Arizona
Wildcats senior Ben Grado and diving coach Omar Ojeda@@http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/m-swim/spec-rel/040912aaa.html@@ were chosen as the Pac-12 Diver and Coach of the Year respectively, conference commissioner Larry Scott announced earlier this week. Grado, a Conifer, Colo., native,@@http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/m-swim/mtt/grado_ben00.html@@ swept all three diving events at the Pac-12 Championships and became the first Arizona diver to capture a conference title since Ojeda won six events from 2001 to 2002. He went on to win the platform title at the NCAA Championships in late March.@@see first link@@
Arizona State
Up the road in Tempe, Arizona State senior diver Elina Eggers was named the 2012 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s swimming and diving.@@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/040612aaa.html@@ The Stockholm, Sweden, native won her second career Pac-12 title (’10, ’12) in the 10-meter platform this spring — the same event she finished as the national runner-up in last season.@@see above link@@ The four-time school record holder and three-time first-team Pac-12 all-academic recipient holds a 3.96 grade point average in economics.@@see above link@@
Cal
The Golden Bears’ swimming program rounded up a handful of postseason awards on Monday. After winning its second-straight team title at the NCAA Championships, Cal’s Tom Shields was named the Pac-12 swimmer of the year, while head coach David Durden collected the conference coach of the year.@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-swim/spec-rel/040912aaa.html@@ On the women’s side, Caitlin Leverenz was chosen as the Pac-12 women’s swimmer of the year, and Cal’s Teri McKeever was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year after leading the Golden Bears to their third national title in four years.@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/040912aab.html@@
Colorado
The Colorado football team received some bad news on Tuesday when junior wide receiver Paul Richardson was lost for the entire 2012 season after suffering a torn knee ligament in Monday’s practice.@@http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205411370&DB_OEM_ID=600@@ The minimum six-month rehabilitation process will deprive the Buffs of their third-leading receiver from the 2011 campaign. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound pass catcher@@http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3845&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204980579&Q_SEASON=2012@@ set a school record with 284 yards receiving in Colorado’s 36-33 loss to California last fall.@@http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3850&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=205268990@@
Oregon
Senior track athlete Alex Kosinski was tabbed the Pac-12 women’s track athlete of the week on Tuesday, following her nation-leading 5,000-meter race at Saturday’s Pepsi Invitational.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205411364&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ Her time of 15 minutes, 36.90 seconds set the meet record and was a 21-second personal best for Kosinski, who was sidelined from the 2011 outdoor season with a back injury. The time was the fastest by an Oregon runner in 24 years and now ranks third all-time on the Ducks’ career top-10 list.@@see above link@@
Oregon State
The Pac-12 men’s basketball conference took a hit when Oregon State junior guard Jared Cunningham announced on Monday that he plans to enter the 2012 NBA Draft.@@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040912aab.html@@ Arguably one of the best all-around players in the conference for the past three seasons, Cunningham will leave Corvallis as one of the all-time greats to wear a Beavers uniform. The Oakland, Calif.,@@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/cunningham_jared00.html@@ native finished his Oregon State career 13th all-time in scoring (1,271), second in steals (219), third in free throws made (427) and fifth in free throws attempted (556).@@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040912aab.html@@ Cunningham holds 11 school records in total, including most minutes played in a season (1,245).@@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040912aab.html@@
Stanford
A duo of Cardinal freshmen were awarded for their standout seasons in the pool when David Nolan and Maddy Schaefer were chosen as the Pac-12 men’s and women’s swimming freshman/newcomer of the year on Monday.@@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-swim/spec-rel/040912aaa.html@@ Nolan won three events at the Pac-12 Championships and finished second in the 100 and 200 backstroke at the NCAAs.@@see above link@@ Schaefer helped lead Stanford’s 200 and 400-freestyle relay teams to victories at both the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships.@@see above link@@
UCLA
After an up-and-down men’s basketball season, the Bruins selected senior point guard Lazeric Jones as the recipient of the Coach John Wooden Award as UCLA’s Most Valuable Player at the team’s end-of-the-year banquet on Monday night. The second-team all-Pac-12 selection led the Bruins in scoring (13.5 points), assists (4.1), and steals (1.8) per game as well as three-point field goals made (48).@@http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041012aaa.html@@
Utah
Senior Anastasia Putilina was chosen at the Pac-12 women’s tennis player of the week on Monday.@@http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/040912aae.html@@ Over the weekend, the 77th-ranked Putilina upset Washington’s No. 20 Denise Dy, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2, at the No. 1 singles spot, giving the Utes (9-9, 1-6 Pac-12) their first Pac-12 conference win of the season. Putilina and sophomore teammate Callie Craig went on to defeat Dy and Samantha Smith in No. 1 doubles action. Earlier in the weekend, Putilina topped Oregon’s Julia Metzger in No. 1 singles play, 7-6(6), 6-2.@@see above link@@
USC
The No. 1-ranked USC men’s volleyball team is in position to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title with a pair of wins this week as the regular season draws to a close. The Trojans (20-4, 16-4 MPSF) carry their 15-match winning streak into Thursday’s contest with No. 8 Long Beach State before closing out the weekend against No. 11 Cal State Northridge on Saturday.@@http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-volley/spec-rel/041012aaa.html@@ Senior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli leads USC with 319 kills this season, while freshman setter Micah Christenson paces the Trojans with 876 assists on the year.@@http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/usc/sports/m-volley/auto_pdf/2011-12/release/release_20120410aaa.pdf@@
Washington
Two-year starting offensive lineman Colin Porter’s college football career was cut short when the Huskies confirmed on Tuesday that he would be forced to retire from the game due to injuries.@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/041012aab.html@@ Recent surgeries showed degenerative conditions (arthritis) in both of Porter’s shoulders. The 6-foot-4, 299-pound guard started all 13 games for Washington last season and had been held out of the Huskies’ spring practices this month with hopes of returning in the fall. The Washington medical staff told head coach Steve Sarkisian that long-term rest and recovery would not prepare Porter for the physical demands of repeated hits through the course of a game.@@see above link@@
Washington State
It has been a quiet spring in Pullman for most Washington State athletic programs — but don’t tell that to the women’s volleyball team. Under the direction of head coach Jen Greeny, the Cougars are slated to compete in their second spring tournament on Saturday when they travel to the University of Idaho.@@http://www.wsucougars.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/041012aaa.html@@ Washington State swept its first spring tournament at home over Eastern Washington, Boise State, Seattle University, Central Washington and Montana State. During the fall, the Cougars finished 11th in the Pac-12 with a 12-20 record overall and a 4-18 clip in conference play.@@http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Volleyball.aspx@@