Football
Running back Kasey Carrier and punter Ben Skaer, both seniors, earned College Sports Madness preseason first-team all-Mountain West honors, the publication announced Friday.
Last season, Carrier broke UNM’s school record for rushing yards with 1,469 yards last season. Skaer was one of the best punters in the nation last year with an average of 43.85 yards per punt.
Other Lobos to earn accolades from College Sports Madness were junior kick returner Chase Clayton, senior offensive tackle Darryl Johnson, junior guard LaMar Bratton, senior defensive lineman Jacori Greer and senior linebacker Dallas Bollema.
Clayton earned second-team all-Mountain West honors while Johnson, Bratton, Greer and Bollema were selected third-team all-Mountain West.
Men’s golf
Senior golfer James Erkenbeck was named to the 2013 All-Nicklaus Team, as voted by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Erkenbeck is one of only 24 golfers across the country to be named to the All-Nicklaus Team.
Earlier this year, Erkenbeck earned Mountain West Player of the Year, was an All-Mountain West Conference selection and was named a PING Division I All-West region honoree.
Erkenbeck led the Lobos to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA championships in May.
Men’s basketball
New Mexico men’s head coach Craig Neal completed his staff with the hiring of Mike Iuzzolino as the director of basketball operations.
Iuzzolino spent last season at Canisius College in New York, where he was in the same position for the Golden Griffins. Prior to Canisius, Iuzzolino was the associate head coach of men’s basketball at Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania for three seasons.
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“I’m very excited for the opportunity to be a part of Coach Neal’s staff,” Iuzzolino said in a release. “I’m ready to be a part of UNM Basketball.”
World University Games
Both Lobo big men took to the court on the opening day of the World University Games in Kazan, Russia on Sunday.
Center Alex Kirk scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high 12 boards in 17 minutes of play to help lead Team USA to a 140-46 victory over the United Arab Emirates.
Team USA’s leading scorer was Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick with 18 points. Kilpatrick will lead the Bearcats into The Pit for against the Lobos in December.
Prior to Team USA’s win, UNM forward Cameron Bairstow, playing for Australia, scored 11 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds to pace the Boomers in a 85-57 victory against the Czech Republic. Bairstow struggled from the floor shooting 5 of 13 (38 percent) and had as many turnovers (four) as assists in a playing a team-high 23 minutes.
Each game can be seen live on ESPN3.com, while ESPNU will show some games live and all contests on tape delay starting at 5 p.m. MDT the day of the games.
