Utah
SKIING: The preseason No. 1 Utah ski team opens the 2005 season by hosting the annual Utah Invitational today and Thursday. The season-opener will consist of the men's giant slalom, women's slalom and both classical races today, and the men's SL, women's GS and both the freestyle races on Thursday. The alpine venues will be hosted by the Park City Mountain Ski Resort, Eagle Arena, while the Nordic events will be at Soldier Hollow in Midway. Races begin at 9:30 a.m.
Utah State
ALL-AMERICA HONOR: Utah State football player Kevin Robinson has been name the first-team freshman all-America kickoff return specialist by the Football Writers Association of America and Scripps.
Robinson, a 6-foot, 188-pound freshman from Fresno, Calif., also has been named second-team return specialist and third-team wide receiver on The Sporting News Freshman All-America team, as well as first-team all-Sun Belt Conference return and second-team all-purpose runner.
Robinson finished second in the NCAA in punt-return average at 22.47 per return. He returned two punts and one kickoff for touchdowns. His kickoff return average of 25.1 would rank 20th in the country if he had one more return to qualify for the rankings.
S. Utah
FOOTBALL: Southern Utah football coach Wes Meier has hired four assistants to fill out his staff for the 2005 season.
Kevin McGiven will be offensive coordinator. A 2001 graduate of Utah Valley State College who played wide receiver at Louisiana Tech, McGiven has spent the last four seasons on the staff at BYU, working primarily with quarterbacks and receivers. He was also offensive coordinator for the Cougar junior varsity squad in 2003. Earlier he spent one season as an assistant at Mountain View High School in Orem and was an undergraduate assistant at Louisiana Tech after an injury cut short his career.
Ryan Hunt, a graduate assistant during the 2004 season, has been promoted to full-time status. The 2003 graduate of SUU was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at offensive guard before joining the staff as a defensive-line graduate assistant last year.
Dustin Pearce is a 2002 graduate of SUU, a three-year letterman and two-year starter at defensive end. This past fall he was head coach and offensive coordinator at Enterprise High, after two seasons on the staff at West Jordan High School.
Vincent Tauanuu recently served as head coach of the Utah Rattlers, the 2000 Pacific Conference championship of the National Indoor Football League, and Utah Catzz of the Professional Indoor Football League. Tauanuu also coached special teams and defensive line at Hillcrest High School. He graduated from Utah in 2002, after playing defensive tackle for the Utes.
Weber State
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Weber State women's basketball head coach Carla Taylor will receive the 2005 Athena Award, presented by the Women in Business committee of the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce. The award will be presented Jan. 11 at the 17th annual Athena Award luncheon, at the Timbermine Restaurant in Ogden. Taylor also will be honored at the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner on Jan. 27.