It has been an eventful week for Colorado State athletics, and it is easy to miss some of the key updates during the summer.

July 13

Athletic Director Joe Parker announced Mai-Ly Tran will be leading the women’s tennis program.

“I would like to thank President Joyce McConnell, Joe Parker, Steve Cottingham, Shalini Shanker and the entire Colorado State athletic(s) department for this incredible opportunity,” Tran said in the press release. “I am excited to bring a new vision, energy and passion to the future of the women’s tennis program under their strong leadership.”

Tran will be the second woman head coach in tennis program history and is coming off a five-year stint as head coach of Drake University. During her time at Drake, Tran helped lead the program to a 50-46 record, with an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship and an added 2018 MVC regular-season title.

Read the full press release here.

July 14

The CSU athletics department made history as the Mountain West conference announced 235 student-athletes earned Spring Academic All-Mountain West honors (achieving a 3.0 GPA or better in an academic term). In the 2019-20 season, 143 student-athletes earned honors and 103 student-athletes did in 2018-19.

There were 15 student-athletes, listed below, who earned 4.0 GPAs as well.

Cross Country/Track and Field

Gannon Willcutts
Maggie Smith
Lauren Neugeboren

Softball

Jordan Acosta
Jessica Jareck
Maya Matsubara

Swimming and Diving

Emma Breslin
Jennae Frederick
Megan Hager
Anika Johnson
Liza Lunina

Tennis

Lou Regen

Volleyball

Sasha Colombo

Basketball

Karly Murphy

Soccer

Aleyse Evers

View the full list of honor winners here. 

July 15

Proving that CSU student-athletes are elite on and off the field, 158 athletes earned MW Scholar-Athlete honors. The difference between Academic All-Mountain West honors and Scholar-Athlete honors is athletes need to achieve a 3.5 GPA or greater in a semester.

Head to the CSU athletics website for the full list of CSU Scholar-Athletes.

On the same day, CSU soccer head coach Keeley Hagen announced their 19-game fall schedule.

“After the abnormal 2020-2021 season, we are thrilled to have some normalcy back into this upcoming fall ’21 season,” Hagen said. “The team has put in a lot of good work during the summer, and we are excited to continue to grow and develop this fall.”

The season starts with two home exhibitions against Texas Tech University Aug. 9 and the University of Northern Colorado on Aug. 14. After UNC, the Rams will face their University of Colorado, Boulder rivals in Boulder Aug. 19. Then, CSU will face University of Denver on Aug. 22. The games against the Bears, Buffaloes and Pioneers are a part of the early-season Colorado Cup tournament.

MW play starts Sept. 24 when the Rams host the San Diego State University Aztecs and then the University of New Mexico Lobos on Sept. 26. Looking ahead, the final game of the regular season is Oct. 29 against the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. The MW tournament starts Nov. 2.

July 19

CSU volleyball earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2020-21 season. The AVCA and the United States Marine Corps announced the award for CSU as well as 243 other Division I schools.

CSU is also one of 50 teams named Academic Honor Roll; Boise State and CSU are the only MW schools to earn the award this year. The award is presented to teams that achieve a 3.3 cumulative GPA (4.0 scale) or 4.1 cumulative GPA (5.0 scale).

Additionally, Scott Patchan, a CSU football defensive end, was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List by the Maxwell Football Club. The Chuck Bednarik Award is the college football defensive player of the year award. In the four games played in 2020, Patchan had 5.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss and 22 total tackles (10 solos and assisted on 12).

It was one of the busier weeks for CSU athletics news during the summer. With the fall semester and its sports creeping up, there will be more news rolling in. 

Tyler Meguire can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @TMeguire.