Utes Bulletin: Things Happening In Utah Athletics (Week Of 5/22/23)
May 22, 2023, 11:37 AM | Updated: 11:41 am
SALT LAKE CITY – Things are winding down for Utah Athletics and the Utes Bulletin as the spring sports wrap up for the quieter summer months.
This week’s Utes Bulletin features an impressive NCAA Tournament run that isn’t over yet, some football and Pac-12 news, among other items coming up this week. If you missed anything from the previous week, you can check that out here.
Without further ado, here is this week’s Utes Bulletin that includes stories from the week before and what is on the radar for the coming week of 5/22/23.
Utah Softball
The biggest story right now for Utah Athletics is Utah softball who hosted the first round of the NCCA tournament last week and will be hosting a Super Regional round this weekend.
Utah has been impressive so far in the tournament with a dominant win over Southern Illinois and two big wins over Ole Miss to move on.
#LightTheU @Utah_Softball beats Ole Miss 4-1.
See U next weekend at the Super Regional. #GoUtes #UteProud pic.twitter.com/fcbSIzDkUf
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 21, 2023
The Utes are set to host San Diego State next weekend starting on Friday, May 26 at 8:00 p.m. MT through Sunday, May 28 with time to be determined.
You can purchase tickets here or catch the action on ESPNU.
Utah Football
It was a little quiet on the news front for football, but a few notable things happened as we continue to march closer to the 2023 football season.
POV: playing football with Week 5’s Offensive Player of the Week at recess, @TroyWilliams_3 🏈
Thanks for having us, Highland Elementary 📚 pic.twitter.com/m4GaMH4V73
— Pittsburgh Maulers (@USFLMaulers) May 15, 2023
At KSL we also continued to look ahead to the 2023 football season with KSL Sports Live anchor Jeremiah Jensen giving his thoughts on a game on Utah’s 2023 schedule that isn’t being talked about enough. We also took a look at the Utes’ week three opponent, Weber State.
Utah Baseball
Utah baseball wrapped up their regular season against the Oregon Ducks last week going 1-2 in the series. The Utes finished 22-32-1 overall and 9-20-1 in conference play.
4️⃣0️⃣2️⃣
Congrats, Jaydo!#GoUtes x @JaydenKiernan pic.twitter.com/zQztw6EaoI
— Utah Baseball (@utahbaseball) May 21, 2023
While not the ending Utah would have wanted, they did have hitter Jayden Kiernan finish the year with a .402 batting average, the first time the Utes have had a hitter over .400 in a season since 2011.
Utah Track and Field
The Utes had 11 athletes qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Western Regional last week. The Utes will begin competition this week.
Utah with 1⃣1⃣ student-athletes qualifying for #NCAATF West Regionals next week.#GoUtes | #UtahTFXC https://t.co/P5FHHnN0E9
— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) May 18, 2023
Additionally, Simone Plourde gave an interview with Erik Boal after becoming Utah’s first 15oom Pac-12 Champion the weekend before.
Our own Simone Plourde catches up with Erik Boal from @DyeStat after becoming our first 1500m @pac12 Champion last weekend! #GoUtes | #UtahTFXCpic.twitter.com/Z7QrAXYzFB
— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) May 19, 2023
Utah Golf
Utah golf wrapped up their season with Javier Barcos taking 41st place in the Morgan Hill Regional last Wednesday.
Javier Barcos' fantastic junior season came to an end with a 41st-place finish at the Morgan Hill Regional on Wednesday.#GoUteshttps://t.co/HTb9sTFiM2
— Utah Mens Golf (@UtesGolf) May 17, 2023
Utah Tennis
Geronimo Espin Buseilman will be representing Utah tennis today in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships. He will be taking on Daniel de Jonge of Pepperdine University with hopes of advancing.
🎾NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH DAY!🎾@GeronimoEspin takes on Daniel de Jonge from Pepperdine in the First Round of the NCAA Singles Championships!
⏰ 11 a.m.
📊https://t.co/dH3Dl4CNs4Good Luck Gero!
#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/fgdFoQ293B— Utah Tennis (@UtahTennis) May 22, 2023
Pac-12 News
It is no secret we’re all still waiting to hear what will happen with the Pac-12’s media rights negotiations. While nothing concrete has been released yet from the conference on that front, they did reveal a few other interesting things last week.
The second was the 2021-22 fiscal year report where the conference had a record year in revenue.
One interesting area of note to watch in the coming weeks is San Diego State who has been rumored for months to be on standby for Pac-12 expansion. In theory, the Aztecs need to let the Mountain West Conference know if they plan on leaving for the Pac-12 by June 30th to avoid the exit fee from doubling.
We’ve seen “deadlines” come and go several times throughout this process for the Pac-12 and while no one, myself included seems to have any solid information this is actually a thing, it does appear to maybe have more legs than most anything else that’s been thrown out there to this date.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
