August 2009 ArchivesIf you don't have tickets to Saturday's big football opener against LSU (by the way: there are about 2,000 left - some actually pretty good seats! Call the Husky Ticket Office at 206/543-2200 before they are gone), you might be wondering how in the world you are going to catch the game. Well, worry no more. Between the ESPN national telecast, the radio broadcast on the Washington ISP Sports Network, pre and post-game coverage on 950 KJR AM, live Gametracker on GoHuskies.com and national radio via the Sports USA Radio Network, there are tons of ways to follow Coach Sark's first game as the Huskies' head man. KJR is planning a whopping 11 hours of coverage on Saturday, starting with Pac-10 Today 4-and-a-half hours prior to the 7:36 kickoff. The station will also feature a 90-minute post-game call-in show that begins one hour after the game.
Friday was an interesting day for the Husky football team. After staging a "mock game" during the afternoon, the team was back on the east practice field in the evening for the Raise The Woof! dinner. Anyone who attended can tell you the coaches and players were full of enthusiasm and optimism for the upcoming season.
You can read a little more about it here at GoHuskies.com. And don't forget to check out the photo gallery to get a feel for the night. The final order of business for the evening was to name the 2009 team captains. Here's a quick rundown on that from the Tacoma News-Tribune's Todd Milles. In the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson has a look at the UW special teams in this story. Finally, you can read about one of the stars of Raise the Woof, defensive coordinator Nick Holt, who fired up the crowd as expected. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times has this profile of Coach Holt. With the season's first serve just 24 hours away, the Husky volleyball team has been picking up some well-deserved media attention. ESPN.com examined five storylines from the upcoming season, and included the Huskies as one of the top threats to unseat two-time defending champion Penn State. Check out the national point of view here. The Seattle Times ran their season preview this afternoon, with head coach Jim McLaughlin hoping to get to the top of Mount Rainier. Times Preview While the thousands of fans that attend each Husky match can hardly be labeled "obscurity", Seth Kolloen of seattlest.com does have a nice take on how the media can tend to overlook some of the top athletes at UW. Read his piece here.  At halftime of last night's season-opening 2-1 victory over Seattle, the UW women's soccer team honored former player Jeannine Jensen as both the alumnus and supporter of the match. She was on the very first Husky women's soccer team in 1991 and has been a Husky Centre Circle member since its inception in 1996. Jensen now manages an e-commerce team at ATT and just completed her fifth Ironman triathlon.Jensen was a defender for the Huskies from 1991-93, playing in 54 games in that span, all of which she started in. She scored two goals and tallied three assists. Jensen recalls watching Ronda Klein score the Huskies' first-ever goal as a program against San Diego State in Lesle Gallimore's first game as head coach of the Aztecs as one of her favorite Husky memories. Jensen was presented with an official Husky Centre Circle scarf, which the team will present to an alumnus or supporter of the program at each game. For more information on the Husky Centre Circle, click here. To view a photo gallery of last night's game, click here. Today NCAA.com looked ahead at the 2009 cross country campaign and speculated on five teams "with championship aspirations" on both the men's and women's sides. Naturally, the defending champion Husky women were one of the women's teams given a look-see. Here is UW's excerpt: "If you didn't know, the Huskies swept the Pac-10 Championships in unprecedented fashion and then blew away the competition at the NCAA Championships for the program's first national title last year. When the season was all said and done, five Huskies had been named All-Americans and four of them are returning this fall. They also have the reigning Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year in Greg Metcalf back for a run at title No. 2." Also previewed on the women's side are Florida, Stanford, Villanova, and West Virginia. For the complete article, click here. The UW football staff and players might consider Saturday as the official start of game week in preparation for the team's season-opener against LSU. But, for many fans and members of the media, Monday's noon press conference with Coach Sarkisian and quarterback Jake Locker is the real start to the hype of the first game of the year. As has been the case for the last several years, fans can watch the weekly press conference live on GoHuskies.com. A subscription is required and can be obtained by visiting the front page of GoHuskies.com and clicking on the "Dawg Channel All-Access" graphic on the right side of the screen. The press conferences will also all be archived on the site for on demand viewing. This season, viewers throughout the state of Washington can also watch the press conferences live on UWTV. Seen on nearly every cable system in the state, UWTV is available on Comcast on the following channels (27 in the Puget Sound, 77 in Centralia area and 16 in Spokane and the surrounding areas). Television stations and cable networks throughout North America will also be able to access the live feeds via satellite. For a complete listing of UWTV's cable channel lineup, click here.  The national champion Washington softball team was among several teams and individuals honored by the Seattle Storm on Monday for "Celebrating Women's Sports Night". More than a dozen local Olympians were on hand, including former Husky rowers Anna Mickelson and Mary Whipple, as well as local professional and collegiate teams, athletes and coaches. The Huskies signed autographs before the game alongside the other honorees and were also honored at halftime. Among the Husky players present were Women's College World Series record-setter Morgan Stuart (pictured). National Player of the Year Danielle Lawrie was also honored by the Storm last week as one of their four "Women of Inspiration".
