Baseball
Brandon J. Taylor | Photo by Jaren Wilkey/MWC
Brandon J. Taylor (’07), BYU‘s third baseman, was named Mountain West Conference (MWC)Player of the Year. Additionally, College Sports Television named him Athlete of the Week on April 2, and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named him National Hitter of the Week on March 14.
Cheer Squad
The BYU Cheer Squad proved itself once again at the 2005 USA Collegiate Cheerleading Nationals, placing second behind the University of Oregon in the 4-Year Large College Co-ed Division.
Cougarettes
The Cougarettes swept the 2005 Chick-Fil-A National Cheer and Dance Team Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Friday, April 8, winning first-place, grand-championship, and best choreography honors in their division.
Lacrosse
The top-seeded BYU lacrosse team lost to ninth-seeded Florida State at the U.S. Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships in Blaine, Minn., on May 12. The Cougars fought their way to the end scoring two goals in the last four minutes, but the Seminoles pulled off an 11-10 win.
Men’s Volleyball
The American Volleyball Coaches Association named BYU men’s volleyball players Michael R. Burke (’06) and Ivan Perez Rosario (’08) to the All-America Second Team.
Softball
The Cougars took home the MWC tournament trophy with a 2-0 win over UNLV in the title game.BYU also landed five players on the All-Tournament Team, including tournament MVP pitcherDaniela Urincho (’08), who went 2-0 with two earned runs and seven hits, as well as Ianeta M. Le’I (’07), Summer A. Tobias (’07), Jodi Norton (’07), and Paige L. Paramore (’06).
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll announced the BYU softball team as the 25th best team in the nation. This is the first time in the history of the program that the team has cracked the top 25.
Swimming
Former BYU swimmer and assistant coach Billy H. Betz (’05) was the only Division 1-A athlete selected as a recipient for the Wooden Cup award.
Track and Field
The men’s track and field team finished fourth at the national championship meet held in Sacramento, Calif. The team had two national champs as well as seven All-Americans. Finishing tenth, the women’s team had four All-Americans. Photo by Mark Philbrick.
For the first time since 1991, the men’s track and field team finished fourth at the NCAA National Championships, which were held in June. Spurred by two individual titles, as well as seven All-America citations, the men finished with 34 team points. The women’s team finished in 10th place, the best finish since a 10th-place showing in 2002.
For the first time since 1974, the Cougars claimed two individual titles, with Robison Pratt (’06) capturing the national championship in the pole vault and Rodrigo Mendes (’05) taking the triple jump.
In May the BYU men’s and women’s track teams repeated as MWC Outdoor Track and Field Champions, giving the men six consecutive conference titles and the women two.
Women’s Golf
Rachel K. Newren (’07) placed second at the MWC Championship in Sunriver, Ore., on April 23. The team placed fourth in the tournament.
The BYU women’s golf team finished 24th at the 2005 NCAA Golf Championship May 20. The Cougars broke a 23-year-old record for team total in a 72-hole tournament. The previous 1982 record of 1,267 was erased as BYU finished with a total of 1,238, a difference of 29 strokes. With the result,BYU earned its first top-25 finish in 20 years and its second-best NCAA Championship finish ever.
