Recruiting News - Olympic Sports

[AztecBuff]

Looks like the women's cross country and track and field teams have picked up their 3rd verbal commitment for the frosh class of the 2026/27 academic year. She is distance runner Emma Hoffman, who currently attends and competes at Otsego HS, which is located in the town of the same name in Michigan.

Welcome and congrats to her!




Her prep results:
Cross country - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/27148336/cross-country/all
Track and field - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/27148336/track-and-field/all

 

[AztecBuff]

Thanks to one of my main sources for track and field commits (https://www.milesplit.com/signings?year=2025&sortBy=college&collegeSearch=university+of+colorado ), and confirmed by his post below, the men's team has picked up a local commitment for the 2025/26 academic year in hurdler / sprinter Teagan Malcom, who currently attends and competes with Longmont HS.

Already the defending 4A State Champion in the 300 meter hurdles last season, looks like he's continued to improve, running almost a second and a half quicker in his last race a couple days ago (setting a new PR) than he did when we won at State last year.

Welcome and congrats to him!




His prep results - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/20053971/track-and-field/all

 

[AztecBuff]

Looks like the men's track and field and cross country teams have picked up a new verbal in George Wyllie, who will be coming to CU from Tauranga Boys' College in Tauranga, New Zealand. Per the World Athletics link below, looks like he turns 18 this July, so assume he may be a Buff this coming academic year (2025/26), but can't find anything confirming this.

Welcome and congrats to him!




A few links with more info on him:

His World Athletics page - https://worldathletics.org/athletes/new-zealand/george-wyllie-15018987

A page which shows his results in New Zealand championships and his best times at various distances - https://www.anzrankings.org.nz/site/profiles_con/athlete/593720

An article from what I'd guess might be a local newspaper - https://sunlive.co.nz/news/339497-tauranga-young-gun-with-the-world-at-is-feet.html

 

[AztecBuff]

I'd call this unconfirmed (I haven't seen Coach Mahoney post any general celebratory post as he sometimes does), but per the below volleyball looks to have received their 3rd commit (and 1st in awhile) for the frosh class of 2026. She is 6'2" middle blocker Kensley Hennessy, who is from Rancho Santa Fe, California and currently attends and competes at Cathedral Catholic HS in San Diego, while also playing in the Wave Volleyball club program.

Welcome and congrats to her!




A few links with more on her:

A recruiting page (that includes some highlight videos) - https://sportsrecruits.com/athlete/kensley_hennessy2

Her HS stats per Maxpreps (Looks to have been at her current school for 1 year after living in Reno previously) - https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/san-die...ssey/volleyball/stats/?careerid=5gk5fgi6p0n33

School website article after she helped her team (with 5 kills and 5 blocks) win the state championship game this past November - https://cchsdonsathletics.com/news/...e-championship-with-dominant-performance.aspx

(As it usually the case with anything I learn about volleyball, thanks to the Volleytalk forum for giving me the info and link to the above Instagram post.)

 

[AztecBuff]

Per the below posts, looks like the women's track and field and cross country teams have picked up 2 verbal commitments, 1 for the coming academic year and 1 for 2026/27. (I found the below via Coach Carlson's Instagram story, so would say these are somewhat confirmed.) The 2 are:

• For 2025/26, they have picked up Sofia Francini, who has been attending and competing as a prep at Calabasas HS in the city of the same name in Southern California. (From some posts I saw, looks like she also competes with the Codeblack Elite Track Club.)
• And, for the following academic year, the teams have a verbal from Rowan Saacke, who competes with and attends Bridgeland HS in Cypress, TX. (Last month, she set a BIG (>40 second) PR in the 3200 meter run to win the Texas largest (6A) school state title.)

Welcome and congrats to them!

rowan on Instagram: "I couldn’t be more excited to announce my commitment to the University of Colorado to continue my academic and athletic careers! I’m incredibly grateful for my family’s support throughout this process. Thank you to my amazing tea

1,326 likes, 180 comments - rowan_s_xc on June 10, 2025: "I couldn’t be more excited to announce my commitment to the University of Colorado to continue my academic and athletic careers! I’m incredibly grateful for my family’s support throughout this process. Thank you to my amazing teammates...

www.instagram.com

Their prep results:

Ms. Francini:
Cross country - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/18876985/cross-country/
Track and field - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/18876985/track-and-field/all

Ms. Saacke:
Cross country - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/26465550/cross-country/all
Track and field - https://www.athletic.net/athlete/26465550/track-and-field/all

 

[AztecBuff]

Usually never see anything about ski team commitments until they release a season preview article in late fall that includes all their roster additions. But, from the below, the team has announced a late commitment for next academic year in women's alpine skier Paige DeHart***. She hails from Sun Valley, Idaho.
(***The below team post picture has her last name as DeHeart, but every link I could find (including her Instagram and the post's text section) has her name as DeHart.)

OFFICIAL Welcome and congrats to her!