As we head into the final day of fall camp, anticipation is rising for the start of the 2009 college football season. The Huskies' opener Sept. 5 vs. LSU is just a little over a week away.
As always, we'll start right here at gohuskies.com. We have a Q-and-A with Husky safety Nate Williams. In the same place, you'll find a photo gallery from Wednesday's practice, a brief practice update and video of Coach Sarkisian's post-practice press briefing. Scott Johnson, in today's Everett Herald, examines how the Husky offense might look under Sarkisian in this piece. In the Tacoma News-Tribune, concentrates primarily on yesterday's practice and the fact that the team took a turn towards game preparation in his story. Finally, in the Seattle Times, Bob Condotta's main story looks at 27-year old safety Tripper Johnson. He also has this blog entry on Wednesday's practice. The newest edition of the venerable Track & Field News magazine is out now and contains a look ahead at the NCAA cross country season. Under the headline "Huskies In A Pack All Their Own", T&F News lists the Dawgs as the preseason favorites to hoist the championship trophy once again this November in Terre Haute. The capsule on the Huskies reads: "At last year's nationals, Greg Metcalf's Huskies sealed their first national title with their 3-4-5 runners--Mel Lawrence, Katie Follett & Amanda Miller--only 4 seconds apart. Their 79-point total gave them a huge 52-point margin of victory." West Virginia is slotted No. 2, while the rival Oregon Ducks are ranked third. Oregon took second behind the Huskies at Pac-10's, Regionals, and NCAA's last year. The feature also takes a stab at predicting the Top-10 individual finishers at nationals, and three Huskies are forecast in the Top-10, starting with Christine Babcock at No. 3, Kendra Schaaf at No. 5, and Mel Lawrence at No. 10. The feat would seem hard to fathom for most teams but Washington's top-four all return (senior Katie Follett also has surefire Top-10 talent) and have all finished in the Top-25 at NCAA's. On the men's side, after the Top-10 team capsules, a group of "other challengers" is listed, and includes the Husky men. Six of UW's top-seven competitors from last year's NCAA meet return on the men's side, while redshirt freshman Joey Bywater and a healthy Max O'Donoghue-McDonald should greatly help the men earn a third Top-20 finish over four years. The official USTFCCCA preseason rankings are still a few weeks away on September 16.
The Washington women were the talk of the running world last season, as they won every race with ease and captured the national championship. With their top four runners back and five of the top-seven, the women have the potential to be even better, while the men also bring back four of their top-five runners from NCAA's last year where they placed 18th. But Terre Haute and NCAA's are still many weeks and miles away, and first things first, it was time to fill out paperwork, which the athletes did before freshmen head shots and physicals for all. A team dinner was set for 5 p.m. in the Don James Center.
After a day off Sunday, the Husky football team was back at it Monday. Only three more days left in fall camp now, as it comes to a close on Thursday. Here's a look at the coverage of yesterday's practice:
First, check out our coverage here at gohuskies.com. Click here for a story about Jake Locker, plus a little practice coverage, a photo gallery, and videos with Coach Sarkisian, Locker and senior offensive tackle Nick Scott. In the Seattle Times, Bob Condotta ponders the state of the Huskies' offensive line in his story. Todd MIlles of the Tacoma News-Tribune has this piece on UW redshirt freshman safety Greg Walker, who seems to be nailing down a starting job. Finally, the Everett Herald's Scott Johnson writes about sophomore tailback Johri Fogerson in this story. Double-day practices today, at 8:45 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. Former UW women's hoops player Melissa Erickson was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in 2006. Her teammates rallied around her, forming the Melissa Erickson Foundation to help raise money for medical bills and necessary alterations to Erickson's home. Next Saturday, August 29, the foundation is hosting the "Ring Around The Needle" Pub Crawl to benefit Erickson. The crawl will take place in seven bars across Queen Anne, from 1-5pm. Here's a link to a column Steve Kelley did on Erickson and her teammates' fight against ALS. And here's a link to the official website of the pub crawl, with lots more information and a sign-up sheet.
