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Bronco gymnastics snags No. 19 spot in 2009 national pre-season coaches poll

The 2009 Women’s Gymnastics Pre-Season Coaches Poll was released this week marking the Boise State Broncos as the No. 19 team in the country. The Broncos moved up four spots from their 2008 final season ranking of No. 23.

Seeking to mold their team into a national contender, Bronco co-head coaches Tina Bird and Neil Resnick have built a challenging 2009 schedule. The Broncos will face 17 opponents, none of which finished the 2008 season below a No. 43 ranking. In their first meet alone, the nine-team Cancun Classic, Boise State is set to face seven top-40 teams, including five which are ranked in the 2009 pre-season top 15.

Two opponents, Stanford and LSU, were part of the 2008 Super Six at the NCAA national meet.

“We’re hoping to be ready early this year, to turn heads at the Cancun Classic,” Bird said. “There will be a lot of top schools there and we fully expect to be competitive.”

The Broncos will face tough teams at the Chicago Style meet. Host team Illinois is No. 16,  Michigan State is No. 17. and Illinois-Chicago is No. 40.

“The Chicago meet will be great. We will get exposure in the Midwest and we also get head-to-head competition with closely ranked teams,” Bird said.

The weekend after Chicago, the Broncos face No. 4 UCLA as well as No. 26 Washington in Los Angeles.

Facing a tough travel schedule, the Broncos will trek to Cancun, Mexico, California, Illinois and Utah for seven different meets.

Defending Western Athletic Conference champions, the Broncos also face a tough conference schedule, including No. 32 Southern Utah, No. 33 San Jose State and No. 41 Sacramento State. The 2009 WAC Championships will be held at Sacramento State Mar. 21.

“The WAC is getting stronger every year,” Bird said. “We have to be sharp. We are not overlooking any WAC teams.”

The Broncos’ home season will have three competitive meets as well as one exhibition intrasquad meet in conjunction with the wrestling match against Cal State-Bakersfield Jan. 18. Their first competitive meet at Taco Bell Arena will be Jan. 30 against Utah State. Their second meet will be Mar. 6 against Brigham Young and Cal State – Fullerton while their final meet will be Mar. 14 against Southern Utah.

Mark Tichenor named a 2008 USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award winner

Boise State University women’s tennis coach Mark Tichenor was named the Intermountain sectional winner of the USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award.

The USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award honors an ITA coach for significant contributions in developing community-based tennis programs through community centers, schools, parks, community tennis associations, inner city, suburban or rural programs.

Tichenor enters his 10th season at the helm of the Boise State women’s program and has led his team to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons. He also holds a 157-60 record as head coach of Boise State.

Also awarded was the USTA/ITA Campus Recreation Award which honors an ITA coach who has done an outstanding job implementing recreational tennis programs on campus in an effort to grow tennis participation.

COMPILED BY ARBITER STAFF

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