A few links I could find for her:

U.S. skiing profile page - https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/athletes/paige-dehart

Her international (FIS) profile page - https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/athlete-biography.html?sectorcode=al&competitorid=260583

An article on her - https://skiracing.com/paige-dehart-the-female-rookie-on-the-stifel-us-ski-team/

 

[AztecBuff]

Because of the time of the year, wanted to copy and paste what I wrote and quoted around this time the last couple of years (starting in 2023) -

"
Did just want to briefly note that I assume all the Olympic sport coaches (except for lacrosse***) are probably busy exercising their typing and phoning fingers, as June 15th is the 1st date that they may begin directly (and I believe indirectly) contacting student-athletes who will be prep juniors next academic year (AKA 2027 college freshman class), which among other things can include verbal offers.

Per https://www.ncsasports.org/ncaa-eligibility-center/recruiting-rules, major dates and what can be done when for the Olympic sports (at least that CU offers) include

"
All other Division 1 sports NCAA recruiting rules

• Any time: Athletes can receive non-recruiting materials from college coaches, such as questionnaires, camp brochures, nonathletic institutional publications and NCAA educational materials published by the NCAA.
• June 15 after sophomore year: Coaches can extend verbal scholarship offers, call athletes and send athletes all forms of private electronic correspondence, including text messages, instant messages, direct messages and emails, as well as all recruiting materials.
• August 1 before junior year: Athletes can begin taking official visits, and they can also arrange unofficial visits with a school’s athletic department and meet with the coach while on campus. Coaches can begin conducting off-campus contact with athletes at their residence or school.

"

***Lacrosse and softball were the 1st sports to try to reign in recruiting before the above general rules were established, and last I heard both those sports have elected to keep their later start date, September 1st of a prep student-athlete's junior year, for any contact, offers, visits, etc. with prep juniors.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

Per my main source for soccer commitments (https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...lorado/clgid-205/tab-commitments#sectionblock ), and confirmed by her below Instagram post, that sport is the 1st Olympic one at CU I know about who has received a verbal commitment for the 2027/28 academic year frosh class. She is local 5'6" mid-fielder Annabelle Rudden, who attends and competes with Cherry Creek HS, while also playing club ball with Colorado Rush.

Welcome and congrats to her!




A few links with more info on her:

Maxpreps stats with her HS team - https://www.maxpreps.com/co/greenwo...en/soccer/girls/stats/?careerid=i7oq7pjde7p33

Annabelle Rudden on Hudl

Watch Annabelle Rudden's videos and highlights on Hudl. More info: Real Colorado - RC National '09 Girls / Centennial, CO

www.hudl.com

Her Topdrawersoccer page (Needs a premium subscription to view much of it) - https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/annabelle-rudden/pid-169926

 

[66BUFF]

• For 2025/26, they have picked up Sofia Francini, who has been attending and competing as a prep at Calabasas HS in the city of the same name in Southern California. (From some posts I saw, looks like she also competes with the Codeblack Elite Track Club.

[Verse 5: Tha Comrades]

Pistol whip they ass till they open up the safe in Calabasas
Kick in yo assets, all yo dough and yo baguettes
Before I have to go to torturin'
Robberies been the thang since paroled out of Corcoran

 

[AztecBuff]

When I mentioned in my last post of this thread that soccer had the 1st known commitment for the 2027/28 frosh class, I missed that volleyball's Coach Mahoney had made 2 social media posts noting commits for that class (1 yesterday and 1 early today). (Of course, he can't name anyone, so the posts are generic.)

Per both the Volleytalk 2027 commitment thread (https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/103706/2027-ncaa-d1-indoor-commits, page 20) and my main non-social media source for volleyball commitments Rich Kern (https://www.richkern.com/vb/recruits/indexsub.asp?Div=DI&VBYear=2027 ), the 2 new vball commits are:

• 5'6" defensive specialist / libero (and maybe setter***?) Mya Capistrano, who attends and has already competed with for 2 seasons Eleonor Roosevelt HS in Eastvale (Southern) California, while also playing club ball with Forza 1 North. (***Both her Instagram account and HUDL just list her as a libero, so I assume that's what she plans to specialize in in college, but per the Maxpreps stats linked to below she has also averaged at least 6 assists per match with her high school team, so at least at that level does also set.)
• 6'1" outside hitter Grace Pinegar, who is at Plano East HS in Plano Texas, while also competing in Dallas Skyline's club program.

Welcome and congrats to them!

(I can not find any social media post that confirms either of these commitments via that method, but since Coach Mahoney has posted about 2 (non-named) new commits and a couple generally reliable sources indicate these are the 2 young women who will be Buffs in a couple years, I'd say these are somewhat but not 100% confirmed.)


Links with a little more on each:

Ms. Capistrano:

High school stats per Maxpreps - https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/eastval...rano/volleyball/stats/?careerid=hlmsk7tsohvi2

Mya Capistrano on Hudl

Watch Mya Capistrano's videos and highlights on Hudl. More info: Forza 1 - FORZA1 NORTH 16 ONE / L / Class of 2027 / CA

www.hudl.com

Ms. Pinegar:

High school stats per Maxpreps - https://www.maxpreps.com/tx/plano/p...egar/volleyball/stats/?careerid=i1ngqr6bsonsc

Grace Pinegar on Hudl

Watch Grace Pinegar's videos and highlights on Hudl. More info: Plano East High School - Girls' Varsity Volleyball / OH / Class of 2027 / Plano, TX

www.hudl.com