Two courses will be used for the first two rounds of stroke play -- the Southern Hills Country Club course and Cedar Ridge Country Club course -- with each participant playing 18 holes at both courses over two days. Each is a par 70 track with just one par 5 on each of the nines. Southern Hills will play at 7,093 yard, while Cedar Ridge is slightly longer at 7,336 yards. Lee will tee off on Monday at 12:35 pm PT at Cedar Ridge, while Taylor will tee off at 11:15 am PT about seven miles northwest at Southern Hills. After two rounds of play, the top 64 players will advance to match play at the Southern Hills course from Wednesday through Sunday. Husky head coach Matt Thurmond will be on site following both Lee and Taylor. He will be checking in for GoHuskies.com and provide some insight on the action.
With the Huskies' final scrimmage of the fall in the books Saturday, much of the coverage in Sunday's papers revolved around the action on the field.
Here's the story from gohuskies.com, which also features stats, a photo gallery and Coach Steve Sarkisian's post-scrimmage interview session with the press. In the Seattle Times, Bob Condotta concentrates on the UW receiving corps in his main story. He also provides a wrap-up of the day in his blog. Todd Milles also focuses on the receivers for his story in the Tacoma News-Tribune while the Seattle P-I's Todd Dybas took a similar angle here. In the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson had a different take in his piece, concentrating on the local players. However, he also had this scrimmage wrap. Sunday is an off-day, practice-wise, but the team will be back on the field Monday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. See you there. The Associated Press released its preseason top-25 poll yesterday and, as expected, a few of Washington's upcoming opponents were included. The Huskies annually play one of the toughest schedules in the nation and 2009 will be no different. Five of the UW's 12 opponents appear in the AP preseason poll, including the team it will square-off against in its season-opener on Sept. 5 in Husky Stadium - the LSU Tigers. The 60 AP voters from across the country have determined that the Tigers are the 11th-best team in the nation, while Notre Dame, another of the UW's non-league opponents, is ranked 23rd. Among Pac-10 teams, USC is rated as fourth, California is ranked 12th and Oregon is considered 16th. The Huskies have faced no fewer than four top-25 teams in each of the last four seasons. In 2007, the UW played six nationally-ranked teams and four that were rated among the top-10. Last season, Washington's first three opponents of the season were each ranked by the AP. Husky freshman Kylin Muñoz, a native of Snohomish, Wash., is featured today in the Everett Herald. Last year's Gatorade State Player of the Year talks about her decision to back out of a commitment to BYU and stick closer to home. Here is the full story.
Another look at the morning newspapers' coverage of Husky football after a double-day Friday:
First, take a look at our story here at gohuskies.com, where we look at the Huskies' ever-stronger Polynesian tradition. This year, there are at least 18 players on the team with Polynesian heritage. In the News-Tribune, Todd Milles has a look at one of the few non-Polynesian defensive linemen, Darrion Jones, in this story. In the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson has this rundown of the Husky wide receivers corps. Finally, the Seattle Times' Bob Condotta gives us a midway-through-camp report, focusing on Coach Sarkisian and also has his traditional blog entry wrapping up the day.
Here's a brief rundown of some highlights of former Huskies currently playing in professional baseball. Click on the players' names for a link to their stats rundown on milb.com.
Kyle Conley, who got his pro career off to a bit of a slow start, has begun to come around at the plate. Now with the Batavia Muckdogs in the New York-Penn League, Conley is batting .354 with seven doubles and four homers in his time with the Muckdogs. Jake Rife, who has spent time with three teams this summer, continues to play well with the advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the Cal League. Overall this summer, Rife is batting .319. Brian Pearl has notched five saves for the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League while Jason Erickson has a solid 2.42 ERA as a part-time reliever/part-time starter for State College in the NY-Penn. The final Dawg who signed this past June, Jorden Merry, is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA for Pulaski in the Appalachian League. Former Red Sox prospect Nick Hagadone, still making steady progress in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, was traded to Cleveland this summer. Overall, since returning the mound, he has struck out 45 and allowed only 18 hits in 33.2 innings. Another lefty, Nick Haughian, is tearing up the New York-Penn. Playing for the Aberdeen Ironbirds, Nick is 6-2 with a 2.05 ERA this season. Finally, a little more off the beaten track in the independant Golden League, former UW outfielder Andre Marshall is batting .306 with a team-high five triples for the Tucson Toros. For a complete list of Huskies in pro ball, click here.
