The Last Day of June News

--Derek Tolan, the ace of the CU Golf team, won the Colorado Golf Association State Public Links Championship on Sunday at Fox Hollow Golf Course. Tolan, who represented the Buffs in the NCAA Golf Championships earlier this month, beat out Pat Grady, a fellow senior Buffalo and defending champion.

--In football news, 2008 recruit Paul Vigo, a 6’ 1”, 205 lb. athlete from New Jersey will not be on the field August 4^th when the full team is supposed to report to Boulder for the upcoming season. Vigo will enroll in January and will grey shirt his first year on campus. Details are hazy on this but an article at the Camera said it was not academically related. Vigo was one of those last second recruits to commit to the Buffs on signing day. He would have most likely red shirted anyway but hopefully Hawkins can get him in earlier than January to start getting him entrenched in the playbook.

--Check out all the Track & Field Buffs who are trying to or have already qualified for Beijing. Very impressive.

Track and Field Continues to Roll, Tolan Misses Saturday Cut

Same old story. The CU Men dominated the 5,000 meter again this time at the Midwest NCAA Regional with Brent Vaughn placing first for the 3rd time in his career followed by Stephen Pifer and Kenyon Neuman who placed fourth. All three runners will advance to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines starting June 11th. The final day of Regionals wraps up today with several Buffs looking to qualify for the Championships as well.

In other Buffs news, Derek Tolan started well on the first day of the NCAA Golf Championships finishing 10th. The next two rounds were downhill shooting a 5 over and a 12 over in the next two rounds and missing the cut.

Buffs Lighten Football Schedule

What do the following teams have in common: West Virginia, California, Hawaii, Georgia, Oregon, Washington and LSU? These are just some of the home and home non-conference games that the Buffs had in the next decade...enough big time BCS schools to make every Buff fan cringe. And when you add the Big 12 schedule on top of these games you start to question the sanity of the athletic department. Here is a glimpse into 2010 and some of the notable opponents...Colorado State, @ California, Hawaii, Georgia, @ Missouri, Texas Tech, @ OU, @ Kansas, @ Nebraska. The next year they were supposed to swap LSU for Georgia but in a great move based on the teams the Buffs are already lined up to play, the University announced that Fresno State would be taking the LSU spot for the 2011 - 2013 season in which the Buffs were able to get a 2 for 1 home scenario. I know Fresno is not a pushover because I was sitting in the endzone when David Carr torched the Buffs at Folsom in the first game of the year in 2001. Buffs win that game, they are probably in the National Championship. But lets face it - Fresno State or LSU? All in all, this was a great move for the Buffs. Yes, every Buff fan would love to see the Bayou Bengals roll into Boulder but its about taking a page from the Big 10's book of success...don't kill yourself in non-conference.

Other Friday Morning News -

Rivals.com list Colorado along with North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Washington and Alabama as teams who could rise to new heights within their respective conferences.

Derek Tolan moved down the leader board yesterday from 10th to 44th after shooting a 5 over 77 in the second round of the NCAA Championships in Indiana yesterday. Only the top 6 individuals not on a team will make the cut for the final round Saturday and as it stands now, Tolan is 15th of individuals not on a team. He is three shots off the pace to make the cut.

The Track & Field NCAA Championships get underway today. The Buffs Men's Team is fresh off a Big 12 Championship win and hope to have similar success in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend.

Bzdelik Staying, Tolan's First Round A Success

Although probably not a front runner for the Bulls job, Bzdelik announced today that he is not interested in the head coaching vacancy and expressed his commitment to the University of Colorado.

"I am honored that one of the premier organizations in all of sport, the Chicago Bulls, would consider me as a candidate for their head coaching position," the statement said. "However, my staff and I remain deeply committed to re-establishing Colorado basketball as a consistent winner."

This is a major win for the Buffs as a coaching change, especially after a large footprint has already been left on the program by Bzdelik, would have set the program back many years.

Tolan in the Hunt

It is safe to say that the pressure of being the first CU golfer to make it to the NCAA Championships in 6 years didn't effect the Buffs Junior Golfer Derek Tolan. After a relatively late tee time yesterday, Tolan shot himself to a 2 over par 74 which was good enough for 1oth place and only 5 shots off the lead. UCLA's Kevin Chappell is currently in the lead shooting a 3 under 69. We will keep you posted on Tolan's status for the rest of the tournament.

Junior Tolan Advances to NCAA Championship Finals

Derek Tolan advanced to the NCAA Golf Championships even though the team did not qualify finishing 18th overall. Tolan, a Junior, finished 7th overall shooting a 218 five over for the tournament and becomes the first CU Buff to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 15 years and only the 12th individual in CU history to advance to the final rounds.

