Sports Briefs
Nothum honored as the GWC runner of the week
UVU’s Mary Nothum and NJIT’s Umar Saeed have been selected as Great West Conference Runners of the Week for their performances last weekend. The awards were announced Wednesday by the conference office.
Nothum won the Montana State Invitational, helping the Wolverines to a second place finish over Division I teams Montana, Montana State, USU, Weber State, and Utah, as well as seven Division II teams. Weber State won the meet held Saturday at Bozeman, Mont.
The junior from Washington, Mo., completed the three-mile race with a blazing time of 17 minutes, 10 seconds, finishing a full nine seconds ahead of the next competitor. Her top finish puts her tied for eighth place all-time in the 30th year of the meet.
Saeed, NJIT’s senior captain from Parlin, N.J., led the field at the NJIT Classic from the start, completing the 8K race with a time of 27:11. His finish propelled the Highlanders to first place over Hofstra, Saint Peter’s, Siena and Fairleigh Dickinson.
Other runners nominated for this week’s honors were South Dakota’s Ramsey Fitzsimmons and Rob Gregoire and UVU’s Joshua McCabe.
Nothum is the second Wolverine to win this weekly honor after freshman Jason Lynch won the award Sept. 9.
UVU Wrestling Announces duel with NCAA National Champion Iowa
The UVU 2009-10 wrestling schedule released Tuesday, features a dual with the NCAA National Champion Iowa and three home duals as well as the Third Annual UVU Open.
The dual with Iowa is scheduled for Feb. 6 at Uintah High School in Vernal, Utah, hometown of two-time Hawkeye All-American Phillip Keddy.
“It will be great to wrestle Iowa and a number of top 10 teams this year,” said fourth-year UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams. “It will be a wonderful opportunity for us and we are excited to see what we can do. Our schedule will help mentally prepare us for the postseason this year.”
The 2009-10 season marks a new era for UVU wrestling as this is the first year in which the Wolverines are eligible to compete at the NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference Championships for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
“The whole team is excited for the opportunity to be able to compete in the postseason,” Williams added. “It will be great to be able to go to conference and prove ourselves there and also to get some guys to nationals.”