perspective, China's Lijiao Gong won the women's shot put at the Tokyo Games in 2023 with a toss of 20.58. Mya's toss on Thursday would have been good enough for sixth place in that tournament. Conversation online naturally turned to Mya's obvious athleticism. 'If she started doing MMA professionally she might be a problem in the cage,' one person wrote on X. 'She's so strong genetically but I am sure that she worked so hard to make that throw,' another added. 'I look forward to seeing her get a gold medal someday (sic).' Mya has gone viral in recent years both for her sensational athletic ability and her striking resemblance to famous father Brock. Back in 2023 the track and field athlete grabbed headlines after breaking the shot put record at Colorado State with a superb 18.50 attempt, while she also claimed three straight Mountain West Conference titles. Brock, who has not featured in WWE since losing to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam in 2023, is one of the wrestling's most celebrated stars and a highly-successful combat-sport athlete. At just 25, he became the youngest WWE champion ever in 2002 before briefly leaving to sign with NFL franchise the Minnesota Vikings. After being cut by the team, Lesnar ventured into the MMA world and became UFC heavyweight champion in 2008, defending the title on two occasions before suffering defeat to Cain Velasquez in 2010. He eventually returned to WWE in 2012 before going to enjoy a successful 11-year stint with the organization which included two Royal Rumble wins and several headline pay-per-view events.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Mya Lesnar, daughter of Brock Lesnar, wins NCAA shot put national title
Mya Lesnar has cemented her place in Colorado State University (CSU) history, winning the Division I shot put national title at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The victory marked CSU's first outdoor national title in 20 years, since Loree Smith's hammer throw win in 2005. Mya, who's the daughter of WWE legend Brock Lesnar, delivered a standout performance with her top mark of 62 feet, 4 ½ inches, securing the title with precision. Each participant was given three attempts, and Lesnar made her intentions clear from the start, launching her first throw well beyond 60 feet to take the early lead. Illinois' Abria Smith finished second, with her third throw of the first round landing at 61 feet, 10 ¼ inches. However, Lesnar's second-best throw (61 feet, 11 inches) was enough to ensure the victory. The 23-year-old, who transferred from Arizona State to CSU, has steadily developed into one of the best shot putters in collegiate athletics. She credited her coach, Brian Bedard, for his guidance and the competitive spirit fostered within the team. Despite operating with fewer resources than major programs, such as those in the SEC or Big Ten, CSU has produced the most women's throwers (11) to compete at nationals over the last three years. Lesnar, who entered the competition ranked No. 1, praised her team's ability to perform without relying on lavish facilities. 'We don't have fancy things, but we have a coach that's all-in and teammates that trust us. That's all we need,' she remarked. 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐏 🏆 Mya Lesnar is the @NCAATrackField Shot Put NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!!#Relentless x #CSURams — Colorado State T&F/XC (@CSUTrackFieldXC) June 13, 2025 This national title adds to Lesnar's already impressive list of achievements. In 2024, she claimed the shot put national title in indoor track and field, and her performance in the outdoor competition further solidified her status as one of the sport's rising stars. Her mark of 62 feet, 4 ½ inches would have placed sixth at the 2024 Paris Olympics, while her personal best of 64 feet, 3 ¾ inches set earlier in 2025 would have earned her a bronze medal at the same event. In other CSU news, Kajsa Borrman, a redshirt sophomore from Loveland High School, competed in the hammer throw at the NCAA Championships. Borrman finished 21st out of 24 competitors, recording a mark of 207 feet, 3 inches. Her performance earned her honorable mention All-American status in what was her first appearance at the national meet. Lesnar's victory has put CSU's track and field program back in the spotlight, with the university now celebrating its latest national champion and the promise of more to come.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
More than 2,400 graduates participate in CSU's first campus-wide commencement in 27 years
