Colorado University Athletics
Liufau, Abu Both Earn Athlete of the Week Honors
September 06, 2016 | Football, Volleyball
This week's Athlete of the Week is awarded to both Sefo Liufau (football) and Naghede Abu (volleyball). The opening weekend of September came with excitement for Buff fans. It also came with a record-breaking performance by Sefo Liufau that created "oo's" and "ahh's" amongst the crowd during the highly anticipated Rocky Mountain Showdown last Friday night. Liufau earned his mark as CU's all-time leader in passing yards while Abu dominated in back-to-back victories over a pair of ranked teams at the Pac-12/Big Ten challenge.
In his first game back after a Lisfranc (foot) injury that sidelined him for the final 2¾ games in 2015 as well as spring practice, Liufau completed 23-of-33 passes for 318 yards. His 17-yard touchdown pass and no turnovers helped create an excellent pass-rating of 160.6. Liufau connected with his receivers on 12 of the team's 28 first downs, and ran for 5 of them himself.
During the game, he became CU's all-time leader in passing yards (7,715). This extends his own mark for total offense (8,226, the first to eclipse 8K at Colorado). He also managed to take over the record for the most offensive plays for a career (1,356). It was his 10th career 300-yard passing game (and eighth career 300-yard total offense game); he now owns or shares 78 CU records. Most impressively, he led the team to 44-7 victory over Colorado State.
Abu is a familiar name on the Athlete of the Week ballot and it's not hard to tell why. In Saturday's 3-2 win against 13th ranked Penn State, Abu recorded nine kills and added eight blocks. She also dished out two solos and six assists. Just a day later, Abu added another four blocks, hammered 13 kills and hit .476 in another five-set win against 17th ranked Illinois. She had an average of 2.20 kills, 1.20 blocks per set, and hit .341; a very impressive weekend for Abu.
Also nominated for this week's honors: Ryan Forsyth (men's cross country) and Carrie Verdon (women's cross country).
Sophomore Ryan Forsyth led the fifth-ranked Colorado men's cross country at the Colorado State Invitational on Friday evening, placing fifth with a 14 minute, 58 second finish for his first collegiate victory. Forsyth was one second in front of the runner-up and two seconds in front of a trio of Buffaloes who finished the race in15:00.
Senior Carrie Verdon led the second ranked Colorado women's cross country team at the Colorado State Invitational on Friday evening, placing third overall in 17:36. She was the highest finisher for the Buffs in uniform.
In his first game back after a Lisfranc (foot) injury that sidelined him for the final 2¾ games in 2015 as well as spring practice, Liufau completed 23-of-33 passes for 318 yards. His 17-yard touchdown pass and no turnovers helped create an excellent pass-rating of 160.6. Liufau connected with his receivers on 12 of the team's 28 first downs, and ran for 5 of them himself.
During the game, he became CU's all-time leader in passing yards (7,715). This extends his own mark for total offense (8,226, the first to eclipse 8K at Colorado). He also managed to take over the record for the most offensive plays for a career (1,356). It was his 10th career 300-yard passing game (and eighth career 300-yard total offense game); he now owns or shares 78 CU records. Most impressively, he led the team to 44-7 victory over Colorado State.
Abu is a familiar name on the Athlete of the Week ballot and it's not hard to tell why. In Saturday's 3-2 win against 13th ranked Penn State, Abu recorded nine kills and added eight blocks. She also dished out two solos and six assists. Just a day later, Abu added another four blocks, hammered 13 kills and hit .476 in another five-set win against 17th ranked Illinois. She had an average of 2.20 kills, 1.20 blocks per set, and hit .341; a very impressive weekend for Abu.
Also nominated for this week's honors: Ryan Forsyth (men's cross country) and Carrie Verdon (women's cross country).
Sophomore Ryan Forsyth led the fifth-ranked Colorado men's cross country at the Colorado State Invitational on Friday evening, placing fifth with a 14 minute, 58 second finish for his first collegiate victory. Forsyth was one second in front of the runner-up and two seconds in front of a trio of Buffaloes who finished the race in15:00.
Senior Carrie Verdon led the second ranked Colorado women's cross country team at the Colorado State Invitational on Friday evening, placing third overall in 17:36. She was the highest finisher for the Buffs in uniform.
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