Burks, Coburn, Spears, Hajkova Receive Athlete of the Week Honor

BOULDER - Men's basketball guard Alec Burks (sophomore) received a solo athlete of the week honor on the men's side as track and field's Emma Coburn (junior), skier Eliska Hajkova (junior) and women's basketball forward Brittany Spears (senior) each received the honor on the women's side after stellar performances during the week of February 21-27.

Burks, a Grandview, Mo. (Grandview) native, averaged 23.5 points, nine rebounds, and three assists, helping the Colorado men's basketball team to a 2-0 week with a road win over Texas Tech and a win at home over then-No. 5 Texas. The 2-0 week is the first unbeaten week for the Buffaloes since beginning the conference season with three consecutive wins. In the win at Texas Tech, the sophomore guard scored 14 points with eight rebounds. Against then-No. 5 Texas, Burks scored 24 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, rallying the Buffs from a 22-point deficit over the Longhorns. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Burks led CU in the second half, scoring 11 of the team's next 14 points, pulling the Buffs to 58-55 with 12:55 remaining after once trailing 58-43. CU scored a season-best 58 points in the second half with a shooting percentage of 58.1.

Coburn, originally from Crested Butte, Colo. (Crested Butte), became the first Buff since 2005 to win the women's 3,000-meter title at the Big 12 Championship. Running in the unseeded section, she clocked the 17th best time in the NCAA Division I this season with a time of 9:17.46. Her time is the sixth best in CU's history and the fastest run by a Buff since 2009. Coburn defeated Iowa State's Lucy Kennedy, the runner-up in the unseeded section, by more than six seconds (9:23.21). This is her second conference title.

Coburn also contributed to a fourth-place finish in Friday night's distance medley relay along with teammates Katie Cumming, Brooke Regan and Elizabeth Tremblay. Breaking a 12-year-old school record in the process, the Buffs recorded a time of 11:22.87.

Hajkova, a native of Jablonec, Czech Republic (Gymnasium Vseobecne/Masaryko), won two regional and conference championships over the weekend at the 2011 RMISA Championships. Hajkova took the 5K freestyle race on Saturday, beating the field by 25.7 seconds with a time of 16:45.9. She then earned the sweep in the 15K classic race with a time of 58:11.2, over 30 seconds ahead of the field. Hajkova earned the first two wins of the season for the Buffs and it is her second and third victory of the season. She is the first skier to earn an outright sweep of women's Nordic races at regionals since CU's Maria Grevsgaard in 2008. She earned 100 points for CU and was instrumental in CU repeating as the RMISA and NCAA Western Regional champions.

Spears, originally of Pasadena, Calif. (Pasadena/Nortre Dame Prep), scored 24 points with six rebounds, four steals and two blocks in Colorado's 73-68 upset win over then-No. 16/15 ranked Oklahoma. She was 5-of-12 from 3-point range, and her five 3-pointers tied a team season-high as Colorado defeated Oklahoma for the first time since 2003. She then tied her own team season-high 26 points with nine rebounds in Saturday's win at Missouri. She clinched the game for the Buffs with a pair of free throws in the closing seconds. During Saturday's game, Spears became the second player in CU women's basketball history to surpass 2,000 career points. It was her 104th career double-digit game and 41st career scoring 20 or more points.

Also nominated for this week's award: Joe Bosshard (track and field), Gabriel Rivas (men's skiing), Kristina Schleich (women's tennis).

Joe Bosshard, So., Crested Butte, Colo.

Bosshard earned a third-place finish in the men's 5,000-meter run and was fourth in the 3,000-meter run this past weekend at the Big 12 Championship. Placing third in the 5k on Friday evening with a time of 13:51.65, Bosshard finished just over one second behind Oklahoma's Kevin Schwab (13:50.31). The following night, Bosshard led the men in the 3k, finishing fourth. He was the high points scorer for the Buffs, earning 11 points over the weekend.

Gabriel Rivas, Sr., St. Jean De Maurienne, France

Rivas earned two podium appearances at the 2011 RMISA Championships, which also double as the NCAA Western Regional Championships. Securing his spot as a first-team All-RMISA selection, he earned the No. 5 seed to the upcoming NCAA Championships. Rivas earned his fifth and sixth podium appearances of the season and has finished in the top 10 in every race of the season. He earned 86.5 team points for the Buffaloes and was crucial in helping the Buffs repeat as the RMISA and Western Regional Champions.

Kristina Schleich, Fr., Lilienthal, Germany

Schleich picked up the only team points in Colorado's 6-1 loss to No. 48 Rice in a match played at the University of Arkansas. She went 1-1 in her singles play during the weekend, defeating the Owls No. 1 player at the top of the singles slot in three sets, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9). It was Schleich's first spring win of her career at the top singles slot, and her second match win of the year rallying from a set to achieve victory.