Boise State's Amy Glass #1 in the Nation

The new gymnastics rankings are out. Boise State was able to gain a spot in the team rankings to #11. But bigger news. Amy Glass is rated as the #1 gymnast in the country on the balance beam. This is the first time a Bronco gymnast has been ranked #1.

Congrats Amy--great job!

Broncos Lose Doubles Point to #6 UCLA

If the team would have played like it is starting out today, they might have beaten Pepperdine. That's a sign of a young team in a rebuilding year, which the Broncos clearly are. Great moments, then bad moments, but mostly inconsistency.

UCLA won the doubles point, but a huge struggle for the #6 team in the nation. Sears & Hume lost 8-6 at #1 doubles, Sereke and Mullen won 8-5 at #2 and Pogostkin and Sheldon lost 8-6. Can't get much closer than that without winning.

Lady Broncos Fall to Long Beach 2-0

But the Boise State pitching has been great so far. If you can pitch like that over the course of a season, the Broncos are going to win some games.

An Early Analysis of WAC Commissioner's Cup Race

Five sports are complete in the Western Athletic Conference Commissioner's Cup race for this year: men's and women's cross country, soccer, volleyball and football.

With the winter sports winding down, it's a good time to take a look at the race and see where the schools are at compared to last year. The Cup recognizes the school with the best overall sports department each year. Boise State surged past Fresno State to win it last year.

After five sports, here are the standings and gain or loss from last year:

1. Boise State 31.75 (-.25)
2. Utah State 31.50 (+2.25)
3. Idaho 27.50 (+4.75)
4. Fresno State 24.75 (-3.25)
5. New Mexico State 23.25 (-4.00)
6. Hawai'i 21.50 (+2.50)
7. Nevada 19.00 (-8.00)
8. San Jose State 15.25 (+1.00)
9. Louisiana Tech 13.50 (+4.50)

Boise State is nearly exactly where they were a year ago when they won the Cup with 92.25 points, beating Fresno State by 8.50 points. The fact that Fresno is down from last year and Nevada is taking a beating bodes well for Boise State. It is still very early of course but if the Bronco basketball teams can get some wins down the stretch and the defending champion swimming and gymnastics teams can finish high, the outlook will still be good heading into the spring sports.

Bronco Tennis Team Ranked About Right

As I said in the preview for this weekend's Boise State trip in California, how they go in California determines how they go in the season. A loss to #20 Pepperdine is nothing to be ashamed about, but maybe a 6-1 loss is. The fact that the Broncos could not muster more W's (many of the matches were straight set losses) against #20 is a scary sign. Damian Hume and Scott Sears gave Boise State something to celebrate with an 8-4 upset win over the #35 doubles team in the land, Pepperdine's Finn Tearney and Hugh Clarke.

With Fresno State playing well, it appears the Broncos will again have to fight hard just to win the WAC.

San Jose State A Favorite for WAC Swimming Title

Boise State may have beaten the top swim teams in the Northwest, but their times pale in comparison to San Jose State. The Spartan women will be coming to San Antonio to steal the WAC crown from the Broncos.

The competitive nature of swimming is such that Boise State will still be fighting hard. On paper, though, they just have a few swimmers with better times than San Jose. Hawai'i, too, should be a strong factor in the Championships that start in a little over 10 days.

I'll have a further breakdown on the top times in a few days, but right now it looks like the Broncos will have their work cut out for them.

Bronco Softball Team Has Won Its Opener

A good start for the Boise State softball team!

Boise State has just beaten Loyola Marymount 2-1 in California. Boise State had five stolen bases in the game. They take on Long Beach State shortly in a second game.

Live Scoring for Boise State-Pepperdine Tennis

Boy, I think those California guys are little too sun-soaked. Their live scoring is pathetic. The match has supposedly been underway for 2 hours and it is 1-0 Pepperdine. They have three singles matches with partial results in the first set and the other three are blank....

Bronco Action Today

The Boise State track and field team is underway in Nampa in the final preparation for the WAC Indoor Championships. The Bronco men have some ground to make up to be able to top Utah State, while the women are a ways away from being in the upper half of the conference. The Bronco Challenge is at Jackson's Track across from the Idaho Center.

In a little over an hour (3 p.m. Mountain), the Bronco tennis team will test their rackets against highly-regarded Pepperdine in Malibu.

The Bronco softball team makes its season debut against Loyola Marymount and Long Beach State this afternoon in California.

And tonight, it's a doubleheader of hoops with the women entertaining Idaho at 6 followed at 9 by the Broncos and Vandals in men's basketball action.

