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Show -. BEST PLAYER? By SHELLEY B LUND ELL A young Farmington woman may be the best athlete attending the University Univer-sity of Utah. Her name is Lori Parrish and in her two years at the University of Utah she has made headlines from Caiifornia-tp New Jersey and all -conference teams in every sport in which she competes. THOSE sports include volleyball, in which she has been named all-conference the past two years, basketball, basket-ball, in which she was a league nominee for Kodak All-American, and track where she placed eighth in the nation in the high jump as a freshman. She was, incidentally, named to the all-conference basketball and track teams those years. BUT PERHAPS what is most outstanding about Lori is that in spite of all the Lori Parrish of Farmington is considered one of the top women athletes around. She excels in several sports. "pomp and circumstance" over her athletic ability, she remains a friendly, down-to-earth woman, who is more likely to giggle than gloat when being praised about her talent. Lori is almost as well-known well-known for her wardrobe and nickname as for her sports prowess. Because more than talent makes Lori stand out on a volleyball or basketball court. That sweep of strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a bow and a look of femininity -that is always present, no matter how aggressive the game may be, has gained a lot of attention, too. WHETHER she is playing in the "big game" or on the practice court, Lori is a fashionplate complete with matching bow for her outfit and polished fingernails. Those smiling good looks have won over many a skeptical skep-tical fan, and her bubbly personality per-sonality has earned her the nickname of "Dearheart." But then Lori came to the University of Utah with a built-in fan club including her mother, Maurine, sisters Pam. Pat, Eileen and Jo, brother Rusty and an assortment assort-ment of 18 nephews and nieces. Lori's entourage can include any or all of them plus friends, uncles, aunts, her fiance, Carey Wolcott, and even the mayor of Farmington. Far-mington. MAURINE Parrish plans her vacations around Lori's sports schedules and travels to any game between Logan and Provo. She has also fiown to Minnesota and California to watch Lori compete in the national basketball and track championships, and to Cincinnati, Cin-cinnati, Ohio to see four of her daughters compete in the AAU softball tournament. Sometimes the schedules get cut pretty close. When Lori was a senior in high school the Parrishes had planned a trip to Hawaii. Lori's sisters were enlisted as taxi drivers as they picked up Lori following her volleyball game in Tooele, zipped to the airport just in time to make the flight, and picked her up from the airport following the trip to whisk her to another volleyball game at Cyprus. THE PARRISHES are almost al-most as used to watching each other play as they are playing together. Maurine Parrish says her children learned to play sports as a family and none of them had formal training. She feels that if her other daughters had had the opportunity to compete that Lori had, they would have all excelled. Lori competed in high school when girls' athletics was coming into its own, and she certainly excelled. She set Davis High School records in the 60 yard hurdles, high jump and long jump and competed in tennis, volleyball, basketball and softball. SHE WAS awarded the Outstanding Player Award for four years and the Sportswoman Sports-woman Award her senior year. And she was a member of regional and state championship cham-pionship teams in basketball, volleyball and track. When Lori graduated from high school, she was awarded a scholarship at the University Univer-sity of Utah, and she has been dazzling fans across the country ever since. DURING last winter's basketball season Lori scored her high game of 29 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Utes to a win over the University of Southern California early in the season, returned home to be named the Most Valuable Player in the initial Copper Classic tournament between the four in-state schools, and finished off the year by making the front page of the sports section sec-tion in a local New Jersey paper during the eastern sectional sec-tional of the national basketball basket-ball championship. She averaged 15.5 points per game as the top Ute point getter and finished as the number six scorer out of approximately 160 basketball players in the 14-team league. IT'S VOLLEYBALL season now, and Lori leads her team in "spiking kills" (attacks that lead to points) and "saves." Shes a team leader, too, since she is a captain of a young Ute team this season. Lori has contributed a lot to University of Utah women's athletics in the past two years, but then she has gained a lot tooa chance to compete on well-coached teams, a college education, and a tour of the country. That's not a bad deal for a young lady from Farmington, Utah. |