Brigham Young
WOMEN'S SOCCER: The BYU women's soccer team released its 2003 season schedule Wednesday, which includes the best home schedule in the program's eight-year history.
The Cougars will be playing 14 of their 20 regular season games at South Stadium, formerly South Field, in Provo. Highlighting this season's home schedule will be three teams that finished in the 2002 NSCAA top 25: No. 11 Michigan, No. 10 Tennessee, and No. 22 USC.
Also included in the home schedule is the 1998 NCAA Championship team, Florida, as well as in-state rivals Southern Utah, Weber State, and Utah. The Cougars and Utes will face-off in the final regular season home game for BYU on Nov. 1 at South Stadium.
Complimenting the Cougars' home schedule is a tough road schedule that includes Kentucky, Iowa, Gonzaga, Hawai'i, UNLV and San Diego State.
BASEBALL: Junior Brock Jacobsen was the only BYU player named to the Mountain West Conference All-Tournament Baseball Team Saturday.
Jacobsen joined Utah third baseman Cort Wilson and Ute relief pitcher Brady Martinez as the only representatives from Utah on the 11-man all-tourney team.
"It's a well-deserved honor for Brock and tops off a solid season for him," said BYU coach Vance Law. "He played good defense in the tournament, hit well and ran the bases exceptionally well."
Jacobsen was most impressive in BYU's come-from-behind 7-6 victory over host New Mexico in the opening round when he was a double shy of hitting for the cycle. His over 435- foot two-run home run in the seventh inning was the game- winning RBI in that game.
The Cougar centerfielder from Santa Clara ended the season with a .323 batting average, knocking 10 homers and stealing 20 of 23 bases.
SWIMMING/DIVING: Senior Amanda Grant of the BYU women's swim team and senior Aaron Russell of the men's diving team were named to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-District VIII At-Large First Team on Thursday.
Grant, a political science major with a 3.97 cumulative grade point average, was one of 10 women athletes in the district to receive a first team citation.
As captain of the Cougars' women's swim team Grant helped the Cougars claim their fourth consecutive Mountain West Conference Championship title this season, swam to four individual wins, 15 top-three finishes, was named MWC Swimmer of the Week and received the Cougar Club's Outstanding Senior Female Athlete Award.
Russell, a graduate student in Portuguese, was one of 10 men receiving first team nods.
Russell received first-team All-America honors after finishing fourth on the one-meter springboard at the NCAA Championships, and being named second-team All-America on the three-meter. It is the second time that Russell has earned Academic All-District VIII honors. The first time was in 2000, when he then went on to be named a Verizon Academic All-American.
FOOTBALL: The Sporting News has announced junior kicker, Matt Payne has been selected as a 2003 preseason second-team All-American. In addition, TSN selected Lombardi Award candidate, Brady Poppinga, as the 19th ranked defensive end in the nation, along with junior safety, Aaron Francisco, as the17th best safety in college football.
Utah State
FOOTBALL: Utah State fullback Chris Cooley and cornerback Jerome Dennis have been recognized for being among the top 20 players in the country at their respective positions by The Sporting News magazine it was announced recently.
Cooley, a senior fullback/tight end was named the 19th best fullback in the country by the preseason annual. Last year Cooley caught 31 passes for 502 yards and four touchdowns. He ended the season with consecutive 100-yard receiving games with 134 yards against Troy State and 105 vs. Middle Tennessee.
Dennis, a junior cornerback, was named the 19th best return man in the nation. Last year he averaged 27.7 yards on 14 kickoff returns, which ranked seventh in the NCAA. He had a stretch of three straight games with at least one return of 60 or more yards.
As a defender, Dennis recorded 24 tackles on the year and returned an interception 75 yards for a score against Brigham Young.
UVSC
GOLF: The Utah Valley State College golfers wrapped up the NJCAA National Championship Friday in Scottsdale, Ariz., with golfer Milo Lines finishing 12th in the nation. Lines shot par on the day and finished the tournament five over at 293. He was the only player from Utah schools to finish in the top twenty. Dixie State's Jon Ellison finished tied for 36th at 13 over for the tournament.
UVSC golfer Charlie Christensen shot 84 on the day with a tournament score of 319, while fellow Wolverine Jess Cooper carded 81 to finish with a four-round score of 322.