Colorado University Athletics
Harkrader and Spears Earn CU Athlete of the Week Honors
February 20, 2008 | General, Track and Field, Women's Basketball
BOULDER-- Track athlete Bradley Harkrader (junior) and women's basketball player Brittany Spears (freshman), were named University of Colorado Athletes of the Week for the week of February 11-17. This is Spears' first athlete of the week honor of her career. Harkrader now has two athlete of the week honors for both the year and his career.
Harkrader, a Thornton, Colo. (Thornton) native, recorded a personal record and a provisional qualifying mark in the 5,000-meter run last Saturday at the Husky Classic. Harkrader finished in 13:59.19, bettering his previous best by more than 11 seconds (14:10.55). He finished sixth but only four seconds behind Alabama's Tyson David, who won the race in 13:55.19. The mark is good enough for ninth on CU's top performers list behind Buffalo greats Adam Goucher, Brent Vaughn and Dathan Ritzenhein. Harkrader owns the best time in the 5k race in the Big 12 Conference and it is eighth in the nation; this was his first race of the indoor season.
Spears, a Pasadena, Calif. (Pasadena/Notre Dame Prep [Mass.]) native, averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and two steals last week. In CU's 59-70 loss at Kansas, she recorded 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arch and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. She also added 12 rebounds, five blocks and two steals for a double-double. She followed up that impressive performance with a 12 rebound, three points, two blocks, two steals and an assist in the Buffs 67-52 win over Texas.
Others nominated for this week's award were Marcus Hall (men's basketball) and Veera Nurmi (tennis).
Men's Basketball: Marcus Hall, Senior, Houston, Texas
Hall scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the second half as the Buffaloes fell at No. 3 Kansas, 69-45 in Colorado's lone game of the week. Hall also grabbed a team-best six rebounds, in addition to his 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Hall has now led CU in scoring nine times this season.
Tennis: Veera Nurmi, Senior, Lahti, Finland
Nurmi went 1-1 during her singles weekend play evening her spring record at three. Nurmi defeated Old Dominion's Daniela Cohen 7-5, 6-0 at No. 5 singles to win her 62nd career singles match. Colorado lost both of its tennis matches over the weekend to No. 16 William & Mary, 7-0 and to the Lady Monarchs, 4-3.
