Painton, Hodgkins, Abu Earn UCHealth CU Athlete of the Week Honors
October 04, 2017 | Men's Golf, Women's Golf, Volleyball
Spencer Painton (men's golf), Kirsty Hodgkins (women's golf), and Naghede Abu (volleyball) have been recognized as the UCHealth CU Athletes of the Week for their outstanding performances last week (9/25–10/1).
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Senior men's golfer Spencer Painton tied the school record 54-hole score at the 8th Annual Mark Simpson-Colorado Invitational last week, finishing the tournament 12 strokes below par. Painton finished second in the individual scoring, carding an impressive 65-70-69—204. He was third in the tournament's 107-man field with 17 birdies and didn't score worse than bogey all tournament. Painton also estimated that he hit 42 or 43 (of 54) greens over three rounds, and had just one three-putt. His opening round 7-under 65-stroke round was the best of his collegiate career and put him atop the leaderboard after the first day. Despite being caught by Utah's Kyler Dunkle on the final day, his 12-under 204 54-hole score was also the best of his career at CU.
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Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins also had a record-breaking week at the Gonzaga Coeur D'Alene Resort Collegiate Invitational, helping CU's women's golf team to their first tournament win in two years. Hodgkins shot 10-below par over three rounds to earn her first individual tournament win. She finished with a 68-65-70—203 final scorecard to break the school record for lowest 54-hole score on a par-71 course and second lowest on any course. Hodgkins also broke the school record for most consecutive rounds below par (5), a streak that began earlier this month at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in New Mexico; in the process, she became just the fifth golfer in school history to shoot below par in all three rounds of a tournament. Hodgkins collected 15 birdies and 34 pars, while leading the field in both par-4 and par-5 scoring.
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Junior middle blocker Naghede Abu helped CU earn a pair of conference wins this weekend, guiding the Buffs back into this week's top-25. Abu averaged 1.44 blocks per set and added 2.56 kills per set while hitting .435 on the weekend. Against Oregon State on Friday, she registered 12 kills and just one error on 19 attacks to hit .529. She also posted one block solo and three block assists. The following night, Abu starred in the Buffs' four-set upset win over #12 Oregon. Offensively, she totaled 11 kills with only two errors on 27 attacks to hit .333. Even more impressively, Abu tallied nine blocks, one solo and eight assists, enough to earn her honors as Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week as well.
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Also Nominated For This Week's Honors: Dani Jones (women's cross country), Joe Klecker (men's cross country), Jalen Tompkins (soccer).
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Sophomore goalkeeper Jalen Tompkins was perfect in two road matches against Washington and Washington State, making nine saves over 200 shutout minutes. She made five saves in Thursday's 2-0 win at Washington State. In that match, WSU came out firing but Tompkins made two key saves in the opening 15 minutes, including an impressive one-handed, diving save in the 13th minute. Her strellar play in net early on allowed CU to settle into a groove for the road win. On Sunday, Tompkins made four saves in a scoreless draw at Washington. Her best stop of the day was a diving save in the 74th minute on a header off a corner kick. She made another key save in the 90th minute to keep a shot out of the upper-left corner of the net, and one more save in overtime.
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Junior Dani Jones led the top-ranked Colorado women's cross country team to a first-place finish at the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday afternoon, finishing third overall in the 5-kilometer race. Jones clocked in at 16:12.8, just under a second from the runner-up who finished in 16:12.0. CU recorded 47 points to edge out third-ranked New Mexico (51).
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On the men's side of the Joe Piane Invitational, Sophomore Joe Klecker earned a fourth-place finish individually, helping the fourth-ranked CU men's team to a second-place team finish. Klecker crossed the finish of the 5-mile race in 23:33.7, just 10 after the first-place finisher (23:23.7).
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Senior men's golfer Spencer Painton tied the school record 54-hole score at the 8th Annual Mark Simpson-Colorado Invitational last week, finishing the tournament 12 strokes below par. Painton finished second in the individual scoring, carding an impressive 65-70-69—204. He was third in the tournament's 107-man field with 17 birdies and didn't score worse than bogey all tournament. Painton also estimated that he hit 42 or 43 (of 54) greens over three rounds, and had just one three-putt. His opening round 7-under 65-stroke round was the best of his collegiate career and put him atop the leaderboard after the first day. Despite being caught by Utah's Kyler Dunkle on the final day, his 12-under 204 54-hole score was also the best of his career at CU.
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Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins also had a record-breaking week at the Gonzaga Coeur D'Alene Resort Collegiate Invitational, helping CU's women's golf team to their first tournament win in two years. Hodgkins shot 10-below par over three rounds to earn her first individual tournament win. She finished with a 68-65-70—203 final scorecard to break the school record for lowest 54-hole score on a par-71 course and second lowest on any course. Hodgkins also broke the school record for most consecutive rounds below par (5), a streak that began earlier this month at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in New Mexico; in the process, she became just the fifth golfer in school history to shoot below par in all three rounds of a tournament. Hodgkins collected 15 birdies and 34 pars, while leading the field in both par-4 and par-5 scoring.
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Junior middle blocker Naghede Abu helped CU earn a pair of conference wins this weekend, guiding the Buffs back into this week's top-25. Abu averaged 1.44 blocks per set and added 2.56 kills per set while hitting .435 on the weekend. Against Oregon State on Friday, she registered 12 kills and just one error on 19 attacks to hit .529. She also posted one block solo and three block assists. The following night, Abu starred in the Buffs' four-set upset win over #12 Oregon. Offensively, she totaled 11 kills with only two errors on 27 attacks to hit .333. Even more impressively, Abu tallied nine blocks, one solo and eight assists, enough to earn her honors as Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week as well.
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Also Nominated For This Week's Honors: Dani Jones (women's cross country), Joe Klecker (men's cross country), Jalen Tompkins (soccer).
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Sophomore goalkeeper Jalen Tompkins was perfect in two road matches against Washington and Washington State, making nine saves over 200 shutout minutes. She made five saves in Thursday's 2-0 win at Washington State. In that match, WSU came out firing but Tompkins made two key saves in the opening 15 minutes, including an impressive one-handed, diving save in the 13th minute. Her strellar play in net early on allowed CU to settle into a groove for the road win. On Sunday, Tompkins made four saves in a scoreless draw at Washington. Her best stop of the day was a diving save in the 74th minute on a header off a corner kick. She made another key save in the 90th minute to keep a shot out of the upper-left corner of the net, and one more save in overtime.
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Junior Dani Jones led the top-ranked Colorado women's cross country team to a first-place finish at the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday afternoon, finishing third overall in the 5-kilometer race. Jones clocked in at 16:12.8, just under a second from the runner-up who finished in 16:12.0. CU recorded 47 points to edge out third-ranked New Mexico (51).
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On the men's side of the Joe Piane Invitational, Sophomore Joe Klecker earned a fourth-place finish individually, helping the fourth-ranked CU men's team to a second-place team finish. Klecker crossed the finish of the 5-mile race in 23:33.7, just 10 after the first-place finisher (23:23.7).
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