– It didn't take long for Michelle Marciniak, last season's general manager for Becky Burke’s UA women's basketball team, to find employment. After resigning last month, Marciniak moved to her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., and was hired as the CEO of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville. The only Arizonan in the women's Hall of Fame is former Central Arizona College coach Lin Laursen, who went 971-145 with three NJCAA championships at Central Arizona College from 1977-2008.
Marciniak
– Former Sunnyside High School girls state wrestling champion Audrey Jimenez was awarded wrestling's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy last week. Jimenez was awarded the Anthony-Maroulis Trophy by the NCAA after winning the national championship at 110 pounds as a Lehigh University sophomore. She went 21-0. Women's wrestling is still in its infancy in the NCAA; only six Division I schools compete, so Lehigh competed against 112 Division II and III schools, from William Jewell College to Colorado Mesa College.
People are also reading…
– Salpointe Catholic's 2024 All-State basketball player, Taliyah Henderson, is leaving her spot on the North Carolina Tar Heels' roster and is in the transfer portal. As a freshman with the 28-8 Tar Heels this season, Henderson averaged 10 minutes and 4.1 points per game. This would be a wonderful opportunity for UA's Burke to recruit Henderson with more vigor than ex-coach Adia Barnes applied three years ago.
– After former Arizona Sweet 16 point guard and five-time MLB All-Star outfielder Kenny Lofton attended Arizona's NCAA victories over LIU and Utah State in San Diego, he flew to Augusta, Georgia, to play golf with ex-Arizona All-American Annika Sorenstam. I've seen Lofton play golf before; he was a member of Ventana Canyon Golf Club a few years ago. He is almost a scratch player. So it wasn't much of a surprise when he got a hole-in-one at the Masters course, No. 9 on the par 3 course, while playing Sorenstam on Monday. That's one to remember.
– Arizona's two-time NCAA swimming championship coach Frank Busch will be inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday in Phoenix. Busch, who retired from Arizona in 2011 to become executive director of the USA Swimming National Teams, becomes just the seventh UA coach to be inducted into the Phoenix-based organization. Pop McKale was part of the inaugural class of 1958, followed over the years by Fred Enke, Frank Sancet, Lute Olson, Mike Candrea and Dick Tomey. Busch's legacy at Arizona is untouchable. From 1995-2011, his UA men's swimming teams never finished outside the Top 5 in the NCAA finals. Last week, the UA men's swimming team finished 27th at the NCAA meet.
– Seth Mejias-Brean, star third baseman on Arizona's 2012 College World Series championship team, is close to getting back to the big leagues (he played for the San Diego Padres in his pro career). Mejias-Brean is now the hitting coach for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, a Seattle Mariners affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. The former Cienega High School star athlete was the hitting coach of the Double-A Arkansas Travelers last year.
– Jedd Fisch lost another of the assistant coaches who followed him from Tucson to Washington. His offensive coordinator, Jimmie Dougherty, left in February and last week was added as an offensive assistant for the Super Bowl champ Seattle Seahawks. Last year, Fisch lost offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll to the Las Vegas Raiders. The only ex-Wildcat assistant coaches remaining at Washington are Scottie Graham, Jason Kaufusi, John Richardson and Jordan Paopao.
