Sports roundup: Pardo, Best finish track-and-field season in nationals
Staff Report
High jumper Kamani Pardo and distance runner Gabriel Best closed out the Augusta University outdoor track-and-field season by competing in the NCAA Division II Championships in Emporia, Kan., on May 21-22.
Pardo jumped 6 feet, 8.75 inches to finish 16th in the high jump. That was good enough to earn the AU freshman second team all-America status.
Best finished ninth in the second heat of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Best ran the steeplechase in 9 minutes and 13.34 seconds. He was 20th overall in the first round and did not advance to the finals.
Their performances in Emporia close out the 2026 outdoor track season for the Jaguars.
Men’s golf finishes 10th in National Invitational
The AU men’s golf team came in 10th place with a 3-over-par score at the National Golf Invitational at the Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.
Pieter Rossouw led the way for the Jaguars with an 8-under-par total. Rossouw had 15 birdies and two eagles over the 54 holes of play. After an even-par round to start the tournament, the AU golfer shot 4 under par each of the last two rounds.
The Jaguars had finished third in the West Coast Conference Tournament in AU’s first year in the league.
Hall of Fame ceremony scheduled for May 29
Augusta University will induct its 2026 class to the athletics hall of fame on Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m. in the Marrott Convention Center.
The inductees include men’s basketball’s Keshun Sherrill and Lenny Carlson; men’s golf national champion Broc Everett; baseball’s Shannon Wilkerson, and women’s basketball’s Lawanna “Kita” Monday.
Sherrill, who played his high school ball at West Rowan High School in North Carolina, is AU’s all-time leading scorer on the men’s side, as is Monday for the Jaguar women. Carlson was a long-time assistant coach and now is a color commentator on the Roar Network. Everett won the NCAA Division I individual national championship in 2018—the only such national title in AU athletics history. Wilkerson was Division II national player of the year in 2009. He played in the Boston Red Sox minor-league system.
Augusta hockey team gets its nickname
The new hockey team in Augusta will be called the Lynx, it was revealed at a press conference on May 26 at the Marriott Convention Center.
The Lynx will be a member of the East Coast Hockey League. One of the team owners is Tim Tebow, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at the University of Florida before playing in the NFL.
The Augusta Lynx will begin play in 2027-28 at the former James Brown Arena in downtown Augusta. The new 10,500-seat arena has not been named yet.
The previous professional hockey team in Augusta was called the RiverHawks, who played at JBA from 2010 to 2013. The RiverHawks played in the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Earlier, the Augusta pro hockey team was also called the Lynx. That incarnation was from 1998 to 2008. That franchise originally was the Raleigh IceCaps.
Gonzalez named PBC scholar-athlete of the year
AU tennis player Andrea Gonzalez was named the Peach Belt Conference’s female scholar-athlete of the year at the annual PBC awards banquet in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Gonzalez graduated magna cum laude three weeks ago with a degree in business management. She earned membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society and was named to the president's list five times and the dean's list six times. She is from Saltillo, Mexico.
Broc Everett won the D1 national championship in a playoff at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla, in 2018. Everett’s 7-under-par 281 score set the course record for 72 holes. (Bell Ringer file photo) At the top of the page, AU assistant men’s basketball coach Lenny Carlson (in red sweater) cuts down the nets after the Jaguars won the 2022 Peach Belt Conference championship at Christenberry Fieldhouse. (Bell Ringer file photo)
