OU Daily students Mason Young, Jason Batacao and Nick Coppola finished fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in final results announced Wednesday in Las Vegas for the Associated Press Sports Editors contest naming the nation’s top 10 college sports reporters.
Indiana's Evan Gerike won first place.
No other school had more than one student place in the contest.
Young, Batacao and Coppola were recognized for work produced from April 2022-April 2023 on beats ranging from OU football to softball to men's basketball as well as pieces Young produced as an intern at the Detroit Free Press and Coppola produced as an intern at the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal.
This summer, Young, who is a newly graduated senior from Oklahoma City, is interning at the Kansas City Star. Batacao, who is a rising senior from Moore, is interning at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. And Coppola, who is also a rising senior from Lubbock, is a member of the Daily's summer staff.
Students from Villanova, Princeton, Maryland, UMass, Nebraska and USC claimed the other spots in the contest, which is judged by professionals in sports media who evaluated three pieces from each candidate.
Since the contest debuted in 2017, Daily students have placed in the contest 13 times and won it in 2018, 2019 and 2020. This year also marks the third time the Daily has had three students in the top 10 in a single year.
This article was originally published on OU Daily.
About OU Student Media
OU Student Media is the steward of the OU Daily, which for more than a century has served Norman with free independent local journalism, the city's largest reporting staff and nationally honored coverage while launching the careers of media professionals. OU Daily produces news 24/7 online and in premium print products available in approximately 50 locations around Norman year-round.
