The Weber State University Athletic Department introduced a new look Friday, creating a fresher, more marketable logo as part of a rebranding effort for Wildcat athletics.
Weber State athletics brought together a committee from various areas of the WSU campus and community to come up with a new look, which will benefit all 16 NCAA athletic programs and will create unity across the department and university.
"We are excited about this new logo and new look for Wildcat Athletics," said WSU athletic director Jerry Bovee. "This new approach gives us greater flexibility in branding Weber State athletics in a variety of different platforms. This is a fresher, more marketable look that will assist us to create consistency in marketing Wildcat athletics."
The campaign includes a primary mark with secondary marks and new word marks. The primary logo features the Wildcat head with a new-look color scheme, featuring a darker purple as well as gray and white. Other secondary marks include the Cathead with paws and the paw alone. Other custom word marks add to the flexibility of usage.
The shield has been dropped from the primary mark offering others options both digitally and in creating new apparel.
"The idea was to keep the same basic Wildcat while updating the look in an effort to give options with color and different backgrounds," Bovee said. "This will allow for the use of different color schemes in connection with the new logo."
WSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Head coach Bethann Ord has announced the hiring of Clenita "Penny" Jones as a new assistant coach with the Wildcats. Jones will help coordinate the academic efforts as well as focus on player development, community service, scouting and recruiting for the Wildcats.
Jones comes to Weber State from Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kan., where she spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Lady Saints. She coached four All-Americans at Seward County and also coached seven All-Region players and eight All-Conference players. Five players transferred to Division I programs and 12 transferred to four-year schools. In the three seasons at Seward County, Jones helped the Saints post a 75-22 overall record.
Prior to coaching at Seward County, Jones spent two seasons as the director of basketball operations at the University of South Alabama where she was in charge of film exchange, team travel and was the liaison for Lady Jags community service and assisted with academics. While at USA, she coached two Sun-Belt All-Conference players and helped the Lady Jags to two 20-win seasons.
She began her coaching career at Concordia Lutheran High School in Omaha. She spent the 2006-07 season as the head junior varsity coach and was an assistant coach for the varsity team.
"We are excited to have Penny join our program and know she will be a great addition for us," Ord said. "She has a great work ethic and will bring a great intensity to our program. She has coached in one of the best junior college conferences in the nation and has coached some great players and had success recruiting and will be a great fit for our staff and team."
Jones played college basketball at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. She was a four-year starter for the Lady Argonauts and was the team Defensive Player of the Year three years and was the team MVP once. She still ranks second in West Florida history in career assists and is eighth in steals.
UTAH BASEBALL: At Salt Lake City, the Utes had few answers for Stanford ace Mark Appel in a 6-0 loss.
Utah had just four hits on the night.
The Utes left two runners on base in the second inning after Gavin Green singled up the middle with two outs and Jo Jo Sharrar reached on an error before Ethan Leiter struck out to end the inning.
Stanford took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning behind a two-RBI single with the bases loaded off the bat of Eric Smith.
The Cardinal continued to pull away with solo runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. Jake Stewart, Danny Diekroeger and Brian Ragira each had two hits in the game for Stanford.
Utah stranded a pair of runners on base in the sixth inning, after Tyler Relf and Parker Morin had back-to-back singles with two outs before Appel got a strikeout to end the inning. A Trey Nielsen single in the ninth inning started a final rally that also saw Green reach on an error before pinch-hitter Connor Eppard hit a fly ball out to close out the game.
Appel, who pitched a complete game to earn his ninth win of the season, had 13 strikeouts.
Utah starter Brock Duke earned the loss on the mound, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with six strikeouts. Josh Chapman pitched the final three innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two strikeouts.
BYU BASEBALL: At Provo, Marc Oslund became BYU's first pitcher with two league wins from a 7-3 victory over Santa Clara.
Oslund (5-1) started the contest rocky, working himself out of a bases-loaded and one-out jam in the first inning. Oslund dished out nine strikeouts through five innings before Tyler Westensee relieved him on the mound.
The Cougars moved to 21-24 on the season and 9-11 in West Coast Conference play. Santa Clara brought its season record to 24-25 and 3-17 in the WCC.
Jaycob Brugman had the game-winning RBI in the fourth, pounding a two-run home run over the right-field fence to give BYU a 5-2 lead. The home run was Brugman's second in the series, after hitting a walk-off grand slam Thursday night.
Kelton Caldwell hit a second BYU homer, a solo over the center-field fence to pad the Cougars' lead, 6-3, in the sixth frame. After hitting four home runs on the season, the Cougars have hit four home runs in this series.
SUU BASEBALL: At Rochester, Mich., the T-Birds suffered a pair of defeats at Oakland University. The Golden Grizzlies ran away with a 10-4 win and then rallied to erase a five-run deficit in the second meeting before eventually taking an 8-7 win on a walk-off RBI single. The pair of losses drops SUU to 12-10 in the Summit League, locking it into the fourth seed at the conference tournament, while Oakland remains second in the rankings with a record of 14-6.
Chase Rezac finished the day 4-for-8 at the plate with a double and two RBIs to lead the T-Birds while Oakland got six RBIs on three hits from Mike Carson.
