Pac-12 Digest
Posted February 7, 2012 at 10:30 pm in Sports
USC
Christian wins Pac-12 Player of the Week
Behind the play of sophomore Kaitlyn Christian, the USC women’s tennis team is off to its best start since 2007.
The Women of Troy opened their season with four 7-0 victories and one 6-1 finish last week while Christian swept singles and doubles play to help lead USC to victories over Saint Mary’s and Pepperdine.
The California native holds a 5-0 record in dual-singles matches with a 13-4 overall record. On the doubles side, she is 18-3 overall with a 3-0 dual-match record teaming with freshman Sabrina Santamaria.
Ted Gilmore leaves USC for NFL
According to a report from ESPNLosAngeles.com, USC wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore has been hired by the Oakland Raiders.
Gilmore’s only season at the helm of the Trojans’ wideouts was highlighted by the play of two of the nation’s top receivers in sophomore Robert Woods and freshman Marqise Lee. Both notched more than 1,000 receiving yards and combined for 26 touchdowns. Woods set a Pac-12 Conference record for most catches in a season with 112 receptions.
With Gilmore reportedly leaving, the Trojans must now fill three coaching vacancies. Gilmore is the second coach in the last week to leave for the NFL, joining Joe Barry, USC’s former linebackers coach who joined the San Diego Chargers’ staff.
UCLA
Nick Meister named UCLA S.A.W.
Senior Nick Meister of the UCLA men’s tennis notched two singles wins over the weekend to help No. 9 UCLA take down two top-15 teams and was selected as the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week.
The California native was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after taking down California’s Nick Andrews and Stanford’s No. 37 Ryan Thacher. Meister’s two victories over the weekend gives him an overall record of 5-0 this season.
This is Meister’s first UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honor during his career.
Walker named Pac-12 Player of the Week
Junior forward Markel Walker of the UCLA women’s basketball team recorded the first triple-double at UCLA in eight years over the weekend in two victories over Washington and Washington State.
For her play, she was recognized as Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 15 points, 14.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists in those two contests.
Walker notched 14 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists against Washington State. It was the fifth triple-double recorded in school history.
The Philadelphia native is averaging 13 points per contest and leads the team with 10.9 rebounds per game.
Oregon
Former track athlete passes away
Geoff Hollister, who ran track and field at Oregon in 1966 and 1968, died at age 66, according to the school’s athletic department. Despite his athletic exploits, Hollister is more famous for his contributions to the Nike shoe company.
Nike creator Phil Knight attended Oregon and hired Hollister as one of the company’s first employees when it was under the name Blue Ribbon Sports.
Hollister is also responsible for the development of the “waffle sole,” a concept that has carried over to modern shoes. He wrote an autobiography in 2008 titled Out of Nowhere. Information on his cause of death was not released by the University.
Women’s track team ranked No. 1
The Oregon women’s track and field team is the top-ranked team in the country for the fourth week in a row, as ranked by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Ducks had the second best recruiting class in the country, according to Track and Field News. The Ducks won the national championship last season.
They are 4-0 on the season and will participate in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational Friday at 2 p.m. in New Mexico.
Arizona
Fogg named Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Senior guard Kyle Fogg was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for Jan. 30-Feb. 5.
In victories over Stanford and California, he averaged 18.5 points a game and shot more than 61 percent from 3-point range. On the year, he is averaging 12.5 points per game, just under three rebounds and two and a half assists a contest.
He has helped lead the Wildcats to a 16-8 record and a fifth-place standing in the conference. Fogg is the second player from Arizona to be named Conference Player of the Week this season, as junior Solomon Hill was twice named player of the week in December.
Wildcats preseason number five
The Arizona baseball team is ranked No. 5 in the preseason Baseball America poll. The Wildcats join Stanford (No. 2), UCLA (No. 14), Arizona State (No. 17), and Oregon State (No. 23) as teams from the Pac-12 to be ranked. They finished last season 39-21 and made it to the regional round of the postseason.
As a team, they hit .320, which was good for top in the conference and third in the entire country. Their pitching staff had an overall 3.57 earned run average. They finished fourth in the conference in 2011 and finished the season unranked in the polls.
Washington
Richards signs with MLS Club
Pac12.org reported that former Husky Brent Richards signed with the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer.
Richards was named to the all-conference team all four years in Seattle, including two first-team nominations He scored 31 goals during his tenure.
In 2011 he was named the Pac-10 Men’s Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year and was also named an academic All- American.
While at Washington, Richards played for the Timber’s developmental team, the U-23s. This past season, he led the team to a perfect record and was the United Soccer Leagues’ Premier Development League most valuable player. In his three seasons with the U-23s, he scored 26 goals.
George Irvine elected to hall of fame
George Irvine, who is the all time leader in field goal percentage (.588) for the Huskies, was selected to the conference Hall of Fame. Irvine played from 1968-1970 and averaged 20 points a game his senior season.
He scored 1,314 points while playing for the Huskies, and he played in the ABA before becoming an assistant coach in the NBA. The ceremony will take place at the Pac-12 Tournament, which begins on March 7.
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