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Show MONDAY, JANUARY 7. THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 2002 13 AOXQr V Games Force U Teams to Alter Practices, Schedules WAITING FOR THE FLAME:. practice," he said. "This has made us emphasize the quality of our training which isn't a bad thing. It's a challenge, but in a good way; it has made us more versatile." As for the gymnastics team, coach Greg Marsdcn simply decided early on that all the hassles that go along with an international spectacle carry ing the largesse of the Olympic tag simply wasn't worth all the potential distractions. That, and finding parking spots for the 10,000 or so fans that usually attend U home meets would just be a pain. Consequently, when it came time to set up the schedule for his team ranked fifth in the nation in the preseason, he took the preemptive strike of getting the U gymnastics team on the road for each of its February meets. "It's really because there's no parking on campus," ho said. "It's bad enough in January, and in February some more of the stuff is gone, so we knew it would be very difficult to host. That's the primary reason why we're gone that month." Competitions against Louisiana State, Washington, Utah State and Michigan Utah's entire February slate will all take place on the road. And while it's unprecedented, with both the team's 2001 ERIC WALDEN Chronicle Sports Editor r 1 Salt Lake Organizing Committee engineers plan to put the finishing touches on the cauldron Tuesday. It will burn the Olympic flame throughout the Games in the south end bleachers of the stadium. SLOG officials had planned to keep the cauldron covered until FELICIA continued from page 12 The America Samoa national team got wind of Felicia, and Taylor Boyd started calling her. "He just called and called and called," Felicia said. "I started hounding her about sledding for us," said Boyd, a former bobsledder who is now the team captain of the America Samoa skeleton and bobsleigh teams. : While flattered by the calls, Felicia was reluctant. She didn't have a sled or the money to get to the 2001 Challenge Cup race. She had to take care of the kids and she was in law school. But one by one solutions appeared. She rented a sled from the skeleton school. A relative lent her the money. Neighbors promised to take care of her children. Law school administrators promised to help her make up for missing classes. "I ran out of excuses, really," she said. Still, before she made the commitment, Felicia needed some counseling. Brady was gone for six weeks competing in World Cup races, so instead she turned to her three young boys. mom, Adrian told his "you are not getting any younger, you better do it now." She agreed. She went to Calgary, Canada for the Challenge Cup and came home with a bronze medals. That finish qualified her for the more prestigious World Cup that leads to the Olympics. COPYl the Opening Ceremony, but changed plans because of the difficulty in keeping the large structure under wraps. Officials say the structure combines old and new architectural styles and reflects a theme of fire and ice. JAKE PARKINSON To continue her road to the Games she needed the help of her law school classmates. She came back from races to a stack of audio tapes her classmates made for her. However, the breaks in her attendance didn't affect Felicia's success in the classroom. She even won the Moot Courtroom competition last year. The annual competition pits 38 teams of two law students against each other. The teams must write a brief and conduct three oral arguments. Felicia and her partner bested the other teams throughout the competition. "We are both so busy, we had so much on our plates," she said. "Our goal the whole time was 'let's not humiliate ourselves.' We kind of laughed our whole way through." Felicia's classroom performance earned her a post-Gam- es Myriad Utah residents vowed in the few years preceding 2002 that once the Winter Olympics arrived in Salt Lake City, they would be taking off. Meanwhile, many others, like the U students who'd acclimated themselves to living in the new dorms, found displacement foisted upon them, as they were forced to vacate their residences to make way for incoming athletes from around the world. They are not the only ones. With the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics a mere month away, not to mention the massive logistical problems that will accompany it, two of the U's sports teams suddenly find themselves a good distance away from the action as a result. The gymnastics team fits the first profile, having deliberately scheduled all of its February meets away from its Huntsman Center home on the U campus. The U ski team, however, falls into the latter category. As one of the elite programs in the nation, Utah hosts a collegiate ski meet every year without fail. But with the venues the Utcs frequent getting devoted to Olympic usage this year instead, the U skiers will compete just about everywhere this year except on "the greatest snow on earth." "The hardest thing about us giving up being able to host a meet is that we're on the road for one more invite than we're used to," said U ski coach Kevin Sweeney. "That, combined with taking away our opportunity to compete on our home hills, is significant. You have confidence on your home course we've had to really address that." With a regular season schedule of just five or six meets, losing out on competing at the familiar ski locales of Park City and Soldier Hollow during the season is not an insignificant event to the Utes. Perhaps even more troublesome than losing a season meet, however, is losing out on the extended winter-lon- g practice sessions the Utes have become accustomed to. "It's affected us quite a bit. We lose valuable training time," Sweeney said. "It's already started with them setting up the courses and the venues they're doing all kinds of things that cut into our training time." Sweeney added, though, that while the inconvenience of having practice time reduced and a home meet eliminated puts a serious crink in the team's quest for an 11th national championship, he and his athletes are doing what they can to overcome the obstacles. "We've done things to try and counter that Mostly, we can't take what we have for granted. We can no longer just think about heading up to the slopes five times a week to and 2003 schedules alternating February meets between home and road sites, Marsdcn made clear that it's not some quirky fluke, but a premeditated decision on his part. "It was intentional," Marsdcn said. "We'll really be around during most of the Olympics we're just going to travel out of town for the meets." These coaches and lueir athletes certainly recognize they arc not the only ones inconvenienced by the arrival of the Olympics; Spring Semester classes will be done away with for most of February, making things difficult for the U's 27,000 students. But while class attendance may stop, these teams don't have the luxury of simply delaying their seasons for a month while the Olympics run their course. Some teams that will compete during that time, such as the men's and women's basketball squads, will take the gamble of going on with business as usual and sticking to their normal routine of alternating home and away matchups. Others, like the baseball and softball teams, don't have to contend with the issue at all, as their annual games practice of starting the year off with on the road will remain in effect again in 2002. But not all arc so lucky to be oblivious to the Olympic experience and its headaches. Those that aren't just have to do the best they can. "We've anticipated it. We've adjusted our training and our mentality a little bit," Sweeney said. "We're focused on the idea of competing more on the road. The whole team has responded." e wa ldenchronicle.utah. edu t - Y" extern-shi- p with Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham. And after she finishes law school, Felicia also has a job waiting for her at Fabian and Clendenin, a Salt Lake law firm. Boyd said it is Felicia's mental toughness that makes her a good athlete. Skeleton runs start with a 50 meter sprint. At the last World Cup race, Felicia ranked 24th in the world with a 6 second push. But once she got on the track and could use her driving ability she improved to eighth. Her ability to handle the track has Boyd hopeful for a successful Olympic run for his athlete. "She put off her career for a year to see if she could win a gold medal," Boyd said. mcanhamchronicle.utah.edu f 1 1 :" ! i t 1 11 i V 1 not- t r " ' ', -f - ' P . i 9 :i The Utes gymnastics team will only compete on the road in February to get away from the campus parking problem. |
