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Random Thoughts – Olympic Sports Edition – Volume XXXIII
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Buff Trivia Question of the Week … This week USC announced that it was scheduling a game against UC-Davis from the Big Sky Conference. With the Trojans scheduling a game against an FCS opponent, only UCLA and Notre Dame remain as teams which have never scheduled an FCS opponent.
Colorado was one of the last holdouts, never playing a game against an FCS opponent until 2006. Since then, the Buffs have played nine such games. What is CU’s record in those games?
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Thank you, Kaitlyn Benner …
In case you missed it, CU’s Kaitlyn Benner became the first Buff to earn the prestigious Pac-12 Woman of the Year honors.
- Being named a three-time cross country All-American puts you into an elite class.
- Being named a three-time track and field All-American puts you into an elite class.
- Graduating from the University of Colorado with degrees in chemical and biological engineering, with a 3.94 GPA, puts you into an elite class
To pull off all three? Amazing stuff …
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s Kaitlyn Benner was selected Pac-12 Woman of the Year for the 2018-19 academic year, the conference office announced on Thursday.
Benner becomes the Pac-12’s candidates for the NCAA Woman of the Year, presented annually to a graduating student-athlete who has distinguished herself throughout her collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, community service and leadership. Benner is CU’s first Pac-12 Woman of the Year since joining the conference in 2011.
Benner was a member of the cross country and track and field teams at Colorado. She earned degrees in chemical and biological engineering with a 3.94 GPA. The Superior, Colo., native was named the Pac-12 Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2017 in her final season of cross country and went on to earn the 2019 Pac-12 Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. She is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic First Team six times (three for cross country and three for track and field).
Athletically, Benner recorded six All-America honors. She was a three-time All-American in cross country and helped the Buffs win three straight Pac-12 Conference team titles (2015-17) and four consecutive NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Benner was the Pac-12 individual runner-up at the 2015 championship and recorded three straight All-Pac-12 First Team honors. On the track, she also recorded three All-America honors and was a two-time conference champion. She won the 2015 MPSF 5,000-meter race and the 2016 Pac-12 5,000-meter run.
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Nate Tomlinson, who “was born to coach”, returns to CU in a “win-win” situation for CU Basketball …
From CUBuffs.com … Former University of Colorado point guard and Pac-12 Conference champion Nate Tomlinson has been named the Buffaloes’ Director of Player Development, head coach Tad Boyle announced Thursday.
Tomlinson replaces Sean Kearney who became an associate commissioner with the Atlantic 10 Conference earlier this summer.
“This was a win-win situation,” Boyle said. “Sean had a great opportunity to advance his career and move onward and upward, and it created an opening for Nate, who is one of the most passionate and loyal Buffs that I know of. His energy and enthusiasm will help our program get better.”
Tomlinson’s duties will be similar to those of Kearney, including scheduling of games and serving as a liaison with several constituents including academics and community service. Additionally, his ability to relate to and mentor current and future Buffaloes will be invaluable.
“He will have the opportunity to connect with the players off the court and be a great mentor for them,” Boyle said. “As a former player, he can relate to the challenges our players face today; he just went through those relatively recently.
“He was born to coach, and this is the first step in that process. He helped us as a player and now he’ll help us in a different capacity.”
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CU Women’s basketball adds a transfer guard for 2019-20 season
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado women’s basketball head coach JR Payne announced the addition of De’Ayra Davis for the 2019-20 season on Tuesday.
Davis, an Omaha, Neb., native, comes to the Buffaloes after spending last season at Iowa Western CC.
“We are excited for De’Ayra to join our family,” Payne stated. “She will come to Boulder with experience and a very competitive spirit. De’Ayra loves the game of basketball and plays with a tremendous passion.”
The 5-foot-7 guard played in 32 games last season for the Reivers, averaging 10.0 points per game. She helped lead Iowa Western to a 23-9 record, pushing the Reivers to the NJCAA Region XI Championship.