As we near the end of the second week of Husky football fall camp, the dog days have set in. But, the practices go on, as does the coverage in the newspapers.
We'll start with gohuskies.com, where you'll find a story on quarterback Ronnie Fouch, a post-practice report, plus a photo gallery, a video interview with RS-freshman safety Greg Walker and Coach Steve Sarkisian's post-practice talk with the press. There have been several stories written about the Husky secondary this fall. Bob Condotta, the beat writer from the Seattle Times, chimes in with his take on the DBs. As always, he also has a detailed rundown of the day in his blog. In the Tacoma News-Tribune, Todd Milles' story focuses on the Huskies possibly utilizing two tailbacks in their offensive formation. Finally, in the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson writes about UW receiver and return man Jordan Polk in this article. Double day practices once again. If you can't make it out for the morning session (8:45 a.m.), perhaps we'll see you this evening, when they get started at 6:45 p.m. Flotrack.org had the following interview with Husky alum Ryan Brown shortly after he wrapped up his World Championships prelim in the 800-meters. Brown was hindered by a runner falling in front of him and finished fifth, but as the video shows he doesn't mention that once, not one to make excuses, and he's already looking ahead for 2010!
Lots of Husky football coverage in the newspapers (and therefore, on the web) this morning as the Dawgs hit just about the midway point of fall camp. Here's a rundown of the latest from Montlake:
First, this look at Husky linebackers coach Mike Cox, plus photos and a post-practice update from Coach Sarkisian, here at gohuskies.com. In the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson writes a feature on one of everyone's favorite Dawgs, senior defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim. Check out the Tacoma News-Tribune, where Todd Milles writes about the Huskies' veteran linebackers. Another linebacker-related piece in the Seattle Times, as columnist Jerry Brewer provides a profile of UW tackler E.J. Savannah. Also on the Times site is Bob Condotta's as-always thorough blog, which wraps up last night's workout. The purple and gold Dawgs will be back on the turf this afternoon for a 3:00 p.m. practice. It should be a glorious afternoon, weather-wise. See you there! Sophomore-to-be Isaiah Thomas was named one of 50 pre-season candidates for the John R. Wooden Award. Congratulations to Isaiah! We'll have more on GoHuskies.com
1998 Washington alum and Husky Hall of Famer Aretha Thurmond squeaked into the women's discus finals today at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany. Thurmo Thurmond, competing in the fourth World Championships of her career, is already assured of her best career finish, as she had never reached the finals before. On her last attempt, Thurmond surpassed the 200-foot mark, going 200-feet and 4-inches to advance. A relieved Thurmond told the media, "I think I just gave my high school coach some grey hairs today. It's been my m.o. unfortunately my whole career. I'm the type of a competitor that takes a while to get into a groove." The final will take place this Friday, August 21st. "The point was to get out there and make it through to the finals. (Team USA has) two Americans in the finals and now we can go see if we can put two on the podium," said Thurmond. Tomorrow, former UW NCAA Champions Brad Walker and Ryan Brown will compete for the first time. Walker is the defending world champ in the pole vault, while Brown makes his World Championships debut in the 800-meters. You can read about Brown's early Berlin experience here. Thanks to Paul Merca for the photo and quotes.  Former Husky women's soccer players Hope Solo and Tina Ellertson will look to lead the St. Louis Athletica into the first-ever Women's Pro Soccer championship game tonight when they face Sky Blue FC in the WPS Super Semifinal in Fenton, Mo. The game can be seen on Fox Soccer Channel tonight at 4 p.m. PT.Solo and Ellertson, both recently named to the first-ever WPS All-Star Team, led the Athletica to a second-place finish during the regular season to give them a bye into the Super Semifinal. The winner of tonight's match will face the No. 1 seed Los Angeles Sol. The WPS Championship Game will take place on August 22. For a preview of the match from the WPS website, which includes much lauding of Solo's stellar season, click here. In addition, both Solo and Ellertson are up for post-season awards which can be voted upon by fans. Solo is one of seven players up for the Michelle Akers Player of the Year Award and is also one of five players up for Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year. Ellertson, meanwhile, joins four others in the running for Medlmmune Defender of the Year. Fans can vote for all three awards now, by clicking here. Fan voting ends August 21 at 2 p.m. PT.
The Husky women's soccer team is anxious to get their 2009 season underway and it definitely shows. With returning players spending time in the dorms during fall training camp, players are working out some nervous energy and showing their silly side.