The T-Birds and Golden Grizzlies will wrap up their four-game series with a final game set to begin Saturday at 11 a.m.
UVU BASEBALL: Goose Kallunki has been named a semifinalist for the 2012 Dick Howser Trophy, presented by Easton Foundations, in a list announced on Friday by the National College Baseball Writers Association. The award, given to the top player in collegiate baseball, is based on two rounds of national voting.
This is the 26th year of the Dick Howser Trophy presented by Easton Foundations. The award will be presented June 15 at TD Ameritrade Stadium in downtown Omaha, Neb., the home of the College World Series for the second year.
Kallunki received the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week award on May 7 and is also a two-time Collegiate Baseball "Louisville Slugger" National Player of the Week, two-time CollegeBaseball360.com honoree and was also twice named to the College Baseball Hall of Fame's National All-Star Lineup.
He led Utah Valley to a 32-game win streak — the longest streak in the nation in 2012 and the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history — that spanned from March 23 to May 15. Kallunki leads all Division I players with 78 RBIs and is among the nation's leaders in batting (.419), home runs (16), slugging (.739), hits (85) and total bases (150).
The Dick Howser Trophy, given in memory of the former Florida State University All-America shortstop and major league player and manager, who died of brain cancer in 1987, is regarded by many as college baseball's most prestigious award. Criteria for consideration of the trophy include performance on the field, leadership, moral character and courage, qualities that were exemplified by Dick Howser's life.
Dick Howser Award Semifinalists
Mark Appel, P, Stanford
Robert Benincasa, RP, Florida State
Sean Bignall, OF, Arkansas-Little Rock
Trent Blank, P, Baylor
Austin Elkins, 2B, Dallas Baptist
Marty Gantt, OF, College of Charleston
Marco Gonzales, UT, Gonzaga
Andrew Heaney, P, Oklahoma State
Brock Hebert, 2B, Southeastern Louisiana
D.J. Hicks, 1B, UCF
Goose Kallunki, 1B, Utah Valley
Daniel Kassouf, DH, Appalachian State
Stefan Lopez, RP, Southeastern Louisiana
Michael Lorenzen, UT, Cal State Fullerton
Josh Ludy, C, Baylor
Luke Maile, C, Kentucky
Jamodrick McGruder, 2B, Texas Tech
Trenton Moses, 3B, Southeast Missouri
Chris O'Grady, RP, George Mason
D.J. Petersen, 3B, New Mexico
Nick Petree, P, Missouri State
Kevin Plawecki, C, Purdue
Danny Poma, OF, Hofstra
James Ramsey, OF, Florida State
Matthew Reckling, P, Rice
Carlos Rodon, P, NC State
Chris Rowley, P, Army
Raph Rhymes, OF, LSU
Zach Stephens, 1B, Tennessee Tech
Chris Stratton, P, Mississippi State
Ross Stripling, P, Texas A&M
Michael Wacha, P, Texas A&M
Michael Wagner, RP, San Diego
Alex Yarbrough, 2B, Ole Miss
Mike Zunino, C, Florida
SLCC BASEBALL: At West Jordan, the No. 2 Bruins (45-9, 31-6 SWAC) topped the 'Lopes of Lamar Community College (46-11, 6-4) by a score of 6-4 in NJCAA Division I Western District playoff action. After falling earlier in the day to Western Nevada College (45-16) by a score of 3-2, the Bruins rallied to earn a shot at winning the Division I Western District Championship on Saturday. Having lost to WNC once, the Bruins will need two wins against the Wildcats in order to win the double-elimination tourney.
DIXIE STATE BASEBALL: At Keizer, Ore., Dixie State failed to score with runners in scoring position in the fifth inning and Chico State pushed across four runs to defeat the Red Storm 5-1 in the NCAA West Regional tournament.
Dixie State faces a rematch with UC San Diego at 2 p.m. Saturday in an elimination game. The Tritons eliminated the host Wolves of Western Oregon to stay alive in the regional. The DSC-UCSD winner will turn around and meet Chico State in the Regional Championship at 6 p.m.
SLCC SOFTBALL: At St. George, the Bruins defeated Blinn College 6-1 at the NJCAA Nationals, advancing to play No. 1 seed Chattanooga State Community College.
Bruin starter MaCauley Flint threw a gem, going five innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking one and striking out six. Ariel Zimmerman came on in relief and threw two shutout innings, only allowing two hits and striking out four.
The Bruins offensively got all they needed from designated player Meagan Neilson, who went two for three with two RBIs and one run scored. The only offense from the Buccaneers came from third baseman Kristina Davila who hit a solo home run in the second inning.
The Buccaneers left four runners stranded while the Bruins left six on base. Blinn starter Kaci Federwisch went 41/3 innings, giving up six runs, five earned, walking one, and striking out four.
BYU GOLF: At Palo Alto, Calif., BYU's tandem of Zac Blair and Justin Keiley used momentum from round one to spark solid scores in round two at the NCAA Regionals on Friday.
Blair matched his first round score with a second round 4-under 66, but still slipped into second place, one stroke off the lead.
Keiley, who shot 1-over in round one, shot a 2-under 68, moving from 40th to 24th and is just one stroke outside of the top 20.
Place Name Score
T2 Zac Blair