ARIZONA
According to the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the University has been at the bottom of the Pac-10 in graduation rates for the last five years. The NCAA released its “Report National Averages,” and Arizona was last in the conference with a 61 percent Graduation Success Rate. The school is 11 points behind ninth place Arizona State and 18 points behind the NCAA average. For a little perspective, the men’s basketball team GSR was 11 percent in 2009.
ARIZONA STATE
On April 21, news broke that ASU was taking action against its baseball program for violations sustained during the tenure of former coach Pat Murphy. ASU, one of the winningest baseball programs in the history of the NCAA, found numerous violations from 2004 to June 2009. The violations included approximately 500 phone calls in violation of the one call per week rule, as well as using an unauthorized recruiter to bring a student to campus. The sanctions will be tough: vacating 44 of 49 wins from the 2007 season, prohibiting phone calls during July 2010 and July 2011, and limiting scholarships in two years.
CALIFORNIA
Those who dislike Cal’s Memorial Stadium will get a year reprieve in 2011. While the University renovates the old, falling apart structure, the Golden Bears will play their 2011 season at the San Francisco Giants’ home at AT&T Park. Cal will return to Memorial Stadium in 2012 after major construction is finished. During the 2011 season, Cal and Major League Baseball will work together during the season to work around the Giants’ home games in September.
OREGON
The men and women’s track teams had strong showings over the weekend. The biggest news is that both Brianne Theisen and Ashton Eaton defended their Pac-10 crowns in the multi-events over weekend. Eaton repeated as decathlon champion by winning seven out of 10 events and posting a personal-best score of 8,154. On the women’s side, Theisen scored 5,917 points, giving Oregon 14 points to start the Pac-10 Championships next week.
OREGON STATE
At Oregon State, the Beavers are hoping to make a late run in baseball to make another regional. This started with their sweep of No. 15 Oregon over the weekend, winning three games by three runs on three walk off plays. OSU had lost 11 of 12 games coming into the weekend and dropped from national rankings, but with two more series wins, the Beavers can get back into the picture for a playoff spot.
STANFORD
The men’s volleyball team won the NCAA national title after sweeping Penn State on May 8. The Cardinal improved to 24-6 on the year, but the most amazing part of this success was that in 2007, this team went 3-25 on way to the worst season in school history. On a side note, the national title extended the athletic department’s streak of at least one national title a year to 34 consecutive years.
USC
The women’s water polo team, which finished its season with a 22-3 record, opens NCAA tournament play on Friday against Marist in San Diego. The Women of Troy, ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the season, enter the tournament with the No. 2 seed. This is the seventh consecutive water polo national tournament appearance for USC, which is 12-5 in NCAA tournament play.
UCLA
Bruins middle-distance runner Cory Primm was named the Pacific-10 Conference Male Track Athlete of the Week on Monday for his performance in the Oxy Invitational this weekend. Primm, a native of Thousand Oaks, Calif., won the 800m race in 1:46.63, the fastest time by a collegian this season and the second-fastest in UCLA history. The time was a personal best by nearly a full second.
WASHINGTON
Junior Jenn Salling — a former Oregon softball player — hit a walk-off RBI double in the eighth inning against Stanford to secure a 1-0 win for the Husky softball team and the Pacific-10 Conference title. The title for Washington (43-5, 15-3 Pac-10) is its third in school history, and the first since 2000. The Huskies begin preparations for the national championship on a roll, having won their last
seven games.
WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State had a big opening weekend at the Pac-10 Track and Field Championships, as three of its multi-event athletes all set personal-best scores in the heptathlon and decathlon events. Junior Angela Jensen (5,017 points, PR) and freshman Jasmine Johnson-McKeown (4,962 points, PR) finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, while senior Kyle Schauble took sixth place in the decathlon with a
personal-best 6,899 points.
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