Impressive honor for Cougs’ Bucannon
Deone Bucannon, senior safety at Washington State, has been named the winner of the 2013 College Football Performance Awards Elite Defensive Back Trophy.
The organization announced that Bucannon earned the award for his career as a Cougars defensive back. He led the Pac-12 with 114 tackles, the most by a Cougar since James Darling made 136 in 1996. The Fairfield, Calif., native also tied for the conference lead with six interceptions, most by a Cougar since Erik Coleman’s seven in 2003, and had team highs of three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Bucannon finished his career fourth in career tackles (384), second in career solo tackles (268) and third with 15 career interceptions. He finished the 2013 season as the NCAA’s active career leader in solo tackles, tied for the lead in career interceptions and fifth in total career tackles. His 15 career interceptions are the most in FBS.
Bucannon , who picked up a number of All-America honors this past season, including first team by the Associated Press and Athlon Sports, is the first Cougar to earn a CFPA postseason honor.
Baseball
Four former Spokane Indians – catcher Jorge Alfaro, pitcher CJ Edwards, infielder Rougned Odor and third-baseman Joey Gallo – have been named to the annual MLB.com list of top-100 minor league prospects. Alfaro and Odor were 2011 Indians. Alfaro, considered a top-three catching prospect, was listed at No. 39. Odor, listed at No. 59, split time between Advanced A and Double-A last season and hit .305 with 45 doubles, 11 home runs, 78 RBIs and 32 stolen bases. Edwards and Gallo were Indians in 2012. Edwards, listed at 42, helped lead the Advanced A Daytona Cubs to the Florida State League championship with a 1.86 ERA with 155 strike outs in 116 1/3 innings. The power-hitting Gallo, listed at 92, led all minor leaguers with 40 home runs to win the Joe Bauman Home Run Award last season as a 19-year-old.
College scene
Maya Jansen, an Alabama sophomore from Freeman, has been named the first Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the 2014 season. Jansen went undefeated in singles against opponents from No. 15 Northwestern, DePaul and Iowa to win the Wildcat Winter Classic. She also won two doubles matches, one against DePaul’s 38th-ranked duo.
• Austin Campbell, a freshman goalie from Spokane on the Milwaukee School of Engineering hockey team, is ranked fourth in NCAA Division III in goals-against average at 1.41 and is eighth in save percentage at .942.