How the Nation's Top Gymnastics Teams Fared This Weekend

As promised, here is an overview of how the top collegiate women's gymnastics teams did this weekend. Boise State of course is #12 and edged San Jose State by less than half a point, 195.925-195.550.

GymInfo will soon be ranking the teams by something they call the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS), which is akin to the BCS formula in football (although much more fair). For now, the teams are ranked by team average and it is that comparison I will focus on until the RQS takes hold.

Boise State came into this week #12 with a team average of 195.038. The score at San Jose will help them a bit--the Broncos' average is now 195.127. That probably won't be enough of a boost to raise them in the rankings, but we'll see if they fall. Here are some of the early results from around the nation this weekend.

#1 Florida travels to #4 Georgia this afternoon.
#2 Stanford downed Oregon State and UCLA with a great 196.475 score. They meet #8 Michigan and #9 Nebraska tomorrow.

#3 Utah was superb with a 196.975 last night.
#4 Georgia hosts #1 Florida.
#5 Oklahoma defeated Iowa State with a 197.225, the top score so far this weekend.
#6 Oregon State put up a 196.35 against Stanford. OSU is one team that Boise State must defeat at Regionals to make Nationals.
#7 Alabama scored 197.075 in its meet last night.
#8 Michigan and
#9 Nebraska face #2 Stanford.
#10 UCLA scored 196.3 in their meet last night. The Bruins are another team that Boise State must defeat in order to reach Nationals.
#11 Arkansas scored 195.325 in their meet against #19 LSU last night.
#12 Boise State edged San Jose State 195.925-195.550.
#13 Washington fell to #3 Utah and scored 195.475. The Broncos must also defeat Washington to reach Nationals.
#14 Kent State competes tonight in the MAC.
#15 Ohio State has a Big 10 meet tonight.
#16 Illinois-Champaign scored 195.4 last night.
#17 Minnesota has a meet slated tonight.
#18 Penn State scored 195.925 last night.
#19 LSU fell to #11 Arkansas and scored 194.875.

The current averages for the Top 15:
1. Florida 197.035
2. Stanford 196.636
3. Utah 196.300
4. Oklahoma 196.118
5. Georgia 195.950
6. Alabama 195.988
7. Oregon State 195.897
8. Michigan 195.635
9. Nebraska 195.438
10. UCLA 195.575
11. Arkansas 195.204
12. Boise State 195.127
13. Washington 195.058
14. Kent State 194.925
15. Ohio State 194.830

Bronco Gymnasts Squeak By San Jose State

It wasn't pretty, but the #12 Boise State gymnastics team got the job done. The Broncos overcame three disastrous mistakes, pulling through with a solid vault routine to eek out a win over host San Jose State by 375/1000th's of a point tonight in a quadrangular meet.

Boise State survived scores of 9.325, 9.3 and 9.225 to somehow emerge victorious over a determined San Jose State team. The Broncos may have left town with a "W", but it was San Jose State that gained loads of confidence for coming so close to the #12 team in the nation. And the Boise State team better get used to the venue and the fans, for the upcoming WAC Championships are in the exact same building they performed in tonight.

Boise State recorded solid scores in the vault (49.250), floor (49.175) and bars (49.175) to get the win over San Jose State, UC Davis and Seattle Pacific. Coach Tina Bird and Neil Resnick's team needed every bit of that vault score which was achieved in their final rotation. The Broncos and Spartans were tied after three rotations and the outcome was very much in doubt.

Hailey Gaspar was one of the heroes tonight for the Lady Broncos. For the second time in her career, she earned a 9.95 score on vault, which is tied for fifth best in school history. To illustrate how important her great vault was, if the score had come up 9.5, the Broncos would have lost tonight. She also rang up a 9.875 in the floor exercises (second on the Bronco team) and a 9.725 on the beam. So major kudos to Hailey for helping pull out the win!

Amy Glass was her usual solid self, although she did finish second to San Jose's Thomasina Wallace in the all-around. Wallace was brilliant with a 39.325 to 39.250 for Glass. Kelsey Black was another star for Boise State. Black performed on three apparatuses, scoring 9.850 on floor, 9.8 on bars and 9.750 on vault. Hannah Redmon was also great with a 9.9 on floor, a 9.875 on vault and a 9.850 on bars. Redmon had the highest Bronco score on floor and the second-highest on both vault and bars.

Redmon is one of the great talents in school history. It's too bad she didn't also compete on the beam because the Broncos could have used her ability. Two of the poor performances tonight came on beam--if Redmon can beat 9.3 on beam, the Broncos could have used her.

