March 5, 2007

LOGAN, Utah - Softball player Lindsey Benson has been named the Utah State Athlete of the Week for the period ending March 4 it was announced on Monday. The weekly award is voted on by a state media panel.

Benson, a sophomore pitcher went 2-0 in three appearances last week, and logged a career-high 10 strikeouts in USU's 3-2 win over Colorado State Sunday. Sunday's career-high topped Benson's two-day old previous career-high of nine K's in USU's 6-5 win at Northern Colorado Thursday.

She had at least one strikeout in each inning in Sunday's game, ringing up two in the third, fifth and sixth innings. Her 22 strikeouts in three appearances this week nearly matched her season total of 25 K's last year in 15 appearances. She now has 47 strikeouts on the season.

USU matched last season's win total with the Aggies' eighth victory of the year, now 8-12 after going 8-38 last year. The Aggies will take a little time off before playing at the Cascade Clash Invitational in Oregon, March 16-18.

NOMINEES FROM OTHER SPORTS INCLUDED:

Basketball - Chaz Spicer... Averaged 19.5 points and 3.0 rebounds last weekend as he led Utah State to a 79-77 overtime win against ninth-ranked Nevada. Against the Wolf Pack, he scored 17 points and made two free throws with :03.8 seconds remaining in overtime to win the game. Against Fresno State, Spicer scored a career-high 22 points, and added five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.

Women's Basketball - Jenny Gross... The junior forward tied her career-high with 18 points in USU's 71-60 loss at Fresno State Saturday. She also pulled down seven rebounds in both Saturday's game and Thursday's 61-49 loss at Nevada to go with seven points in that game as well.

Gymnastics - Jessica Parenti-Otte... Posted an all-around score of 39.050 after winning three of the four events with winning performances in the vault (9.825), bars (9.850), beam (9.800), while finishing seventh in floor exercise (9.575) against Alaska-Anchorage. The 9.825 in the vault tied a season-high for Parenti-Otte. The all-around win is the third for Parenti-Otte this season.

Men's Tennis - Hannes Schenk... Posted a 2-1 singles record as well as a 2-0 doubles record in USU's three matches against Montana State, Montana State-Billings and Gonzaga over the weekend. All three of his singles matches went three sets. His only loss was against Montana State.

Women's Track - Jennifer Twitchell set a school record and posted an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Last Chance Qualifier in Seattle, Wash. The senior from Sandy, Utah, ran 4:39.95, breaking the qualifying mark by less than one second and the school record by nearly two seconds. Alisa Nicodemus, an All-American at USU, held the school mark of 4:41.63, which she set in 1993.

2006-07 USU ATHLETE OF THE WEEK WINNERS
Aug. 28 - Amanda Nielson, Volleyball
Sept. 5 - Amanda Nielson, Volleyball
Sept. 11 - Marcus Cross, Football
Sept. 18 - Vance Twitchell, Cross Country
Sept. 25 - Erin Salmon, Soccer
Oct. 2 - Preston Otte, Golf
Oct. 9 - Riley Nelson, Football
Oct. 16 - Kelsi Peterson, Volleyball
Oct. 23 - Paul Igboeli, Football
Oct. 30 - Vance Twitchell, Cross Country
Nov. 6 - Charity Weston, Soccer
Nov. 13 - Beth Hodge, Volleyball
Nov. 20 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Nov. 27 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Dec. 4 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Dec. 11 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Dec. 18 - Chris Sessions, Basketball
Jan. 8 - Taylor Richards, Women's Basketball
Jan. 15 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Jan. 22 - Amber Peterson, Women's Track
Jan. 29 - Jessica Parenti-Otte, Gymnastics
Feb. 5 - Jaycee Carroll, Basketball
Feb. 12 - Stacie Lifferth, Women's Track
Feb. 19 - Brittany Phillips, Women's Basketball
Feb. 26 - DJ Smith, Track
March 5 - Lindsey Benson, Softball