SPORTS digest

Kennedy a finalist for Freshman of the Year

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State kicker Zak Kennedy finished 13th out of 20 for the STATS FCS Freshman of the Year. Kennedy was a first-team All-Missouri Football Valley Conference selection after making a school-record 19 field goals, including a 49-yarder against Illinois State.

Northern Arizona quarterback Case Cookus took home the award.

Four from YSU track win weekly honors

Indianapolis

Hurdler Chad Zallow, high-jumper Arnaldo Morales, weight-thrower Jaynee Corbet and runner Nina Grambling all were named the Horizon League’s Athletes of the Week from their perfomances at Friday’s YSU Icebreaker.

Zallow posted the second-best time in the NCAA in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.89 seconds.Morales has the third-best mark in the nation by clearing 2.14 meters in the high jump, a school record. Corbett took first out of 38 with personal best weight throws of 15.93 meters and 14.14 meters. Grambling won first place in the 60m dash with a time of 7.62 seconds.

YSU returns to action on Jan. 26 when the team hosts the YSU College Invitational.

Penguins sign five to swimming team

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State got five signatures to National Letters of Intent, the school announced Wednesday.

San Antonio native Rihanna Acosta comes in as a butterfly and backstroke swimmer. Also from Texas is Lakeway freestyler Yalor Bishop. Saralynn Davis hails from Rising Sun Maryland as a freestyle and backstroke swimmer.

The most local of the five is freestyler and backstroker Paris Krug, who went to Kiski in the Pittsburgh area. Last is Michigan product Allison Lenning, who competes in the freestyle.

WVU’s Holgerson to return in 2016

Morgantown, W.Va

Coach Dana Holgorsen will return for a sixth season at West Virginia.

Athletic director Shane Lyons made the announcement Wednesday night after a previously planned review of Holgorsen and the football program following a 7-5 regular season.

Holgorsen is 35-28 in five seasons. Since joining the Big 12 in 2012, the Mountaineers’ best finish was a tie for fourth.

West Virginia lost four straight games to ranked opponents in October, followed by a four-game winning streak in November.

West Virginia plays Arizona State (6-6) in the Cactus Bowl in Phoenix on Jan. 2.

Holgorsen’s best results came in 2011. That year, West Virginia beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl with players inherited from predecessor Bill Stewart. The Mountaineers have gone 25-25 since.

Holgorsen’s winning percentage of 55.5 ranks eighth among the last 10 coaches at West Virginia and has two years left on a six-year contract extension he signed in 2012. Holgorsen, 44, stands to earn $2.9 million next season, including a base salary of $250,000. ESPN first reported that Holgorsen would return.

Bruins end losing skid against Canadiens

MONTREAL

Loui Eriksson and Landon Ferraro scored third-period goals 42 seconds apart and Patrice Bergeron added a milestone score to help the Boston Bruins rally past the Montreal 3-1 Wednesday night and end a seven-game regular-season skid against the rival Canadiens.

Bergeron’s third-period goal pushed him past Milt Schmidt for 11th on the Bruins’ career list with 576 points.

That score capped a three-goal rally by Boston. Eriksson tied the game 1-1 with his 11th goal 7:53 into the final period, and Ferraro scored on a wrist shot 42 seconds later.

Paul Byron scored for Montreal 8:49 into the first, and the Canadiens lost their season-high third straight game.

Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots to help Boston win

Staff/wire report