When it's all said and done, Boise State's score of 195.925 is still a very good road score, even though it did give the Spartan women optimism heading into the WAC Championships. Better to put a team away and not give them any hope, but you live and learn and compete another day. Boise State came into tonight's meet averaging 195.038 so they at least should maintain their current ranking. I'll try to track the other Top 15 scores this weekend and give an estimate how the averages change for each. Next week, I believe the rankings are changed to reflect the RQS (Regional Qualifying Score), and that is done quite differently.

Next week, it's off to another WAC contender in Utah State and a meet with the Aggie women next Friday. Hopefully March 19 when the Broncos return to San Jose, they'll be at the top of their game.

Bronco Gymnasts Get 49.175 on Bars

Boise State is facing what appears to be one of its toughest conference foes tonight in a four-way meet. The Broncos gymnasts are going against host San Jose State along with UC Davis and Seattle Pacific. The Broncos scored very well on bars to grab the early lead. It appears they had some trouble on the beam--that rotation is not quite complete. San Jose State scored 48.850 on vault.

Boise State-Oklahoma State Battle in Less Than an Hour

Don't forget to check out the play-by-play or live video. Links provided in the "Clash of the Titans" story.

Bronco Softball Team Anxious to Start Season

It will be strange not seeing Kathy Cox at the hot corner this spring for the Boise State softball team. The fixture and Regional All-Star won't be positioned at third base, but the returning members of the Bronco team are anxious to prove they can carry the load for Coach Erin Thorpe.

Boise State surprised the WAC a bit last year in the conference tournament, taking third place. But Thorpe isn't one to sit on her laurels. The first thing she did was go out and schedule 13 games against nine NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago. It isn't easy to build a team from scratch, but Thorpe first attracted powerful bats to Boise State to generate fan excitement. Then, she went after versatile players that could take the field at multiple positions. Now, with the program in its third year, Thorpe is bringing in recruits that are specialists.

The Broncos are looking at a schedule that features Tennessee (49-18 a year ago and a College World Series semi-finalist), two NCAA quarterfinalists (Washington, which compiled a 50-9 record, and fellow WAC member Hawai'i, which was 50-16 last season), NCAA Super Regional teams BYU (46-13), Oregon (36-21) and Arizona State (44-17), and NCAA Regional teams UC-Davis (26-29), Saint Mary's (30-23) and Fresno State (41-21). Unfortunately, most of those games are on the road, so it's a brutal road schedule that also includes games against Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount. Boise State will open against the two latter teams this Saturday in the Long Beach State Kickoff Tournament this weekend.

Cox isn't completely gone; she will serve as Student Manager for the team. But with her big bat out of the lineup, you have to figure that junior Christina Capobianco will be counted on to produce big numbers. Realistically, Capobianco should have been an All-WAC choice last year; she hit .301, had a .398 on-base percentage, a .551 slugging percentage, blasted 11 home runs and drove in 42 in 51 starts at first base for the Broncos.

Junior pitcher Allie Crump was singled out by the WAC for preseason honors after keeping Boise State in numerous games last season. Crump started 29 games last year, winning 16 of them, and struck out 130 in 170 innings of work. Aubray Zell paced the team with a 3.16 ERA last year, started 23 games and pitched three shutouts. Sophomore Lela Work has the perfect name for a relief pitcher, and really came into her own at the WAC Tournament. Lela worked eight innings at the championships, surrendering just two hits and allowing zero runs in three games. Boise State would not have finished third without her.

"Lela did a great job in the relief spot," Thorpe said. "We expect her to be used much more in that role this season."

Ashley Collier was a spot starter and produced a complete-game victory in her first career start vs. Wichita State. Newcomer Morgan Barnes is a promising prospect who compiled a 78-11 record with 884 strikeouts in helping Grants Pass, Oregon to two consecutive state championships.

Junior Maghan Yurek is a defensive specialist at catcher, finishing 2010 with a .974 fielding percentage. Sophomore Megan Harvey will be counted on offensively.

Junior Kellie Caplan was a second-team All-WAC selection last season at shortstop but can play several positions. Caplan hit .293 and was a .364 hitter in conference games. In addition to being part of a great double play combination (Boise State was sixth in the country in 2009), Caplan also set the school record with 16 stolen bases. Kellie reached base at a .343 clip last season and was third on the team with 33 runs scored. Freshman Devon Bridges has good power potential as a backup to Capobianco and Crump can also play first.

Several contenders are battling for the right to step into Cox's shoes at third base: junior Kelly Sweeney, sophomore Jessica Kraft and freshmen MacKzenie Whyte, Trisha Nobriga and Jessica O'Donnell. Vanessa Alvarez, who started 45 games as Boise State's clean-up hitter, and Holly Bourke should see plenty of action at second base. Bourke hit .316 last year with most of her starts in right field, but both Bourke and Alvarez can get the job done at the plate--they tied for the third on the Bronco team with 66 total bases.

