Sports Briefs – Spring 2014
Stats
11
Is the number of National Sportswriter of the Year awards won by CU grad Rick Reilly (Jour’84), who was elected to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
29
Is the number of school records held by 2013 CU football MVP and All-Pac-12 receiver Paul Richardson before declaring himself eligible for the NFL draft.
300
Students showed up at 5:45 a.m. to be a part of ESPN’s College GameDay that aired the morning of the Buffs vs. Arizona game Saturday, Feb. 22.
38,296
Fans on average attended football home games in 2013, down from more than 45,000 in 2012 and over 50,000 in 2011.
$143,000,000
Is the amount the university hopes to raise for proposed athletic facilities upgrades in anticipation of completing the project in 2015.
Buff Tidbits
CU club skier Alexis Keeney claimed a gold medal in the women’s slopestyle at the Winter World University Games in Italy in December. It was the only gold medal for the Americans. CU was represented by three Olympians in Sochi this year — Julia Marino in slopestyle skiing for Paraguay, Luke Steyn in alpine skiing for Zimbabwe and Arman Serebrakian (IntPhys, MS’11) in alpine skiing for Armenia. Marino and Steyn were the first winter Olympians to represent their countries. The CU volleyball team made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. The Buffs’ 18-14 record gave them their most wins in a season in 10 years.
Soccer Team Makes Sweet 16
For just the second time in program history, the CU women’s soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Despite a 4-0 season-ending loss to Florida State — the eventual national runner-up — the Buffs finished with a 14-7-2 record, including back-to-back NCAA victories over ranked teams. The Buffs earned an NCAA tournament berth for the first time since 2008. “This whole season has been a dream for me,” senior Anne Stuller says.
Basketball Nationally Recognized
Four or five seasons ago, the thought of both the CU men’s and women’s basketball teams being simultaneously ranked in the top 20 in the nation would have been laughable. But no one was laughing as 2014 dawned with both programs in just such positions.
After defeating No. 6 Kansas and No. 10 Oregon in the course of a month, the CU men matched their highest national ranking since 1969 by ascending to No. 15 in the AP poll. The Buffs’ 14-2 record tied their best mark through 16 games since 1941-42, before leading scorer Spencer Dinwiddie suffered a season-ending left knee injury in Game 17 on Jan. 12.
Meanwhile, the CU women climbed as high as No. 11 in the nation as they went 9-0 to start the season. The Buffs won 33 consecutive non-conference regular-season games before falling to No. 7 Louisville just before Christmas.
Photography by Tony Harman