Check out this hilarious video of McKenna Waitley and Kate Deines re-enacting some scenes from Mulan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxO_rySjCKY To follow the UW Women's Soccer team on Facebook, click here.  This time of year, a number of the big college football postseason awards publish "watch lists." These lists are essentially a list of players that are "up" for those awards, at least at this stage in the calender. Keep in mind, of course, that players who end up excelling during the season could end up as semi-finalists, finalists or even winners, even if they aren't on the watch lists. But, it's a nice preseason accolade all the same.Today, quarterback Jake Locker was named to the watch list for the Manning Award, an award for the top quarterback in the nation. It's the third such list that Locker has made, along with another top QB award, the Davey O'Brien Award, and the Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top overall player. Two other Dawgs have made it on to preseason watch lists: senior defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim is on the list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, for the nation's top defensive player, while junior wideout D'Andre Goodwin is on the list for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the top receiver in the country.
The UW can confirm that quarterback Jake Locker has
agreed to a contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Saturday.
Jake's father, Scott Locker, who was handling the negotiations,
confirmed that the deal was signed Saturday afternoon.
Locker, who has two seasons of football eligibility remaining (2009 and 2010), will have to relinquish his scholarship, but his football eligibility is otherwise unaffected. The Angels selected Locker with their 10th-round selection, 321st overall, After his senior year at Ferndale High, Locker was chosen by the Angels in the 40th round, but did not sign at that time. He hasn't played baseball at the college level, but did play for the Bellingham (Wash.) Bells in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League in the summer of 2008. With Sunday a scheduled off day for the team -- other than the annual Picture Day -- Locker's next scheduled press availability will be after Monday morning's 8:45 a.m. practice.
Here's a look at the coverage in the local papers on Saturday morning, the day after the Huskies conducted their first full-pads practice.
In the Tacoma News-Tribune, beat writer Todd Milles has this look at how the specialists (kickers, holders, etc.) spend their time during practices. Scott M. Johnson of the Everett Herald had a pair of stories Saturday. First is this one on the UW defensive backs' quest to prove doubters wrong. Then, his notebook leads off with a note on Jake Locker. In the Seattle Times, Bob Condotta's main story focuses on Johri Fogerson's return to tailback (coincidentally, gohuskies.com will have a story on the same subject later today). Condotta also provided this rundown of Friday's practices. The Dawgs are currently going through their first of two practices today. Later Saturday, they'll be back for a full-pads session, beginning at 6:45 p.m. Former Washington running back Louis Rankin capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive last night with a three-yard TD run in a 31-10 Oakland Raiders exhibition win over Dallas at the Oakland Coliseum. Rankin, who finished his career at the UW in 2007, carried the ball six times for 31 yards. He is one of several talented running backs on the Raiders' preseason roster, fighting for a roster spot.
If you've missed it, make sure to check out all of gohuskies.com's coverage of the Husky football team's fall training camp. Each day, there's generally a feature story on someone inside UW football, as well as an update from practice, often a photo gallery, video interviews with players and video of Coach Sarkisian's post-practice meeting with the press -- it's the only place where you can find all of that.
Firstly, for a list of practice dates and times, check out this page, which includes information on parking and policies for fans attending practice. Next, here's a wrap up of the first day of practice on Monday, along with a feature story on UW running backs coach Joel Thomas, who grew up in Port Angeles. Tuesday's coverage also focuses on a member of the UW coaching staff with a piece on Jeff Mills, the safeties coach who was a grad assistant under Don James in 1990 and 1991. On Wednesday, gohuskies.com featured a Q-and-A with Cody Habben, Donald Butler and Cameron Elisara. Finally, after today's (Thursday's) practice, we have a story on senior safety Jason Wells and his hard work to return from injury. Last but not least, you can keep up to date with Husky football, and UW athletics, in a few other ways. Coach Sarkisian and his staff provide multiple daily updates on both coachsark.com and Coach Sark's twitter page. You can also follow the Huskies on facebook.com: here (UW athletics) and here (UW football) and on twitter at twitter.com/UWSportsNews. The rain-riddled Canadian Men's Amateur Championship came to an end on Thursday and the two Huskies entered in the golf event finished in the top-10. Nick Taylor tied for third at 5-under overall, while Darren Wallace was 3-under to finish ninth. Check back later for a full recap on GoHuskies.com.
Women's soccer player Alex Kirk, who will be a senior this upcoming season, was selected to receive the UW Student-Athlete Academic Services Academic Achievement Award for spring quarter 2009. The award is based on Kirk's perseverance, resourcefulness and positive attitude toward academics.
