Utes Headline Preseason NIT Schedule
For the second time in five years, the U men’s basketball team will kick off its season at the Preseason NIT. Utah will host the Georgia State Panthers on Nov. 17 at the Huntsman Center.Fourteen other teams will be participating in the tourney as well. On the 17th, Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) will travel to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers, while Yale will visit national power Connecticut, and Vermont will play at Nevada.
The following day, tiny Davidson College will head to Texas Tech to face off against Bobby Knight and the Red Raiders. Massachusetts will play host to St. Francis (N.Y.), Hofstra will play at Marist, and Louisiana-Lafayette will travel to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech.In 1999, the Utes defeated Arkansas State in the first round of the Preseason NIT, only to fall at Kentucky in Round 2.
Can You Hear Me Now?
Trio of Ute Athletes Can
Three successful Ute athletes were awarded academic honors last week. Seniors Jernel Bukovec (skiing), Brooke LoBue (track and field) and Kaisorn Chaichana (men’s tennis) were named to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-America third team.
The team is selected each year by a panel of the College Sports Information Directors of America, which has 1,800 members nationwide. The program is meant to recognize varsity student-athletes who excelled both in the classroom and on the field-or, as the case may be, on the slopes.
Bukovec earned a 3.64 GPA as a finance major this year. For the national champion Ute ski team, he finished fourth in the giant slalom and ninth in the slalom at the NCAA Championships.
Chaichana compiled a 3.99 GPA as a biology major. The captain of the men’s tennis team, he posted a 12-8 dual record this season and a 13-12 overall mark. Earlier he was given the Burtis Evans Award for the U’s top academic male athlete.
LoBue, who is pursuing a master’s degree in deaf education, held a 3.92 GPA this year.
She won the pole vault at the MWC Outdoor Championships this spring and, earlier in the season, set a school record in the event at the BYU Invitational, posting a jump of 3.97 meters, or 13 feet, one-quarter inches.