- Weber State won four Big Sky weekly awards in one week, Utah State's Asher Cunningham and Ivy Nystrom took Pac-12 honors, BYU's Bear Bachmeier won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and UVU's Martin Montealegre earned a Big West award. Every Utah conference honor we found from Oct. 12 to 15, with the reason each conference gave.
- Kelli Jo Burgess, Jose Luis Martin Montealegre, Tatum Trout, Ran Sawyer, Ella Rusick, Annalyse Shimada, Ziya Munyer, Lily Blum, Trevian Tribble, Asher Cunningham, Ivy Nystrom, Olivia Ruy, Bear Bachmeier, BYU Football, UVU Men's Soccer, Utah State Football, Weber State Football, Weber State Volleyball, Weber State Women's Soccer, Utah State Aggies Women's Soccer connect back to Utah Homegrown and the wider olympic sports picture.
- The story is backed by 29 sources and a visible last-verified date.
October 17, 2026
October 17, 2026
5 min / 1,127 words
29 official links
Utah athletes won eight official conference player-of-the-week awards announced between Monday, October 12, and Thursday, October 15, 2026, and half of them went to one school. Weber State won four Big Sky Conference awards in volleyball, football, women's soccer and men's cross country. Each entry below gives the reason the conference gave, with links to the athlete's profile and team page.
Weber State: four Big Sky awards in one week
Ziya Munyer, volleyball. The Big Sky named the sophomore middle blocker from Rathdrum, Idaho, its Defensive Player of the Week on October 12. "She totaled 11 blocks on the weekend and also contributed 10 kills and three digs," the conference said, calling it her first weekly award of the season. Weber State lost 3-1 at Utah Tech on October 8 and won 3-1 at Southern Utah on October 10, the two matches Weber State's release named. Ziya Munyer's profile · Weber State volleyball
Trevian Tribble, football. The fifth-year safety from Fontana, California, shared the Big Sky's Defensive Player of the Week award after Weber State's 38-27 win over Idaho on October 10. The conference credited him with "two interceptions and five tackles," the first interceptions of his career in his 41st game. Trevian Tribble's profile · Weber State football
Lily Blum, women's soccer. The senior from Salt Lake City, an Olympus High School graduate, was the Big Sky's Offensive Player of the Week after recording six points in Weber State's perfect 2-0 week and accounting for three of its six goals, per the conference. Weber State won 5-0 over Utah Tech on October 8 and 1-0 over Southern Utah on October 11. Lily Blum's profile · Weber State women's soccer
Jake Peterson, men's cross country. The senior from Ogden was named the Big Sky's Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week on October 13 after finishing fourth individually over 8 kilometers in 23:54.0. The conference called it his first weekly award of the season and Weber State's first this season.
Utah State: two Pac-12 honors in its first Pac-12 fall
Asher Cunningham, football. The Pac-12 named the junior inside linebacker its defensive player of the week on October 12 after "a career-high 17 tackles, 2 TFL, half a sack, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery" in Utah State's 17-16 comeback win over Washington State. The release added that he ranked tied for second in the Pac-12 with 52 tackles and led the league with three forced fumbles. Utah State said on October 13 that he was also named the Walter Camp Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week, the first weekly Walter Camp award for a Utah State player. Asher Cunningham's profile · Utah State football
Ivy Nystrom, women's soccer. The sophomore goalkeeper from Phoenix was the Pac-12's Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row, after shutouts in a 2-0 win over Washington State and a 1-0 win at Boise State with four saves. Utah State's release said those were her seventh and eighth clean sheets, second in the nation, and her league-leading third weekly defensive award of the season. Ivy Nystrom's profile · Utah State women's soccer
BYU: Bear Bachmeier and the defensive line
Bear Bachmeier, football. The Big 12 named BYU's sophomore quarterback its co-Offensive Player of the Week, his second offensive honor of the season, after the 24-10 win over Iowa State, in which BYU's recap credits him with 22-of-30 passing for 329 yards and two touchdowns plus 109 rushing yards. The Big 12 also named BYU its Defensive Line of the Week for holding Iowa State to 10 points and 200 yards, and Utah its Offensive Line of the Week after 541 yards, 283 of them rushing, against Kansas. Bear Bachmeier's profile · BYU football
In volleyball, the Big 12 put BYU middle blocker Kelli Jo Burgess on its weekly Starting Seven after she led the league with 2.33 blocks per set in sweeps of Houston and West Virginia. Kelli Jo Burgess's profile
Utah Valley: Martin Montealegre
Jose Luis Martin Montealegre, men's soccer. The Big West named the senior from Malaga, Spain, its Offensive Player of the Week on October 12 after "a goal and an assist in two wins": an assist in the 2-1 win at Cal State Fullerton and a goal in the 3-0 win over Sacramento State. The release put his season total at four goals and three assists. Martin Montealegre's profile · Utah Valley men's soccer
Earlier in October: the Oct. 5-8 honors
The week before brought 11 conference honors to Utah athletes. Weber State defensive end Porter Small (Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week, three sacks at Cal Poly) and Southern Utah's Ran Sawyer (Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week, a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown against Utah Tech) won football awards. Utah Tech's Annalyse Shimada shared Big Sky volleyball defensive honors with 17 blocks, and Utah Tech's Ella Rusick and Southern Utah goalkeeper Tatum Trout won the Big Sky's women's soccer awards; Southern Utah said Trout's was its first Big Sky defensive soccer award since 2018. In the Pac-12, Ivy Nystrom won the first of her two straight defensive awards and Utah State outside hitter Olivia Ruy of Salt Lake City was the Offensive Player of the Week after a career-high 25 kills against Colorado State. BYU's Faletau Satuala (football), Elli Mortensen and Kelli Jo Burgess (volleyball) won Big 12 awards, Burgess's third career Defensive Player of the Week award, the most by any BYU player, and UVU freshman Oliver Watts was the Big West's Rookie of the Week.
What this list does not include
Only official conference awards are counted here. School sponsor awards are left out, and so are national honors, though they are noted beside a conference award. The Scenic West Athletic Conference, home to SLCC, Snow College and USU Eastern, published no written weekly-awards release for either week that we could find, and the NJCAA's awards page did not load when checked, so no junior college honors appear this week. We found no RMAC weekly award for a Westminster athlete in either week's releases.
Key facts:
- Honors announced Oct. 12-15, 2026: eight individual conference awards to Utah athletes
- Weber State (Big Sky, 4): Ziya Munyer (volleyball, defensive), Trevian Tribble (football, co-defensive), Lily Blum (women's soccer, offensive), Jake Peterson (men's cross country)
- Utah State (Pac-12, 2): Asher Cunningham (football, 17 tackles vs. Washington State), Ivy Nystrom (women's soccer, two shutouts)
- BYU (Big 12, 1): Bear Bachmeier (football, 329 passing and 109 rushing yards vs. Iowa State)
- Utah Valley (Big West, 1): Jose Luis Martin Montealegre (men's soccer, goal and assist)
- Team awards: BYU Big 12 Defensive Line of the Week; Utah Big 12 Offensive Line of the Week
- Previous week (Oct. 5-8): 11 Utah conference honors