Kirk is not the only women's soccer player having success in the classroom. The 2008 team - which also had one of the most successful seasons on the pitch in program history - had the highest cumulative team GPA for Spring 2009 quarter in head coach Lesle Gallimore's 15-year tenure with a 3.42 team GPA. Recent graduate Dana Stirn, who left UW with a cumulative 3.81 GPA, led the way with a 4.0 in spring quarter. Also excelling in the spring were freshmen Alex Webber (3.88), Faustine Dufka (3.77) and Kari Davidson (3.60) along with sophomores Carli Cearnal (3.70) and Makenna Brinster (3.67) and Kirk (3.67). Five players made the Dean's List while 22 of 29 players were above a 3.0. Congrats to Kirk and the women's soccer team!
Another day, another practice in the books for the Husky football team. No different than usual, the local papers were full of coverage, right below big photos of Ken Griffey Jr. giving the M's a 1-0, 14th-inning win.
Start right here at gohuskies.com, where we hear from Cody Habben, Donald Butler and Cameron Elisara, plus a photo gallery from practice and video of post-practice comments from Coach Sarkisian and tailback Demitrius Bronson. Seattlepi.com had some coverage today. Here's this missive from UW student intern Maks Goldenshteyn. Over at the Times, Bob Condotta's main article focused on freshman wideout James Johnson, and he also wrapped up the day with this blog entry. Down south, the Tacoma News-Tribune's Todd Milles fills us in on the mysteries of "Big Bertha" in this story, while up north, it's the Everett Herald's Scott M. Johnson with this look at the competition at running back. We're back it again today at 3:00 p.m. See you all there! Nick Taylor and Darren Wallace each made it through 11 holes of the third round of the 2009 Canadian Men's Amateur Championship before darkness halted play on Wednesday. Taylor is currently alone in fourth place at 5-under par and is four strokes behind leader Cam Burke. Wallace is tied for seventh at 3-under par. Play will resume at Club de golf Le Blaineviller in Blaineville, Que., on Thursday at 7:30 a.m.
 Former UW soccer player Ty Harden was featured on ESPN.com today for his recent charity work in Nairobi and his return to the MLS with the Colorado Rapids. Check out this great feature on the former Husky defender who played at UW from 2003-06 before being drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy.ESPN.com Soccernet Ty Harden feature Harden was a four-year letterwinner for the Dawgs and a captain his last two seasons. He was named a Third Team All-American by the NSCAA in 2006 and was a four-time All-Pac-10 selection. He joined the Rapids in January of 2009 after beginning his career with the Galaxy, being named the team's 2007 Defensive Player of the Year. Harden has appeared in seven games this season with Colorado, which is currently third in the MLS Western Conference.
Nick Taylor shot a 4-under 68 in the second round of the 2009 Canadian Men's Amateur Championship to go to 4-under overall for the tournament and move into a tie for fourth place. Husky teammate Darren Wallace is tied for seventh place, one stroke back of Taylor at 3-under overall. Wallace was 1-over in his second round after shooting a 68 in the first round. 2009 NCAA Individual Champion Matt Hill of North Carolina State leads the field at 7-under overall. Play was suspended yesterday due to darkness after a total of six hours of rain delays pushed rounds into the late evening. The golfers took the course early this morning and wrapped up their rounds at the Club de golf Le Blainvillier in Blainville, Quebec. The third round is slated to begin at 12:30 pm PT. Follow the leaderboard live by clicking here.
Another Husky volleyball alum is finding success as a professional, as 2006 letterwinner Janine Sandell just signed on to compete with Valeriano Allès Menorca located on the island of Menorca. Here is an excerpt from the club's website, helpfully translated from Spanish by a GoHuskies.com student assistant: "The club director was able to come to an agreement with the British player, who played the previous season with CV Albacete. Sandell is a player the team courted, but the signing was stalled because of the economic situation. But the force of both parties made it possible for Sandall to play with Valeriano and coach Adrià Fiorenza. Sandell is an outside hitter with a lot of potential and the team says she is in great shape. She is only 23 years old and 5-9. She was the fourth best scorer on the Superliga last year, with 342 points, with an average of 4.12 points per set and between 12 and 20 points per game. Even though she is British, she studied in the United States (at Santa Barbara and Washington). She debuted with the British National Team on July 17, and she has 42 national appearances. The same summer she challenged for the European League title with her national team. The season prior, she took CV Albacete to the Final Four of the Challenge Cup." Sandell joined UW for one season after leaving UC Santa Barbara. She helped the Huskies reach the Final Four, averaging 2.14 kills per game with a .250 hitting percentage in 109 games.