Davis earned honorable mention ICCAC Division I honors in her lone season at Iowa Western. She scored in double figures 17 times, including a season-high 24 points against Southeast Community College. Davis closed the season with 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals in her 22.5 minutes per game.
Prior to Iowa Western, Davis played 29 games as a freshman at Florida A&M. She earned eight starts and scored 5.5 points in 21.0 minutes. Davis was the MEAC’s Rookie of the Week (Feb. 13, 2018) after scoring 13 points and grabbing four rebounds in FAMU’s overtime win over North Carolina Central. She hit the clinching free-throws inside the final 30 seconds.
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Buff golfer Elle Otten named All-American Scholar …
From CUBuffs.com … University of Colorado junior-to-be Elle Otten has been named a Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar, as announced by the association on Monday.
A double major in business and psychology, Otten finished her sophomore year with an impressive 3.838 cumulative grade point average. This past spring, she was also selected to the Pac-12 All-Academic First Team. The Palm Desert, Calif., native is just the 14th Buffalo to earn the WGCA honor. The last Buff named to the team was Robyn Choi (2017).
Otten competed in 30 rounds during her sophomore season and was fifth on the team with a 78.10 stroke average. She played in 10 tournaments for the Buffs, twice as an individual, and 17 of her 24 rounds in team play counted towards the team score.
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Former Buff Samantha Nemirov added to Women’s Professional Lacrosse League Command’s roster …
From CUBuffs.com … Former University of Colorado attacker Samantha Nemirov, who graduated this past May, has been added to the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL) Command’s roster for the 2019 season. In her debut game, Nemirov tallied two goals against the Pride.
Nemirov was the second leading scorer for Colorado in 2019, recording 51 goals and 15 assists for 66 points. She set the CU record for most consecutive games with at least one point (39) as she scored in every game during the 2018 and ’19 seasons. The previous record was 29 games.
She was third in the Pac-12 this season in goals per game (2.68) and was fourth in points for game (3.47). In conference only games, she finished second in goals per game (3.10), third points per game (4.10) and seventh in assists per game (1.00).
Nemirov is one of three former Buffaloes competing this season in the WPLL. Former standouts Sarah Brown (defense) and Paige Soenksen (goalkeeper) are playing for the Fight.
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Buff Trivia Question of the Week … This week USC announced that it was scheduling a game against UC-Davis from the Big Sky Conference. With the Trojans scheduling a game against an FCS opponent, only UCLA and Notre Dame remain as teams which have never scheduled an FCS opponent.
Colorado was one of the last holdouts, never playing a game against an FCS opponent until 2006. Since then, the Buffs have played nine such games. What is CU’s record in those games?
Answer: 7-2. The Buffs – much to the great embarrassment of the CU Nation – opened with a 1-2 record against FCS teams. Since then, however, Colorado has won six straight.
In the next ten seasons, Colorado has three games scheduled against FCS opponents – Northern Colorado (2021); North Dakota State (2024); and Colgate (2027).
- 2006 … Montana State 19, Colorado 10 … “Quite simply, it was one of the worst losses in CU history”
- 2008 … Colorado 31, Eastern Washington 14 … “Undefeated, untied, and unimproved“
- 2012 … Sacramento State 30, Colorado 28 … “Shirt of Shame“
- 2013 … Colorado 38, Central Arkansas 24 … “Ahead of Schedule“
- 2013 … Colorado 43, Charleston-Southern 10 … “I want to be spoiled again“
- 2015 … Colorado 48, Nicholls 0 … “Crooked Numbers“
- 2016 … Colorado 56, Idaho State 7 … “Great(er) Expectations“
- 2017 … Colorado 41, Northern Colorado 21 …“The Bite Size Rise”
- 2018 … Colorado 45, New Hampshire 14 … “Meeting – and exceeding – expectations”
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