Ghizzone, Jones Earn UCHealth CU Athlete of the Week Honors After Record Breaking Weekend

Track and field stars Andrew Ghizzone and Dani Jones have been named this week's UCHealth CU Athletes of the Week after their outstanding performances at last weekend's CU Invitational.

Junior distance runner Dani Jones made history on Friday night. She clocked a 4:36.05 mile time, the fastest women's mile ever run in the state of Colorado. Jones separated herself from the pack early on and never looked back, besting her previous personal record of 4:38.68 by over two seconds. Her 4:36.05 mile time is the third fastest in school history, behind Olympic medalists Jenny Barringer and Emma Coburn. After adjusting for elevation, Jones' time converts to 4:29.32, the second fastest mile run in this season's NCAA competition.

On the men's side of the CU Invitational, senior Andrew Ghizzone broke his own school record in the heptathlon, recording 5,417 total points. He dominated the competition, winning five of the seven heptathlon events. Ghizzone sat in first place following the first day of competition after winning the 60-meters (7.26) and the long jump (22-3/6.78). He then swept the final day, taking first place in the 60-meter hurdles (8.43), pole vault (16-0.75/2.02), and 1,000-meters (2:41.72). Ghizzone's 5,417 score improves upon his former personal and school record of 5,405.

Also nominated for this week's honors: Alvar Alev (Men's Nordic), Nora Christensen (Women's Alpine), Kennedy Leonard (Women's Basketball), Kyra Wojcik (Tennis), McKinley Wright IV (Men's Basketball)

Nordic skier Alvar Alev was CU's top men's scorer – alpine or Nordic – at last weekend's New Mexico Invitational. The freshman from Estonia kicked off the weekend with a fifth place finish in Saturday's 21K freestyle event, the longest race on the NCAA circuit. Then on Sunday, Alev raced to a third place finish in the 5K classic, the first podium finish of his young collegiate career.

Nora Christensen was the top alpine scorer on the women's side of the New Mexico Invitational. She placed third in her first slalom race, crossing the finish line just half a second behind teammate Tonje Trulsrud, who won the event. In her second slalom race, Christensen finished first, earning her second slalom win of the season. Christensen's win netted the Buffs 40 team points, which proved to be crucial as CU edged out Denver to win the scoring by just 6 ½-points.

Junior point guard Kennedy Leonard tied her career-high 31 points and added eight assists in Thursday's come from behind win over Utah. She hit a pair of 3-pointers to spark a furious first-half comeback after Utah scored the game's first 16 points. Leonard then exploded for 21 second half points to lift CU to victory. Then on Sunday, Leonard scored eight points and dished out five assists in a four-point loss to Utah.

On the men's side, freshman point guard McKinley Wright IV led the Buffs to 67-55 win over Utah. Wright eclipsed the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season and the first time in conference play, scoring 21 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting. He also added four assists and three rebounds as CU snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Utes.

Senior Kyra Wojcik made an impact in both singles and doubles play in Sunday's 4-3 win over Air Force. Playing doubles, Wojcik and freshman Linda Huang fell behind 5-1 before battling back to win 7-5 and clinch the doubles point. She then handled Air Force's Carley Hatcliff 6-0, 6-2 to clinch both the singles point and the match for CU.

Ghizzone, Jones Earn UCHealth CU Athlete of the Week Honors After Record Breaking Weekend

Players Mentioned

Andrew Ghizzone

Dani Jones

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