More than 2,000 mortarboards were tossed into the air May 16 as the cannon fired at Colorado State University's Canvas Stadium. Then, the 2,418 graduates began high-fiving and hugging one another as they posed for pictures and waved to family and friends in the stands. 'It was enjoyable,' said master's degree recipient Brendan Kelley, as he filed off the field afterward. 'I think it's important to recognize everyone at CSU that graduates. I think it's really fun to have everyone together.' That was the big draw for many of the participants. Although CSU still held its usual recognition ceremonies by college and major – there are 37 scheduled from May 15-18 – where individual students' names were read as they walked across the stage. The university-wide ceremony at Canvas Stadium, with about 12,000 family members and friends in the stands in a ticketed-only event, gave those same graduates the chance to celebrate en masse. Nearly half of the 5,000 graduates eligible to participate in the all-campus event chose to do so. Officials delayed the start by about 10 minutes because of traffic delays that were slowing guests' arrival. More: Members of von Trapp family, popularized in the 'The Sound of Music,' visit Fort Collins 'I say I'm proud to be a CSU Ram,' they chanted at the urging of the featured speaker, Eugene Daniels, a former CSU football player and MSNBC's senior Washington correspondent. They all held up their hands, clinching their middle fingers tight while curling the outer ones to form the CSU Rams' horn symbol popularized at the school's sporting events, when Vice Provost Michelle Stanley asked them to as she took a selfie from the stage. There were loud cheers at multiple points throughout the 80-minute ceremony, creating the same kind of game-day atmosphere inside the on campus-stadium that opened in 2017 that there had been outside in the hours leading up to it. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. A beautiful spring day in Fort Collins, several graduates said. "It's fun to see everyone in one place and see how big our school actually is," said Rachel Ross, who was receiving a bachelor's degree in theater. "The weather's nice, and I'm excited to be here." CSU hadn't held a university-wide commencement ceremony since the spring of 1998, when graduates gathered at the former Hughes Stadium, 3 miles west of campus below Horsetooth Reservoir. Students, wearing robes in black, green and gold – the green and gold were to recognize those graduating with honors – along with hoods and stoles of various colors were walking around campus with friends and family a good two hours before their scheduled 4 p.m. processional into the stadium. International students, many of them receiving master's and doctorate degrees, also wore stoles with the colors of their national flags. Cesar Reyes was standing in the shade with his wife, Fernanda Luna, before getting in line with the other graduates for the processional. He was wearing a pink hood, as a master's degree recipient in music, and a stole with an orange, white and green stripe, like the flag of his native Mexico. 'This is the first graduation event I have ever attended, because when I graduated from the conservatory in Morelia (Mexico, where he earned his bachelor's degree), they don't do such big things,' said Reyes, a violinist who had to leave early to get to a dress rehearsal later that night with the Boulder Symphony. CSU President Amy Parsons spoke of the important role journalists occupy in a democracy while introducing Daniels, who earned his bachelor's degree in journalism and technical communication in 2012. And Daniels spoke of the difficulties he had breaking into TV broadcasting as a man who is gay and Black, noting that he was able to persevere and now has his own weekly network TV show on politics. And he was recently elected, by his peers, as president of the White House Correspondents' Association. 'So, remember, Class of 2025, you are not the next generation of leaders starting at some vague point in the future; you're leadership starts now,' Daniels said. 'You are the ones who have the power to hurt or to help. You are going to take the reins of this world, and you will be guiding us. The question is where will we go together?' Loud cheers also went up when Kim Jordan, co-founder of New Belgium Brewing and a member of the CSU System Board of Governors for eight years, received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters. And toward the end of the ceremony when Kristi Bohlender, CSU's senior associate vice president for advancement and executive director of the alumni association, reminded the graduates that they were the newest members of a worldwide CSU alumni base of more than 265,000 members. A few minutes later, they flipped the tassels on their mortarboards in the customary fashion of graduation ceremonies. And most then tossed those mortarboards high into the air as the historic 'Comatose' cannon was fired. They danced as the CSU fight song was played, then filed out of the stadium as 'Don't You Forget About Me' by Simple Minds played on the public address system. 'It's really exciting that we're all doing this together with our friends who have other majors,' said Zander Cohn, who was graduating with a bachelor's degree in health and exercise science. Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@ and This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: More than 2,400 CSU graduates celebrate in university-wide ceremony
CBS News
24-03-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Colorado State Rams men's basketball falls to Maryland in second round of NCAA Tournament
CSU Rams men's basketball fell to the Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday. Maryland claimed victory in the dying seconds of the second half 72-71. CSU defeated the Memphis Tigers in the first round of the tournament before being eliminated in the second round.