Team Domination...Sort of

I am not really sure how this whole track thing works and how points are awarded but something strange happened in the Big 12 Track & Field Championship. So get this...yesterday at Potts Field in Boulder the Big 12 men teams competed in 8 events the Buffs only placed or scored in one of them and they lead the team event by 13 over Missouri? I guess it helps when you only score in one event that all 5 Buffs in the 10,000 meter field finished in the top 5. There is no "I" in team but in this case, there is probably 5 in team and apparently that is all you need. The Buffs, without a doubt, used the rarified air of Colorado to set the pace in the long distance event and left all the sea level teams to wonder how anyone operates out here. Hopefully the Buffs can keep the lead throughout the weekend but something tells me that they will need a few more than 5 to step up and win the team championship this week.

The womens team failed to score along with Texas. Here are the results for the first day.


In Other News...

CU Golf Team Slips Down the Standings -
In other news, the CU golf team dropped to 18th in the NCAA regional tournament in Columbus, Ohio putting there chances of advancing to the next round of the tournament in serious jeopardy. After 9 holes, the Buffs were in the top 10 as they shot a 6 over par but lost 11 strokes in the final few holes to put them in a tie for eight. With the third round coming up, the Buffs will need to make up at least 7 shots to get themselves in the top 10 to qualify for the next round of the tournament. The Buffs are playing without there #1 player in Baird.

Maiava Joins Slick Rick -
No words better to describe the transfer of former starting CU Freshman FB/OL Maiava to UCLA and Slick Rick than sh*tty. Whenever you have a chance to mention Slicker himself, you have to take full advantage. Look at these posts on another sweet college football blog The Wizard of Odds:

Slick Rick in Training

The Slicker Himself Takes in Spirit Squad Practice -Do I blame him...No...do I think he is scheming...Yes

Golf Underway and Track & Field Starts at 10 am

Finally some noteworthy athletic action to report. Check back throughout the weekend to get updates on the post season results and standings of both the Golf team in Columbus and the Track & Field team in Boulder.

Track & Field kicks off at 10am today. We will bring you updates as we get them. Should be amazing weather and hopefully the altitude will slow down those teams from Texas. Look for Texas A&M to top the leaderboard when its all said and done but the Buffs men team has a good chance to contend. Just in case you can't wait until 10 am to starting thinking Track & Field (I know we are stretching it), the event is actually getting a lot of headlines from the press in Denver since the Big 12 championship is in Boulder. Here are some of the better reads:

Q&A with Sprinter Jeremy Dodson

Home Track Advantage

The Who's Who of the Big 12 Championship


The CU golf team got underway yesterday and got off to there best post season start in the last 4 years and are sitting in 12th place right now. The top 10 will qualify for the next round of the NCAA tournament. The Buffs are 11 strokes off the lead.

May 15th News...CU Athletics Honored, Mixed Emotions for the Golf Team and Track & Field Prepares

CU Earns Diversity Award -
The University of Colorado will be honored along with 11 other Division 1 Universities for the prestigious Overall Excellence in Diversity Athletics Award. This is the first time the University has been recognized since the establishment of the award in 2005. Kansas State was the only other Big 12 team recognized and CU was one of only 4 Universities to be awarded that was in a BCS conference.

CU Golf Team Preps for Regionals without #1 Player -
The good news for the Buffs Golf team is that Scarlet Course, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes, is a course the Buffs won on earlier this year. The bad news is that Michael Baird, the Buffs best player, will not be able to participate due to illness and is like done for the remainder of the season. Sophomore Justin Bardgett will replace Baird. This marks the 3rd consecutive year that the Buffs will participate in the NCAA tournament.

Track and Field move up a spot in the National Rankings -
On the eve of hosting the Big 12 Track and Field championships, the Buffs moved up to the 11th spot in the NCAA rankings. Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor along with Buffs remained in the Top 11 with Texas A&M being #1 in the country. All four teams will be in action starting tomorrow in Boulder.

Sunday News

Big 12 Track and Field Championships Next Weekend in Boulder

The University of Colorado will be hosting the Big 12 track and field championships at the newly renovated Potts Field in Boulder. They hope to attract around 8,000 fans to the watch one of the best conferences in track and field for both men and women. CU men are one of four teams ranked in the top 25 at No. 12. Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor are all in the top 11. On the women's side its all Texas squads (Tech, Baylor, the Longhorns and Aggies) and Oklahoma in the Top 25.

Look for CU's...

Peter Janson and Billy Nelson to compete in the 3000-meter Steeplechase as they have both won the Big 12 championship event in the last 2 years. Probably peg Billy Nelson to win this title

Brent Vaughn to contend for the 5,000 meter run as he is fresh off posting the best collegiate time this year last Sunday at Stanford.

Jeremy Dodson, who is the speedster of the team, will have to run two strong races in the 100 and 200 to compete with the Texas and OU runners. Dodson has 2 first and second place finishes this week.

Jenny Barringer to have a shot as she has finished first this year in the 800, 1500 and the Steeplechase . Look for her to have the best shot at making a mark next weekend on the women's side.

Buffs Golf Team Struggling in Big 12 Tune Up, Baird Currently in 5th seven shots back

1. Michigan
2. Oklahoma State
3. Oklahoma City
4. Wichita State
5. Middle Tennessee State
6. Tulsa
7. SMU
8. Colorado
8. Oklahoma
10. Missouri