With day two of the Husky football practice season in the books, the papers had plenty to say Wednesday morning. Seems like tight ends were the topic of the day as all three area papers covered the position in one way or another.
Here's a look at the headlines: first up is a feature on safeties coach Jeff Mills, who was a graduate assistant at the UW in 1990 and 1991. Read it at gohuskies.com. The Tacoma News-Tribune had a pair of stories. Columnist Dave Boling opines in this column after having observed Monday's practice while beat writer Todd Milles focuses on the notion of a "clean slate" in his story. The clean slate also comes up in coverage from Scott M. Johnson in the Everett Herald. His piece focuses primarily on Chris Izbicki. Finally, in the Seattle Times, you can read about Izbicki and Kavario Middleton in Bob Condotta's main story and get a wrap of day two in his blog. Another practice Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Hope to see you there! Huskies Darren Wallace and Nick Taylor got underway on Tuesday in the first round of the 2009 Canadian Men's Amateur Championships held at Club de golf Le Blainvillier in Blainville, Quebec. Wallace is tied for third after shooting a 4-under 68, while Taylor is shot an even par 72 and is tied for 29th. In the Willingdon Cup, the team competition portion of the Championship, Taylor's Team British Columbia is second at 3-under. The team is comprised of Taylor and three other competitors who hail from British Columbia. They trail Team Ontario by seven strokes. Second round action takes place this afternoon. Follow live scoring by clicking here.
Fans of basketball worldwide are learning more and more about something Washington basketball fans have known for years... Brandon Roy is one special person and a simply phenomenal basketball player. The all-star Portland Trail Blazer recently signed a new deal that will keep him in the Rose City for the next several years - long enough for the franchise to win a few rings, says Vince Thomas in a column posted today. Thomas says... "Yeah, I said it: Roy and the Blazers might cop a couple rings within the next six seasons. Portland has that much potential and, perhaps more importantly, Roy is that good."
The newspaper writers were hard at work after the first day of fall practice Monday. Tuesday's papers generally carried more than one story on the Dawgs after the camp opener. Here's a selection:
First, gohuskies.com has this story focusing on running backs coach Joel Thomas, a native of Port Angeles, Wash. Also included are a few notes from Monday's practice, a photo gallery and videos of Coach Steve Sarkisian, quarterback Jake Locker and WRs coach Jimmie Dougherty. In the Seattle Times, Bob Condotta writes about the return of Marques Tuiasosopo in this story. In the Everett Herald, Scott Johnson writes this piece on the first day of practice and also has his take on Tui's return. Finally, Todd Milles of the Tacoma News-Tribune writes about the first day, including some humorous conversation with a couple of Dawgs, in this story. See you at 3:00 p.m. at Husky Stadium for practice #2!
Brunell has also been active in the community throughout his career. He started the Brunell Family Foundation in 1997 while he was a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Check out more on his Foundation by clicking here. While we are thinking about it, maybe Mark can give Coach Sark a quick scouting report on the Bayou Bengals before next month's opener against LSU?
As noted on numerous occasions, Washington's fall camp begins Monday with a 3:00 p.m. practice at Husky Stadium.
With that in mind, the Seattle-area Sunday newspapers gave the Dawgs center stage today. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times wrote this lengthy piece on Husky quarterback Jake Locker and his preparation to try and turn things around in the 2009 season. Down south at the Tacoma News-Tribune, Todd Milles filed a long-form profile of Husky head coach Steve Sarkisian, detailing Sark's journey to his current position, dating all the way back to his childhood. Finally, Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald ties those two stories together, pondering whether Sark is the man to bring out the best in Locker in this story. Meanwhile, as he tells us on his twitter.com page, Coach Sark had an active Saturday. See you tomorrow at Husky Stadium!
Not surprisingly, there was plenty of press coverage of the start of Husky football fall camp as, yesterday, Coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media to preview the coming weeks. Sark was joined by his entire assistant coaching staff, and that led to a whole slew of stories in the local media.
