Campus notes

BYU

TRACK & FIELD: Chris Carter, of the USA and BYU, won a spot in the semifinals in the 400-meter hurdles Wednesday at the World Junior Championships in Bejing.

Carter, who will be a Cougar sophomore, sprinted into the lead in his heat qualifying him in the 400-meter hurdles. Carter ran the second fastest time of the day (51.49 seconds) and was only nine hundredths of a second behind the leader Kranendonk Marius of the Netherlands.

Carter was an All-American at BYU and finished third at the NCAA National Track Meet. There he finished in a time of 49.19 seconds. Carter will compete in the semifinals on Thursday.

Southern Utah

SOFTBALL: Southern Utah University's softball team has signed Norian James, an infielder from Layton, to a national letter of Intent, head coach Jodi Hermanek has announced. James, a 5-foot-4 switch-hitter who prepped at Northridge High School, spent last season at Community College of Southern Nevada as a redshirt. During her high school career she was a two-time all-region selection.

GYMNASTICS: Southern Utah University's gymnastics team has claimed its sixth-straight academic national championship and its seventh such honor in the last eight years. The Thunderbirds, who posted a team grade-point-average of 3.65, finished nearly a half- grade-point ahead of second-place Winona State University. Eight individual Thunderbirds earned academic all-America honors. led by senior Nicole Cummings, junior Jess Langley and sophomore Kim Marquardt who all compiled perfect 4.0 GPAs.

SOCCER: Southern Utah's women's soccer team begins the 2006 season this Saturday as the Thunderbirds travel to Provo for an exhibition match at in-state foe Brigham Young. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. at South Field (3,000) on the BYU campus. SUU is slated to open the 2006 regular season with two road matches, beginning at Boise State Aug. 25, followed by a date at Idaho State Aug. 27.

Weber State

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Weber State women's basketball coach Carla Taylor has announced the hiring of Eliot Reynolds as a new assistant. Reynolds will coach the post players and assist in recruiting for the Wildcats. Last year, Reynolds was the varsity assistant coach at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho.

Westminster

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The assistant women's basketball coach at Westminster College, Bill Rice, has accepted a position with Universal Athletic Services and will not return to the institution this fall.

Rice, of Havre, MT, was the women's assistant the past two years for the school. Westminster will begin a search to fill the vacancy immediately.

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