TRIESTE, Italy – BYU men’s basketball got in one last workout in the plaza of the Duomo de Milano early Monday morning before jumping on a bus for the four-hour drive to Venice, where they spent the day exploring The Floating City.

Upon arriving on the outskirts of Venice, the group was met by a fleet of water taxis that transported them to St. Mark’s Square through Canal Grande. While traveling through the canal, they were able to take in the more than 170 buildings that line the water, most of which were built from the 13th to 18th century.

Once in Venice, they took in a glassblowing demonstration where the artist created a glass horse in a matter of minutes. A city tour followed where the local guide expounded on the history of Venice as they took in all the sights.

Following the tour, the group was given the next few hours to explore the city on their own before heading to Trieste. Members of the travel party chose to go on the world-famous gondola rides, eat at local restaurants and purchase souvenirs.

The group arrived in Trieste, a deep-water port in Northeastern Italy just miles away from the border of Slovenia, late on Monday evening. A late wake-up call was followed by a tour of the Grotta Gignante. The group took on the 500-step descent and ascent adventure to explore the world’s largest show cave.

The Cougars improved to 2-0 on the trip later in the evening with an 84-73 victory over Pallacanestro Trieste inside Allianz Dome. BYU knocked down 19 3-pointers as they shot 44.3 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from behind the arc.

Jaxson Robinson led the way for the Cougars as the junior scored 26 points, going 10-of-17 from the field including 6-of-13 from 3-point range. Trevin Knell finished with 15 points knocking down five 3-pointers with Trey Stewart and Spencer Johnson also reaching double figures with 10 a piece.

The group next travels to the hometown of Cougar legend Krešimir Ćosić, Zadar, Croatia, on Wednesday to take part in a basketball clinic and face KK Zadar.

Rooks finishes 10th in World Championship steeplechase race

BUDAPEST, Hungary –BYU distance runner Kenneth Rooks placed 10th in the Men’s 3000-meter steeplechase finals Tuesday at the World Athletics Championships with a time of 8:20.02.

“Kenneth was a great representative of BYU and the United States of America,” said BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone. “He came to this thing as a junior in college and made it to the finals in amazing fashion, showing that he’s going to be very good for a very long time.”

The preliminary round took place Saturday, with Rooks taking first in his heat with a 8:23.66 time to beat out former World and Olympic champion El Bakkali (Morocco) – who later on took the victory in Tuesday’s finals – by 0.001 seconds.

In Tuesday’s final round, Rooks toed the line with world record-holder Lamecha Girma (Ethiopia) and aforementioned champion El Bakkali. As the gun went off, Rooks floated around the front of the pack. Maintaining a 67 second per-lap pace, he managed to hold a fourth-place position for the first 900 meters to become a steady force in the competition.

Just starting into the second lap, Rooks fell to 14th before surging back to sixth just a hundred meters later. Proving his consistency, the NCAA and USA champion found his footing around the 11th-place spot for a majority of the back end of the competition. Bakkali took the victory with a time of 8:03.53. Approaching the finish line, Rooks launched himself to gain a final time of 8:20.02 for a 10th-place finish.

“We’ve just scratched the surface of what he’s capable of,” Eyestone said. “I’m really proud of the guts that he displayed. 8:11 is not out of the realm of what he can do. This has set him up for some big things in the future.”

Softball hires new assistant coach

BYU softball head coach Gordon Eakin has announced the hiring of assistant coach Ken Brooke.

“We are excited to add Ken to our softball staff,” Eakin said. “He comes highly recommended and has worked with great hitters during his career in baseball and softball. Ken will help our development in all areas but will be instrumental in our offensive output.”

Brooke spent the last two seasons with Auburn softball as its hitting coordinator/coach. From 2021 to 2022, the Tigers almost quadrupled their home run total, going from 22 to 86 long bombs on the year.

Auburn also raised its slugging percentage by over 200 points, posting a .557 percentage compared to .338 the year before. He coached SEC freshman of the year Bri Ellis, who tallied 20 home runs during her freshman campaign.

In Brooke’s second season, Auburn recorded 43 wins and finished third in the SEC, winning four postseason games and scoring 33 runs, the Tigers’ highest totals since 2017.

Prior to his time at Auburn, Brooke served as the hitting and outfield coach for Chandler Gilbert College’s softball team and the hitting coach for both the varsity and junior varsity baseball teams at Ottawa University in Surprise, Arizona, helping the Spirit see similar results in batting average and slugging percentage from the year prior.

Certified with On Base University, a professional organization dedicated to study how the human body functions in relation to baseball and softball, Brooke has worked with Major League Baseball players and hitting coaches, given hitting talks across the country, written professional baseball and softball swing mechanics books and helped the Texas Rangers with their system-wide hitting guide.

Among the programs he used to track hitters’ progress and outcomes are video analysis, functional movement screens, Blast, Rapsodo, Win Reality and K-vest 3D motion. Brooke also has experience as a head baseball coach at both the high school and junior college level.

Brooke played collegiate baseball at Lincoln Junior College and Bradley University. He went on to serve as a player/manager in a semi-professional league, winning four consecutive championships and one batting title. Brooke also competed on a state championship men’s fastpitch softball team for six years.

Petersen earned Big 12 honor

IRVING, Texas — BYU women’s soccer senior defender Kendell Petersen was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.

No. 13 BYU started its inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference with two home games against No. 21 Saint Louis and Cal State Fullerton. The Cougars secured two wins on South Field, notching seven goals and 10 assists between the two games. BYU defeated Saint Louis 3-2, and Fullerton 4-1.

Petersen started both games for the Cougars last week, with 133 minutes on the pitch. The North Ogden, Utah native tallied two assists, one in each match. As a key defender on the back line, Petersen took three shots in the game against the Titans and had several defensive stops to hold Fullerton to just one goal.

Petersen is joined by Kansas State’s Jazmin Brown as co-Defensive Player of the Week. Brown started in both games for K-State last week, tallying her first-ever brace against Green Bay on Thursday, Aug. 17.

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