First, here are a couple right here on gohuskies.com: this AP story from writer Tim Booth and this recap from our own Jeremy Cothran. In the Seattle Times, beat writer Bob Condotta details Sarkisian's optimism in this story while columnist Jerry Brewer chimes in with his take. In the Tacoma News-Tribune, new beat writer Todd Milles also talks about Sarkisian's enthusiasum in his story. Lastly, in the roundup of the local press, another new UW beat writer, Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald, turned in two pieces: one general piece on the start of the fall and this more specific story on local product Justin Glenn, a RS-freshman cornerback from Kamiak. Remember, fall camp starts with a 3:00 p.m. practice Monday at Husky Stadium. Check out this link here at gohuskies.com for a complete fall camp practice schedule, fan policies and parking info. Go Dawgs! The 2009 Husky Football season tickets were delivered to the Post Office on August 6 directly from an out of state printing vendor. Generally, it can take up to two weeks for tickets to arrive, so if tickets have not been received by August 19, contact the Husky Ticket Office at (206) 543-2200 (M - F 8:30 - 4:30) for assistance. If you asked for your season tickets to be held at will call, you may pick them up beginning August 11 at the Husky Ticket Office, located in the Graves Building at 3910 Montlake Blvd NE. Photo ID is required for the release of season tickets. Additional single game ticket orders are not included with season tickets. These are being printed and mailed under a separate cover and should also arrive in the next two weeks.  An unusual scene at Husky Ballpark yesterday when FC Barcelona, the Spanish soccer club in town to play Seattle Sounders FC, used some of its morning practice session to work on their baseball skills.Funny to see some of the world's most famous athletes trying out a sport it's likely none of them have ever played before. And that photos of them swinging the bats on the Husky Ballpark turf are even showing up on soccer gossip blogs in Europe (this one, for instance). Here's an English-language story from Barcelona's official web site, which includes a number of photos. The UW athletic department was proud and happy to host the Spanish and European champions during their stay in Seattle.
That's a lot of bobbleheads he can buy! Evidently the Blazers are planning a press conference for Thursday to announce the signing. The contract is great for Husky fans as they can make the trek three hours south to see the former All-American and 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year for at least five more years. And of course it is great for Brandon to be able to take care of his family and remain in the Northwest for the heyday of his career.
 Washington softball player Danielle Lawrie
has been named one of 10 finalists for the Women's Sports Foundation's
Sportswoman of the Year award, joining nine other women from around the
world for their accomplishments over the last 12 months.Lawrie has been nominated in the team category, representing athletes who play in team sports. She is the only softball player nominated, joining other athletes such as Brazilian soccer player Marta and UConn basketball player Renee Montgomery along with athletes representing the tennis (doubles), volleyball, bobsledding, curling, bowling, lacrosse and ice hockey. To vote for Lawrie for this prestigious award, click here. The Sportswoman of the Year award is just another of the several awards Lawrie has been nominated for following a dream season in which she led the Huskies to their first-ever softball National Championship. Lawrie was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year before leading the Huskies to the title, after which she was named the Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player along with winning the Honda Award winner for softball. She was also a finalist for the national Honda Award as well as an ESPY Award nominee for Top Female Collegiate Athlete.  In preparation for its match this Wednesday against Seattle Sounders FC, Barcelona was on campus Monday morning for a practice session at Husky Soccer Field.Barcelona, the reigning European champion and also one of the greatest clubs in the world historically, arrived around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, with a Spanish press corps of around 30 in tow. Pictured: (below left) Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest player in the world right now; (below right) French striker Thierry Henry (left) and Mexican defender Rafael Marquez stretch prior to practice; the team gathers on the Husky Soccer Field pitch, in view of Husky Stadium (above right). 
For those who were not able to watch Washington's press conference at Pac-10 media day in Los Angeles, links are currently available of Steve Sarkisian and Donald Butler.
Click here to watch the press conference. And don't miss Butler's interview (below) with GoHuskies.com from LA. Four Husky alumni were named to the U.S. national rowing crews that will compete in the World Championships, August 23-30 in Poznan, Poland. Katelin Snyder was selected to cox to women's eight. Snyder, who won gold with the 2008 women's U23 eight, recently graduated from the UW, where she coxed the men's varsity eight for three years. Snyder was the coxswain of the 2009 IRA national champion men's eight. Olympian Megan Kalmoe, racing with her partner EllenTomek, was named to the senior team back in mid-July after she won the double scull event in the World Cup at Lucerne. Olympians Brett Newlin and Giuseppe Lanzone were both named to the men's straight four, the same event they raced in at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In Beijing, the crew finished ninth. Newlin and Giuseppe recently picked up bronze in the four at the World Cup in Lucerne. For the complete release, click here. IMPORTANT LINKSMOST RECENT POSTS
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