Richaud Gittens | Senior Guard | Weber State University Men’s Basketball
Richaud Gittens is taking his senior year by the horns. He landed spot on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the day by slamming his first dunk of the 2016-17 season during the Wildcats first home game against Antelope Valley on Nov. 11.
Gittens has played in every game of his three-year career with the Wildcats, scoring a total of 664 total career points, 256 rebounds, 76 steals and 86 3-pointers.
Entering his senior season, Gittens has played in 96 games, been a part of two Big Sky Championship teams — one as a freshman in the 2013-14 season and as a junior in the 2015-16 season — and has made two NCAA appearances in his college career thus far.
Even after the transition from the high school to the college level, Gittens never missed a step, seeing action in all 31 games, and starting in three, during his freshman season.
As a sophomore, Gittens ranked 12th in the conference in free throw percentage at a staggering 77.7 percent.
Throughout his college career, he has been a stalwart member of Weber State’s men’s basketball team by excelling in all aspects of basketball and using his well-rounded abilities to support his fellow teammates.
Gittens and his team will be on the road for their next four games but will return to the Dee Events Center on Dec. 3, as they take on Denver.
Brandon Semenuk | Professional Mountain Biker
Brandon Semenuk is considered one of the greatest freestyle bike riders to have ever lived. At the ripe age of 25, he is incredibly influential in developing a sport that is making its mark on popular culture.
Raised in Whistler, British Columbia, where he was first sponsored at age seven and first competed in the BC Cup at age nine, Semenuk got bored of the cross-country racing routine and decided to compete in freestyle mountain biking at 14.
Since then, he has claimed podium positions at formidable events such as the FMB World Tour, the Red Bull Rampage and the X-Games.
Semenuk has been criticized for being a robotic, emotionless machine. Through his titles, he has proven that is he is the most surgical performer of all other riders on a competitive, freestyle mountain biking stage.
Dirt Magazine raved about Semenuk in a feature story about his upbringing in the heart of the alpine sports world.
“I believe the reason for some of the sentiments is that he is so damn in control and does things so well that he desensitizes spectators to the technicality and difficulty of his runs,” Seb Kemp, writer for Dirt Magazine, said.
Semenuk leaves nothing to chance by mastering all of his skills before he performs them. He makes sure he is always competitive by keeping himself on the track instead of at parties where the rest of his counterparts are.
Recently, Semenuk has taken great interest in creating some of the most creative viral videos in his genre and continues to reinvent himself and the sport he competes in.