Six Broncos with starting outfield experience return for Thorpe this spring. The sextet accounted for 46 of 51 stolen bases for Bronco outfielders in 2010. Boise State shot up from 14 stolen bases in 2009 to 77 last season and the Broncos look to continue their mastery on the basepaths this year. Sophomore Brittany Barcellos and freshman Natalie Kelley look to be regular starters, with Bourke, Bridges, Caplan, Collier and Tazz Weatherly also seeing time.

With eight returning starters and the fantastic schedule, it will be an exciting year for Thorpe and the Broncos as they continue to build the program. Things to watch will be if the team can continue their incredible consistency throughout the lineup that they displayed last season and if the pitching staff can bear down to keep games close, especially against the NCAA Tournament teams.

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Boise State Ends Funk With 75-61 Win Over Rival Fresno State

The Broncos did it. Coach Leon Rice's team played very well tonight en route to a 75-61 win over Fresno State. That keeps the Broncos out of 6th place and sets them up for a showdown with giant-killer Idaho Saturday night. Idaho bounced #21 Utah State from the Top 25 with a shocker in Moscow Wednesday. Boise State controls its own destiny--with a win over Idaho, the Broncos would own the tie-breaker over the Vandals.

Another Chance for Pac-10 To Analyze Choice of Utah Over Boise State

The two schools meet in women's tennis this weekend. The Pac-10, of course, shockingly chose Utah over Boise State for expansion earlier this year. The conference may look at this 20-30 years down the road and decide that inviting Utah and Colorado over Boise State was the dumbest thing they've ever done.

Utah can't seem to beat Boise State in anything, unless you look at 20 years ago. Perhaps the Ute women's tennis team will be able to pull it off.

Broncos Playing Better?

It's a game of runs, but Boise State's basketball team used a 21-2 one to jump up on Fresno by 13 in the first half tonight. Fresno closed it to 7 at the half though. Hope this is the game the team can break out of its slump.

Bronco Tennis Team Ready For Annual California Trip

I haven't come up with a formula for this (!), but I use Boise State's tennis swing through California as a measuring stick for the Bronco team. Usually how Coach Greg Patton's army performs on this trip is a good indicator if the team is going to be a solid national contender or will have to fight to win the WAC.

What I like is how aggressive Patton is in his scheduling. After this road trip, the Bronco men will have completed their eighth consecutive road match in a row, seven of those against Top 30 teams! What Patton very much would like to do is get the sun-baked California youth to come to Boise. The California schools preach to their brethren that Boise is a cold, cold, so cold place that is blustery and uninhabitable by California citizens. The truth is, of course, that Boise is extremely mild for a city as north as it is, especially in the last 20 years or so. Patton of course has seen it all. He's been Conference Coach of the Year umpteen times and National Coach of the Year twice. He's headed professional tennis teams and USA National teams. Knowing Coach like I do, whatever Greg says you can take to the bank. He is a man of his word, and I cannot imagine any tennis player in the nation not wanting to jump at the chance to play for a man and a coach of his caliber. If I want the motivator of the millenium and a coach that is going to improve my tennis, I want Patton. And there isn't anyone else close.

But those sun-baked California tennis stars would probably be more likely to come up to mild Boise if the Broncos win on their California swing. In 1997, the Broncos came down to L.A. and stunned mighty UCLA on their way to a #2 national ranking. In the years in which Boise State has fared well in Cali, they are a strong threat to reach the Sweet 16. But if they don't play well, I don't see them as a clear favorite in the WAC. Again, I don't know how precise the correlation is, but it's something I follow and pay attention to.

Patton's group takes on #20 Pepperdine Saturday just across from famous Malibu beach. You can follow the action live here:

http://www.pepperdinesports.com/sports/m-tennis/sched/pepp-m-tennis-sched.html

Then, it's on to #6 UCLA Sunday for a battle with the Bruins. UCLA's site also will have live scoring of the Broncos and Bruins at:

http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-tennis/ucla-m-tennis-body.html

(Go down to the bottom of the page for the schedule to find the Boise State-UCLA match and click on the "Live Results" link.)

Finally, Boise State concludes its California visit with a meeting against #53 San Diego State. Obviously since Boise State is ranked higher, they need to at least come away with this one. A win against the national powers would be a bonus.

Good luck to Patton's Broncs, and make a mental note of how they fare on this trip and how they do at the conclusion of the season.

TCU Game Rumor: December 3rd

If true, what a great way to finish the season for these two football heavyweights! More info as it becomes available.