Wells, Nichols and Hopcroft Named CU Athletes of the Week Presented by Arrow

BOULDER -- Highlight-worthy performances by football's Carson Wells and soccer's Shanade Hopcroft, along with Abby Nichols individual win while leading women's cross country to a first place finish earned the three CU Athletes of the Week presented by Arrow. 

The Colorado Buffaloes 34-0 win over the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday at Folsom Field was led in part by Wells.  The junior linebacker had five tackles, four for a loss and one sack.  After Trevor Woods game-changing play, Wells added to the mix when he intercepted a short pass attempt on the right flat and returned it 50-yards for a touchdown to give the Buffs a commanding 19-0 lead. His interception was one of three touchdowns in less than five minutes along with Woods' blocked punt and touchdown as well as Brendon Lewis' 62-yard touchdown pass to Brenden Rice.

The Buffs soccer team came back to tie No.13 Stanford 2-2 at Prentup Field on Sunday. They were led by senior midfielder Hopcroft, who had a goal and an assist. In the 64th minute, Hopcroft went airborne and made a sensational bicycle kick that went into the goal. This play was No.2 on SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays. This was the first draw between the schools in 13 matches. Hopcroft leads the team with five goals and eight assists (18 points) on the season.

Women's cross country finished in first place at the Pre-Nationals in Tallahassee, Fla. last Friday. Nichols won the race in a time of 19:46.4 for her first collegiate victory. The All-American was 40th at the first split, moved up to 15th by the next split and sixth at the halfway point. She eventually won by 1.1 seconds over Arkansas' Lauren Gregory. The Buffs won the race by 95 points scoring 54 to second-place Utah's total of 149.

Football will head to the Bay Area to take on California on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. MT.  Soccer will face Oregon Thursday at 3 p.m. then host Oregon State on Sunday at 12 p.m., for senior day. Women's cross country will run next on Friday October 29 at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.