From NCAA Berths To Academics To Recruiting To Research, A Solid Spring For CU Athletics

BOULDER — It's been a successful spring on virtually every front for the Colorado Buffaloes. From NCAA Tournament berths to school records to great recruiting classes, the Buffs have had some solid showings across the board.

Here's a quick look at some of those moments that no doubt deserve a second look:

1. NCAA Tournament for women's lacrosse. Coach Ann Elliott Whidden continues to produce a high-level program in Boulder, where the Buffs have made the leap from startup to national power in just six seasons.

This year's NCAA appearance, in which the Buffs advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, was CU's third straight postseason berth. The Buffs earned their at-large bid by virtue of their second-place regular season and Pac-12 tournament finish, along with an 11-8 overall record that featured nine games against nationally ranked teams.

Remember, this is a program that played its first game ever in 2014. But the Buffs have never had a losing record, are now regulars in the nation's top 25, and have already reached the point where an NCAA berth is an expectation.

One more note: the Buffs were the only Pac-12 program to win an NCAA game this year, as USC (Denver) and Stanford (Notre Dame) both lost in the opening round.

2. Women's track team makes waves at Pac-12. When CU's distance runners hit the track, plenty of points are usually the result.

But the Buffs also tallied some big scores in the shorter distances at this year's just-completed Pac-12 championships, enough to put the Colorado women in third place at the end — tying the women's best-ever finish in the Pac-12.

CU claimed three titles at the Pac-12s, led by Valerie Constien's win in the steeplechase, an event the Colorado women have dominated. Constien's victory was CU's 11th straight conference title in the event.

The Buffs also got championship efforts from Dani Jones in the 5,000 (her second league crown in the event) and Elissa Mann in the 800. Mann became only the second CU woman in school history to claim a conference outdoor 800 title, joining Leigh Ballenger, who took titles in 1978 and '80. The Buffs also picked up more points in the 5,000 when Makena Morley finished third and Constien came back from her late-night Saturday steeplechase victory to take seventh in the 5,000.

One of the more pleasant results for the Buffs came in the women's 400 hurdles, where Gabby Scott ran a 56.82 to lower her school record. She was joined by two other CU runners in the top eight — Eriana Henderson in sixth and Valerie Welch in seventh — to give Colorado 13 points in the event. Other scorers for the women included the 4x400 relay team (fourth), Elisa Grandemange in the hammer throw (eighth), Annie Hill in the 1,500 (eighth) and Maja Wichart-Donzo in the triple jump (eighth).

3. Volleyball secures top 10 recruiting class. Perhaps more any other sport, volleyball recruiting requires early evaluation — oftentimes when players are just freshmen or sophomores in high school.

CU coach Jesse Mahoney and his staff, who wrapped up their third season with the Buffs last fall, have now put themselves squarely into the mix of elite recruiters with a recently signed class that was ranked No. 10 in the nation.

The class includes seven incoming freshmen and three transfers, and has the chance to move the Buffs up a notch in the nation's elite programs.

"This group has the potential to impact the program as much as any class we've ever had here at Colorado," Mahoney said.

4. Excellent first season for tennis coach Danielle Steinberg. When Steinberg took the job as CU's 10th women's tennis coach last June, she knew she had a big hill to climb.

For starters, her roster was greatly depleted by transfers before she barely had time to step foot on campus. But instead of making excuses, Steinberg began the process of establishing a foundation for success — and the result was the most Pac-12 wins in program history, as CU finished with a 10-14 overall record and a 3-7 league mark in arguably the nation's toughest tennis conference. That included a win over No. 28 Washington State, CU's first victory over a top-30 program since 2007.

Colorado finished with one player, freshman Sara Nayar, earning honorable mention all-conference honors, a sign that bigger and better things are to come for Steinberg's Buffs.

5. Two golfers advance to NCAAs. While neither the men's or women's teams advanced to the postseason regionals, two individuals did earn NCAA berths.

On the women's side, junior Kirsty Hodgkins finished tied for 15th in the NCAA East Lansing Regional, barely missing a shot at a playoff for a chance to advance to the NCAA Championships.

On the men's side, junior Daniel O'Loughlin earned a spot in the NCAA Northwest Regional, where he was tied for 19th after Monday's first day of play.

6. Academic success. As is always the case, CU's student-athletes also put up excellent numbers in the classroom. CU's annual Academic Recognition Banquet saw a record 27 Buffs honored for posting 4.00 grade point averages last year, and 187 student-athletes honored for maintaining at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA through the fall 2018 semester. Overall, CU's student-athletes had a 2.981 cumulative GPA, the ninth straight semester of at least a 2.9 for the Buffs.

7. Research grant for study concerning student-athlete health. CU is the recipient of a $200,000 grant from the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Wellbeing Initiative, money that will be used for a study to compare student-athlete alumni to non-student-athlete alumni across a long period of time and a wide range of health measures. The study will help determine what CU has been doing well and what the department can do to continue to improve. The study will survey 1,000 alumni Buffs from the football, basketball, soccer and cross-country teams and compare them to 1,000 age-and-gender-matched alumni who did not play collegiate sports.

Also this spring, Danny Sanchez's women's soccer team notched a 2-1-1 record in spring play that included a win over Nebraska and Tad Boyle's men's basketball team is being mentioned in a number of early top-25 rankings.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu