Lori Orr Hayes Passed Away Friday

Lori Orr Hayes, a dedicated Bronco who was the assistant sports information director at Boise State in the Olympic Sports, and did so many other things for Boise State, passed away last Friday after a long battle with cancer.  Lori had been diagnosed with a tumor in 2011 and underwent surgery then.

I first met Lori when she was a student intern at KFXD radio station.  She started out doing news and sports, but literally would do everything we asked of her.  My condolences to her husband James and their family.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and everyone who knew her.  She was a special person.

Boise State Stomps BYU

While the Boise State football team couldn't get it done in Provo, the Bronco swimmers could and did, with a resounding 178-112 victory over the Cougars.

Ciera Cortney set a new school record in the three-meter dive with a score of 324.15 and won the one-meter with a score of 304.2 to lead the Bronco charge.  Freshman Brittany Aoyama won a pair of races and was on two winning relays.  Aoyama won the 100-yard freestyle in 55.12 and the 50 free in 23.88.  Aoyama also helped the 200 freestyle relay team win (1:34.92) and anchored the 400-yard medley relay team to a win with a time of 3:48.18.  Heather Harper (2:24.25), Whitney Jorgensen (2:24.64) and Sydney Johansen (2:25.30) went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard breaststroke, and Harper doubled with a win in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.19.  

Sophomore Emri Moore won the 1000 freestyle in 10:33.70, while Megan Myers won the 500 in 5:07.78.

Boise State takes a few weeks off before traveling to Wyoming November 16.

Derrick Marks on Cousy Watch List

Sensational Boise State junior Derrick Marks has been placed on the Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guar of the Year Award Watch List.  Marks is one of 50 players on the list.

Last year, Derrick averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds a game.  The list will be narrowed to 20 in early February, with the final five candidates announced in early March.

Bronco Cross Country Teams Make History

What long distance runners do for you is give the school a chance to win six conference championships--two in cross country, two in indoor track & field and two in outdoor track & field.  And today, Boise State's cross country teams proved they are on target to become part of the elite.

Boise State's men's team was ranked #20 this week while the women made their first-ever appearance in the national Top 25 at #25.  The Bronco women finished 11th at the prestigious 2013 Pre-National Invitational last weekend, while the men finished eighth.

Boise State is thus one of only 12 programs in the country to have both men and women ranked in the Top 25.  The others are:  Arkansas (#12 men, #2 women), Colorado (#1 men, #16 women), Indiana (#24 men, #21 women), New Mexico (#9 men, #9 women), Notre Dame (#23 men, #22 women), Oregon (#4 men, #12 women), Princeton (#15 men, #23 women), Providence (#19 men, #4 women), Stanford (#13 men, #20 women), Syracuse (#14 men, #19 women) and Washington (#25 men, #13 women.  The Pac-12 is the only other conference besides the Mountain West to have more than one team owning this distinction.

Bronco Soccer Team Blanks Colorado State

Boise State scored three goals in the second half to shut out Colorado State Sunday afternoon in Fort Collins, Colorado.  The Lady Broncos are now 9-5-2 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

Boise State had six shots in the first 45 minutes, but none found their mark.  But in the 53rd minute, Brooke Heidemann netted a penalty kick to break the deadlock.  Four minutes later, Kayla Tucker streaked down the right side, fed a pass to Ashley Hruby, who booted it in for a 2-0 lead.  Baylee Blaser scored in the 89th minute for the final tally.

"It was freezing today, about forty degrees with rain and strong wind gusts," said head coach Jim Thomas. "We haven't had much experience in that type of environment so it took us some time to get settled down and play our style of soccer. We started and controlled the game well and we created good opportunities, but we had no killer moments in the first half. We knew once we had a goal it would relieve some of the pressure and we could settle down."

Boise State hosts San Diego State this Friday at the Boas Soccer Complex off of Boise Avenue.  Action gets underway at 4 p.m.

Boise State's Emma Bates Named National Cross Country Athlete of the Week

We were the first media outlet in Idaho to report to you that Emma Bates had won the 6K at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana.  

Bates was recognized today as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Division I Women's Athlete of the Week.

So proud of Emma for how she continues to get better and get recognized for her accomplishments!

Depth Pays Dividends as Boise State Downs Nevada 34-17

http://bluefootballthroughandthrough.blogspot.com/2013/10/bronco-depth-pays-dividends-as-boise.html

Bates Paces Bronco Women to 11th Place Finish at Pre-National Invitational, Bronco Men Finish 8th

Emma Bates has done it again.  This great distance runner who made a name for herself at the NCAA National Track & Field Championships is coming home with the championship at the prestigious Indiana State University Pre-National Invitational 6-kilometer race title.  Bates' great performance Saturday enabled Boise State to finish 11th at the meet with 443 points.

Meanwhile, the #19 Boise State men were not to be outdone.  They finished eighth at the course in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Bates held onto the lead in the women's competition with several competitors trying to overtake her.  After dropping to third in the final stretch, Emma summoned an additional gear from inside, passing Aisling Cuffe of Stanford, who had just taken the lead from Florida State's Hannah Walker, and sprinted to the finish.

Bates won the race of 339 competitors in 20:09.90, with Cuffe finishing in 20:10.17 (27/100th's behind).  Marisa Howard of Boise State was 47th in 20:59.90.

Aaron Back paced the Bronco men this time, finishing 47th out of 359 runners.  Back finished the 8-kilometer course in 24:10.51, while Allan Schroeder was 56th in 24:16.29.  David Elliott was 61st with a time of 24:18.21.  

Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech won the men's individual race in 22:52.78, while #2 Colorado won the team title with 90 points.  #5 Georgetown captured the women's team title with 117 points.

With that spectacular performance behind them, the Boise State cross country teams prepare for the 2013 Mountain West Cross Country Championships November 1 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Boise State Swimming and Diving Team Rocks Competition

Hard to believe the Boise State swimming and diving team might be better than the team that produced Amber Boucher and Stephanie North, but that might be the case.

The Broncos routed their competition at the Bulldog Invitational with 1,232 points to 765.5 for host Fresno State, 751.5 for San Jose State and 591 for California.  Boise State captured nine titles on the final day to win going away.

Senior Ciera Cortney won the one-meter diving competition with a score of 306.30, the highest score in school history. 

Coach Kristin Hill's squad won the 200-yard freestyle, 400-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays.  

"Our relays were strong again today," said Coach Hill.  "It's great to see early season speed even though we have just started touching on our speed work."

Freshman Brittany Aoyama won the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly races.  Fellow freshman Whitney Jorgensen won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:26.85.  Sophomore Emri Moore won the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:28.53.  Junior Heather Harper won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.31) while Jessica Bottelberge touched first in the 100-yard backstroke in 56.48.  

The Lady Broncos take on Utah and BYU on the road next weekend.

Broncos Win Big One, 34-23 Over Utah State

Boise State took a major step towards a berth in the first Mountain West Conference Championship game with a 34-23 win on the road against Utah State.

The Broncos are now 4-2 on the season with their 49th consecutive win in the month of October.

Bronco Swim Team On Top At Bulldog Invitational

It was a good first day for the Boise State swimming team, as the Broncos set the pace at the Fresno State Bulldog Invitational with 353.5 points.  San Jose State is a distant second with 229 points.

The Bronco 200-yard medley relay team stunned California to set the pool and meet record that the Golden Bears set last year.  Boise State finished in 1:43.15, topping Cal's 1:45.97.  

Felicity Cann captured the 500-yard freestyle in 4:56.52, with teammate Taylor Padington taking second (4:59.50.  Junior Jessical Bottelberghe led a Bronco sweep in the 200 IM, with Sydney Johansen taking second and freshman Whitney Jorgensen touching for third place.

"Going 1-2-3 in the 200 IM was fun for the team," said head coach Kristin Hill. "And all of our 200 IM swimmers set new individual dual meet records.  Ciera Cortney's score was even higher than last week and was the second highest all time score for a Bronco.  Brittany Aoyama'slead off time in the 800 freestyle relay was very strong. We had some fast 50 freestyles and most were faster than last weekend which is a great sign considering the heavy training we put in this week, as well as a big travel day yesterday. This is a very strong, resilient team that loves to race and that showed today."

Ayoma won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.61.  The Invitational continues with action today in Fresno.

Bronco Soccer Team Blanks San Jose State 3-0

Don't look now, but the Boise State soccer team is a contender.

The Lady Broncos shut down San Jose State 3-0, as junior Maddy McDevitt earned her sixth shutout of the season.  In the fifth minute, Gabby Garcia broke in the clear along the left flank, and netted a shot to put Boise State up 1-0.  Kayla Tucker followed suit fifteen minutes later and Katy Oehring scored her second goal of the season in the 78th minute of play.  

The Bronco defense was superb, holding the Spartans to just two shots and one on goal.

"I think one of the things that we trained on this week was not just good soccer, if we're going to compete in a tournament, either the Mountain West or the NCAA, we have to have a little more killer instinct about us," said head coach Jim Thomas.

"And I think that's what our team came out with. They came out with the mentality that every single moment counted. They got one goal, instantly got the second goal and they were hunting for the third goal for the rest of the half. And that kept us in so much control of that game because we were in that competitive mentality, not settling for two goals but still hunting for the third. We had a little slow start in the second half but the team got back up to that first half rhythm relatively quickly, and again found that third goal and put the game to bed. So it was really proud of them to take that mentality that will promote us to good conference games and good tournament games as well."

Boise State is now 3-1 in Mountain West Conference play and 8-4-2 on the year.  Coach Thomas's team remains tied with New Mexico for second in the league.  The Broncos travel to Fresno State to try to continue the momentum.

Boise State Cross Country Team Ranked 19th in the Nation

It's been awhile (1996 to be exact), but the Boise State men's cross country team jumped up to #19 in the  U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.  The Broncos had been in the "others receiving votes" category, but were ranked in the poll after giving Oregon trouble in the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Emma Bates Named Mountain West Athlete of the Week

Emma Bates of Boise State is this week's Mountain West Female Athlete of the Week after finishing as the top collegian at the Bill Dellinger Invitational last week.  Bates finished the 5-kilometer course in 16:35.  

Bronco Swim Team Off to Good Start

The Boise State swimming and diving team didn't quite triple their opponent.  They'll have to work on that.

The Broncos downed Idaho (Moscow) 217.5 to 82.5 in the season opener in Boise.  Freshman Brittany Aoyama won the 50-yard freestyle (23.36) and the 100-butterfly (54.95), while fellow freshman Felicity Cann won the 200-freestyle in 1:50.25.  Junior Heather Harper captured both the 100 and 200-yard breastrokes, with respective times of 1:05.50 and 2:22.51.  

Ciera Courtney was second in the three-meter diving with a score of 308.93.

Boise State will compete this weekend at the Fresno Invitational.

Bronco Harriers Finish 2nd, 3rd at Prestigious Bill Dellinger Invitational

After a month off of competition, the Boise State men's and women's cross country teams showed no effects, as the men nearly shocked #4 Oregon, finishing seven points behind the Ducks, while the Bronco women were third behind #7 Washington and #5 Oregon.

Oregon had 32 points to win the men's competition, while Boise State had 39 and Washington and #8 Portland tied with 87 points.  Washington had 30 points to win the women's competition, with Oregon at 52 points and Boise State with 63.  

Allan Schroeder was fifth overall in the men's race, finishing the course in 24:19, with Aaron Nelson of Washington winning the individual title in 23:55.

Boise State's Emma Bates was the top collegian on the 5-kilometer course with a time of 16:35.  Teammate Marisa Howard was third in 16:50.

Boise State will get their final tuneup before the Mountain West Championships when they travel to the 2013 Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the upstart Broncos will compete against over 200 teams from throughout the country.

Boise State Golf Team Wins Utah Invitational

The Boise State golf team finished with a flurry to win the Utah Invitational, in Ark City, Utah, the Broncos' first in more than six years.

Boise State entered the final round six strokes behind Utah State, but rallied to win by 10 at the par-71 Jeremy Golf and Country Club.  The margin of victory is the largest for Boise State since it won the Bronco Spring Invitational by 15 strokes in 1995.

Boise State had rounds of 364, 356 and 356 to finish 11-over for the tournament.  

Ty Travis finished in second place individually with a 7-under 206.  Seokwon Jeon of Utah State sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff for medalist honors.  Sophomore Logan France posted a 70 to finish with a three-round total of 214, good for seventh place.

Boise State will travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico for the Price's "GIve 'Em Five" Invitational October 25-26.