Toolson to play in Portsmouth Invitational Utah Valley senior guard Ryan Toolson has been invited to play in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament Apr. 8-11 in Portsmouth, Va. Each season the top seniors from around the country are invited to play in the tournament to showcase their skills to scouts from both the National Basketball Association and teams and leagues from around the world.
The Wolverine hockey team ended their season with a 4-6 loss to BYU in a neck-to-neck battle that went down to the wire at Seven Peaks Arena. Jeff Jiron, Slava Ivenenko, Weston Nash and Jeff Potempa all scored for the Wolverines, but it was not enough. UVU shot a total of 44 shots compared to BYU’s 37, but in the end, the Cougars had fresh legs and scored four unanswered goals in the last six minutes of the match.
Robyn Fairbanks, Sandy Wall, Lauren Smith, Hollie Beaman and Jordyn Bowen played their last basketball game for coach Cathy Nixon on March 7. “They came here when Utah Valley was not respected by anyone on the Division I level and they have invested their heart and soul into the program,” said an emotional Cathy Nixon.
Originally from Payson, Utah senior guard Sandy Wall played her final game in a Wolverines uniform March 7. In her final game she led all scorers with 24 over Chicago State leading Utah Valley to an Independent Championship. Wall holds school record holder in career steals with 145, she is second all-time in career scoring average at Utah Valley with 13.
L.T. stays in San Diego LaDainian Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers successfully renegotiated a contract which will keep L.T. in a Chargers uniform. Not only does the new deal keep L.T. but it also gives the team some salary cap relief. Tomlinson was the 2006 NFL MVP but the past two years have been filled with injury problems and his productivity has been down.
The Wolverines played their last three games of the 2008-2009 season during the Division I Independent Tournament hosted by UVU March 5-7 and came away with the title. The Wolverines played three games in three nights. It began with them facing NJIT for the third time this season.
Done Deal.Finally After four months of a back-and-forth battle, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Manny Ramirez have agreed to a two-year, $45 million deal. Last season, Ramirez played 53 games for the Dodgers. In his stint in L.A. he hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs.
UVU Men and Women Place Second at GWC Championships Utah Valley University’s men’s and women’s track and field teams both finished in second place at the Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships during the two day event which ended on Monday at the University of South Dakota.
The first week of March signifies the end of college basketball careers for seniors across the nation. Some, such as North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, have enjoyed illustrious tenures, while others have been super-glued to the bench for four years. Some of these seniors will go on to star in the NBA and others will have to find other ways to fill up their bank accounts.
Wolverine baseball started off with a bang. The first two games of a four-game series the season couldn’t have gone better. The Wolverines took both games of the double-header on Friday. “It’s good to finally see our players come out and swing it the way we thought they were capable of all year” UVU coach Eric Madsen said.
Leaders are essential in order for a sports team to succeed. When most people think of a leader in sports, they think of the person in front who is the most vocal. The most important quality for leaders to possess is leading by example. Senior guard Josh Olsen is the quiet, reserved type who does all his talking on the court.
Riders and ropers on the UVU rodeo team rode the red dirt of St. George last weekend in their first rodeo of the spring season. The men’s and women’s teams placed fourth and third respectively, featuring several first-place finishes by UVU cowboys. Bareback rider Connor Kent took first in his event; despite being knocked unconscious both nights during his bareback and saddle bronc rides.
The lady Wolverines were anchored by back-to-back 40 point games by Robyn Fairbanks last week, both against New Jersey Institute of Technology. In the second game, Julie McMurray recorded the first triple-double in school history with 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
The wrestling team has much to be happy about this year, what with breaking the school record by going 11-3 and 4-1 in conference, and now can look back on a great year and onto a bright future. The Wolverines finished second in the Western Wrestling Conference and made exceptional improvements.
It is certainly fitting that on Super Hero night at UVU it would be an epic battle between two formidable foes. And just like is seen in most super hero sagas, the good guys came out on top. A back-and-forth battle between two future Great West Conference teams, Utah Valley and Chicago State battled it out at the McKay Center and it came down to the wire with UVU winning 77-72.
