GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 12) – The University of Mount Olive featured three Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Month honorees in their respective sports, as announced by the league office.

Janara Bryant of women's track & field, Luca Colombo of men's volleyball, and Brayden Rieger of men's lacrosse each received the league accolade.

Bryant recorded four event victories in April, including a pair of individual conference championships, while setting multiple NCAA standards. She delivers first-place finishes at the Trojan Relays in the high jump (1.57m) and long jump (5.85m) on April 11-12. At the Aggie Invitational on April 18-19, Bryant set a conference and school record in the triple jump with a distance of 12.85 meters to place second overall before establishing a new school record in the long jump with a mark of 6.03 meters to finish third.

On April 24-26 at the Conference Carolinas Championship, Bryant was named Freshman of the Year after tallying 24 points toward the team standings (first in the long jump; first in the triple jump; fifth in the high jump). In the triple jump, she reset her conference record and hit a new meet record with a leap of 13.10 meters, which ranks second in NCAA Division II.

Colombo registered 31 digs and seven assists over 14 sets played while boasting a .962 reception percentage with just three errors. On April 5, he delivered an elite defensive performance with 14 digs in a four-set match against Lincoln Memorial. Colombo recorded six digs and four assists in a 3-0 sweep over North Greenville in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Rieger continued his stellar freshman campaign after totaling 16 points behind 10 goals and six assists in four games. He set a career-high with four goals while adding four ground balls in an 18-4 win over Chowan on April 2. The following week, Rieger matched a career-best with six points after netting four goals and two assists in a 25-10 victory at Emmanuel. He tallied one goal and four assists on April 22 versus Young Harris in the quarterfinals of the league tournament.