Colorado University Athletics
White, Soenksen Named CU's Athlete of the Week
February 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Track and Field, Women's Golf, Lacrosse, Skiing
What a week it was for all teams and athletes that competed for the Colorado Buffaloes in the second week of February. The women's lacrosse team put together an amazing effort at home to take down the ninth ranked Northwestern Wildcats. Led on defense by senior goalkeeper Paige Soenksen, The Buffs beat a ranked opponent for the first time in school-history. Onto the hardwood, Derrick White and the Colorado men's basketball team put together an amazing two-game stretch and have now won five of their last six games. Paige Soenksen (women's lacrosse) and Derrick White (men's basketball) are this week's CU's Athlete of the Week.
Soenksen tallied a whopping career-high 19 saves against the ninth-ranked Wildcats on Sunday to lead the Colorado Buffaloes to their first win over a ranked opponent in the program's four-year history. In the first game of the season for the Colorado women's lacrosse team, they handed Northwestern their first loss of the season. This game came down to the wire with a nail-biting finish and an 11-10 victory for the Buffs in overtime. Soenksen stopped 10 of 16 shots in the first half and then made another nine saves on 13 attempts in the second half. Her job was done from there as her teammate Katie Macleay scored the game-winning goal just 55 seconds into overtime. This is the second occasion in Soenksen's career she has made 19 saves in a game; the last time was on April 6, 2014 against Stanford.
Derrick White scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting along with four rebounds, three assists, and no turnovers to start an impressive weekend for Colorado men's basketball. With a game-high 23 points in a win over Washington State, White recorded his 10th game of scoring at least 20 points for the Buffs this season. This is now makes six of the last 10 games that he has done so. He shot an efficient 9-of-11 from the field while matching a season-high with three steals to beat the Cougars. Over the two games White averaged 19.5 points, three rebounds, three assists and over one steal while shooting 71.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range.
Also nominated for this week's honors: Joe Klecker (men's track) , Dani Jones (women's track), Robyn Choi (golf), Jesse Knori (women's ski)
Joe Klecker paced the Colorado track team on Saturday at the Husky Invite. He recorded a huge personal record to win the men's 3,000. He clocked a 7:51.43 to take the title and drop eight seconds off his previous PR. Klecker now has the sixth fastest 3,000 time in the Nation and has moved into fourth all-time in Colorado school-history.
On the women's side, Dani Jones put together an incredible 3,000 race finishing in second with a strong time of 9:02.22. She is now the second fastest 3,000-meter performer in school history coming in behind Jenny Barringer. This time also puts her in second in the nation as well.
Robyn Choi posted the best two-day total for the Buffs at the Peg Barnard Invitational, firing a 1-over par on Sunday and finished with a 70-72-142 scorecard to finish third overall. Choi put in Colorado's lone sub-par round of golf on Saturday, scoring a 70. This was her best round of golf in her collegiate career.
In four races last week in Anchorage, Alaska, Jesse Knori was a part of two victories and had a total of four top 10 finishes. She won her first collegiate race by taking first place in the women's 5K classic on Saturday in the UAA Invite. She was also a part of the first-place relay team in the mixed gender relay in the Seawolf Invitational on Wednesday. In her two other races, she placed sixth in the freestyle sprints in the Seawolf Invitational and was eighth in the 15K freestyle race for the UAA Invitational. In the three individual races during the week, she was the Buff's top finisher in two of them.
Soenksen tallied a whopping career-high 19 saves against the ninth-ranked Wildcats on Sunday to lead the Colorado Buffaloes to their first win over a ranked opponent in the program's four-year history. In the first game of the season for the Colorado women's lacrosse team, they handed Northwestern their first loss of the season. This game came down to the wire with a nail-biting finish and an 11-10 victory for the Buffs in overtime. Soenksen stopped 10 of 16 shots in the first half and then made another nine saves on 13 attempts in the second half. Her job was done from there as her teammate Katie Macleay scored the game-winning goal just 55 seconds into overtime. This is the second occasion in Soenksen's career she has made 19 saves in a game; the last time was on April 6, 2014 against Stanford.
Derrick White scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting along with four rebounds, three assists, and no turnovers to start an impressive weekend for Colorado men's basketball. With a game-high 23 points in a win over Washington State, White recorded his 10th game of scoring at least 20 points for the Buffs this season. This is now makes six of the last 10 games that he has done so. He shot an efficient 9-of-11 from the field while matching a season-high with three steals to beat the Cougars. Over the two games White averaged 19.5 points, three rebounds, three assists and over one steal while shooting 71.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range.
Also nominated for this week's honors: Joe Klecker (men's track) , Dani Jones (women's track), Robyn Choi (golf), Jesse Knori (women's ski)
Joe Klecker paced the Colorado track team on Saturday at the Husky Invite. He recorded a huge personal record to win the men's 3,000. He clocked a 7:51.43 to take the title and drop eight seconds off his previous PR. Klecker now has the sixth fastest 3,000 time in the Nation and has moved into fourth all-time in Colorado school-history.
On the women's side, Dani Jones put together an incredible 3,000 race finishing in second with a strong time of 9:02.22. She is now the second fastest 3,000-meter performer in school history coming in behind Jenny Barringer. This time also puts her in second in the nation as well.
Robyn Choi posted the best two-day total for the Buffs at the Peg Barnard Invitational, firing a 1-over par on Sunday and finished with a 70-72-142 scorecard to finish third overall. Choi put in Colorado's lone sub-par round of golf on Saturday, scoring a 70. This was her best round of golf in her collegiate career.
In four races last week in Anchorage, Alaska, Jesse Knori was a part of two victories and had a total of four top 10 finishes. She won her first collegiate race by taking first place in the women's 5K classic on Saturday in the UAA Invite. She was also a part of the first-place relay team in the mixed gender relay in the Seawolf Invitational on Wednesday. In her two other races, she placed sixth in the freestyle sprints in the Seawolf Invitational and was eighth in the 15K freestyle race for the UAA Invitational. In the three individual races during the week, she was the Buff's top finisher in two of them.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
NORDIC
/ Skiing
A
/ Lacrosse
G
/ Lacrosse
G
/ Men's BasketballTuesday, June 23
Tuesday, June 02
Thursday, May 21
Monday, April 27