JP Peltier is a member of the Wright State University Baseball team, which he was a First-Team All-Conference Outfielder in 2025.

In the opening week of the 2026 College Baseball season, JP was named the Horizon League Batter of the Week, after hitting a pivotal home run in the Raiders' upset of the top 10 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

JP was a Greater Catholic League Player of the Year in his time at Chaminade Julienne High School, and helped lead his team to a State Final Four his Senior Year.

JP helped launch the CAC College Baseball Faith Community that meets weekly with Catholic College Baseball Players around the country. Through this group, JP has began to take ownership of his Catholic Faith and grow closer to Christ.

Nate Manley is a member of the Wright State University Baseball team that ended their 2025 season by eliminating the overall number 1 National Seed, Vanderbilt University, before the Regional Final. This was a first in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to playing at Wright State, Nate played at Nationally known, Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, OH. Nate was able to start at catcher for three years of varsity, which is very uncommon, and concluded his high school career by winning the 2023 Division 1 State Championship.

During our conversation, Nate shares about the importance of the brotherhood he was a part of with Moeller and the Cincinnati Spikes summer program, and how it continues to help me today. He also shared advice about controlling what you can control, not relying on others for accountability, and what it means to be delusional.

Elizabeth Benoit is a swimmer at the University of Houston, who won a team State Championship and Individual Event Championships every year of high school.

Throughout her very successful swimming career, she has always stayed grounded in her Catholic faith. As a 16 year old when she faced adversity in her life, she ran to Adoration, Confession, the Eucharist, and personal prayer.

Elizabeth, or Lala as she is known by many in the pool, is a very focused and determined athlete that realized at a young age that her value is not in her success in pool, but in her relationship with Christ.

Clay Dimick is a professional soccer player for the Charlotte Independence in the USL.

During our conversation, Clay shares his amazing story from being adopted after birth, to playing collegiately at Belmont Abbey College, to playing for the Independence since 2019.

While at Belmont Abbey he had an encounter with Christ through the witness of his coach and others on campus that inspired him to become curious about the Catholic Faith. That curiosity became a hunger to join the church during Holy Week 2018, and by Corpus Christi a few months later he was entering the church on fire for the Lord.

Throughout Clay's journey it is amazing to see how the Lord has placed him exactly where he needed to be, at exactly the time he needed to be there....the Lord is so good!

Drew Romo lost his Senior year to COVID in 2020, but was still drafted 35th overall by the Colorado Rockies out of The Woodlands High School in Texas.

Prior to being drafted by the Rockies, Drew won gold and silver medals with the 18U Team USA and also played in multiple All-American Games across the country.

During our conversation, Drew shared about the adversity he faced while in the Minor leagues and the role his faith played through that journey, before making his MLB debut in 2024.

He also reflects on the adversity he has faced in the last year, with an injury, having to spend most of the 2025 season in the minors, and then being on the waiver wire rollercoaster these past couple months, where he was recently picked up by the Chicago White Sox, making it the 4th team in six weeks.

Through his adversity these past few years, he has come to know and trust God even more and become stronger in his faith through the challenges.

Monica Balistrere grew up in Virginia with a family full of basketball players. She attended Bishop O'Connell High School, then played collegiately at Binghamton University before transferring to Florida Southern College.

During our conversation, Monica shared about dealing with the adversity of injuries, how her faith helped her in those times, and how she grew closer to Christ through that adversity.

Monica also shares how she has always had a strong Catholic community around her, but especially as she encountered the strong young adult community at Florida Southern College.

Akol Arop is a former college basketball player at the University of Nebraska, Nebraska at Omaha, and Florida Southern College.

Akol's family is originally from South Sudan, but he was born in Cairo, Egypt. At a young age, his family then moved to Houston, TX, before settling in Omaha, Nebraska.

Akol was a 3-time All-State basketball player at Creighton Prep, where they also won a State Championship in 2018. He was also the 2019 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year.

Akol has had quite the journey in life and faced a lot of adversity, but through it all, he has always had two things: his faith in God and friends around him to help him stay close to Jesus.

In this 2025 Wrap-up Episode, Host Mike Hoendorf reviews the 2025 episodes and shares his top takeaways and overall themes from the year.

Mike also shares his personal reflections from these amazing conversations and his overall work with Catholic Athletes for Christ.

Lastly, Mike shares some simple hopes and goals for 2026, along with his word of the year and Patron Saint for 2026.

Clay Tucker is a former college golfer at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL.

Clay grew up in the Jacksonville area, where he attended Catholic elementary and high school. Clay started golfing at a young age when we would head to the golf course with his Granpa and siblings.

Clay was an accomplished golfer at Bishop Kenny High School, where he also had his first interaction with Catholic Athletes for Christ, which has a CAC Cathlete Chapter at the school.

Clay was blessed to play golf in college at Florida Southern, where he had the opportunity to play two years with his older brother and compete for a National Championship during the 2021-22 season as a Freshman.

While at Florida Southern, Clay has become part of an amazing Catholic young adult community that is both inspiring to learn more about and to meet.

Fr. Chris Comerford is a priest from the Diocese of Springfield, IL, and has been a Chaplain for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2009.

Fr. Chris always dreamed of being the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals and taking over for the legendary Jack Buck. However, the Lord had other plans for him, and not long after being ordained a priest, he was invited to celebrate Mass for the St. Louis Cardinals at the ballpark and later took over as Chaplain.

During our conversation, Fr. Chris shares some great stories from his time with the Cardinals, including meeting Vin Scully and getting to partake in one of the 2011 World Series Championship Parties.