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Show SPORTS 941100g6 s' 9, 4 , 1.1' t k XI 14Lo e : 0 r- 0 s n 631 U 11) Rini BY ASH LYN SEARCY of flexibil- created. This level ity allows students to enjoy team sports without them interfering with academics or other aspects of the students' Students can now register for intramural sports at Dixie State University, a program that offers a year-roun- d opportunity to be involved on personal lives. To be eligible to play, participants must be a current DSU student or employees and have their ID card at campus. DSU offers a variety of intramural sports including flag football, basketball, softball, sand volleyball, soccer, pool, ping pong, video games and every event, as well as register online. A current DSU collegiate athlete will not be permitted to play the same sport in intramurals. Respect of opponents, teammates and intramural staff is expected for all sports. After each game a sportsmanship grade of A, B, C, D or F will be given to each team by the official. A 2.0 GPA is required to play in the regular season, and 3.0 is needed to compete in the tournament. Talia Stevens, a sophomore in general education from more. By participating in intramural sports, students can compete with classmates on a more relaxed schedule that the NCAA cannot provide. Lily Reinhold, a senior exercise science major from Salt Lake City knows how intense college athletics can be. "I played soccer at Westminster College, and had no time for anything else." Reinhold said. "Last year I played intramural soccer at DSU and was able to do anything and everything else." 41F--) Damon Thomas, a junior nursing major from Tooele, has participated in two semesters of intramural flag C111 ar - 1 ' 1 Football 4,4 ''I 98 Home ( Trailblazer Stadium Fort Lewis Men's Soccer 96 Away Westminster College Notre Dame of Namur Volleyball 97 Away Rapid City, South Dakota South Dakota Mines h. 4 Women's Soccer 98 Home Trailblazer Stadium Snow College '"" Students can register for flag football or any DSU intramural sport online "I don't usually get involved in activities on campus." Thomas said. "I have attended three different universities 6I A58.11ID as said. football. extra-curricul- 71CW (,,..3 in the last five years, but DSU intramural flag football was my first experience," Thomas said. "It has opened my eyes and intrigued me to get more involved with my friends." Thomas said although he has not played competitively since attending high school, he appreciates the opportunity to compete with his friends while surviving his intense academic schedule. It allows him to prioritize in a way that doesn't interrupt his success. "My friends invited me to try, I tried , it, loved it, and it recommend to t , anyone who enjoys playing sports and competing." sary. Ogden, said she appreciates the level of respect she's experienced playing DSU intramurals. I 5.DLr, "I appreciate the referees taking time out of their personal lives to make the game real." Thomas says, "Everyone understands that at the end of the day they're trying to do their job and we're here to have fun, before getting too caught up in the competition." Rules for each sport can vary. In coed flag football, games are played with four women and four men. If a team is playing with less than eight players, there may never be more men than women on the field. The fall season begins with coed flag football, and teams consist of seven players but can play with five if neces- Practices are optional and scheduled within the team ADixiesunnews 11:100-MitOt- Men's Soccer at https:www.imleagues. k z 98 Away - Westminster College 7, 1 Texas A&M International After fighting cancer, Miami's Burns not taking any day on the diamond for granted - i t, ., , 40, I i....,,,e' ) 1 ,g4 .,-- -----it' : í t ,...itk,,"'"' 4,' 44C. ,s.,4'.-- i ....,,, ,, , , -- i 2'. ,., t' 1 1 : ,,, , 1 i , , l'i'l it, , , '. t i -; , ,. . , , ; , - r , ........, . I . . N ( ; N V -- . . , . ' . ,., (;;, : t,,...,-- - t. , 4,4 ....1........ ,., - . - v,,,.... 1,7 e sc ,, , , , .. ,. '-- 'L Al lb -- ,s. t, . II , k, .."'"". .. ''''';' - Ns, , N. s,.. - A.,) .. , . The University of Miami's Michael Burns is caught stealing as Miami Marlins second baseman Star lin Castro tags him out during the second inning in an exhibition baseball game at Marlins Park in Miami on .. Tuesday, March 27, 2018. The Marlins won, 22-2- BY CHRISTY OS TNS T NS NO NOS TNS Not long after the ball cleared the fence, there were tears. Then there was laughter. And dancing. Anita Burns wasn't in Coral Gables the night her son Michael, an outfielder at Miami, crushed a grand slam against rival Florida State back in April. But the steady updates from her husband Mike Sr. who was at Mark Light Field for that dramatic mohad her celebrating ment back at the family's home in te Colorado. The home run itself was pretty great. So was the ground ball Bums hit later in the game that eventu ally lifted the Hurricanes 4 to a much-neede5-- d, extra-innin- win over the gs Seminoles. For Anita and Mike Sr., though, the fact Michael Burns was merely on the field that night was reason to smile. Less than a year before d those hits, a cancerous tumor, two surgeries and 37 radiation treatments put Bums' dreams of playing at Miami in danger and threatened to end his basewell-time- ball career. But the forrner two-spo- rt athlete, his parents and his doctors had other ideas, formulating a plan that would not only get rid of his cancer, but protect the limbs Burns needed to continue playing. Among those plans? titaInserting a nium rod into Burns' leg to 17-in- ch support the femur that was weakened by the radiation treatments the needed after he was diagnosed with myxoid liposarcoma, a rare cancer that usually affects people between 40 and 60 soft-tiss- ue years old. "You think about what you were doing a year ago and it's like a dream come true now. I was learning how to walk again last year," said Burns, who began radiation treatments last May while playing at Cisco College in Texas. "Now I'm battling for a playoff spot at the University of Miami. Life stops on a dime when you hear that word, 'cancer.' I had plans, so many plans and they got stopped very fast. When that happens, you don't have plans anymore. "You're at the will of doe tors and what they want to do. But I'm spiritual, and I knew there was a plan and it was coming. It was tough, but I had the people in my life right by my side, and that made it a little bit easier." Among those cheer- ing Burns throughout his treatment and recovery has been Hurricanes pitcher Jeb Bargfeldt, who was Burns' roommate at Cisco last year. The two met while at Wichita State, where both signed out of their respective high schools. Eventually, both transferred to Cisco, their sights set on one day playing again at the Division I level. But before the two landed in Miami, it was Bargfeldt who pushed Burns to tell his parents about the lump that was growing on his leg, even as Burns was hitting .363 last spring at Cisco. Burns was initially hesitant. The lump wasn't painful, he was still playing well and another friend of his had just dealt with a similar lump, one that turned out to be d nothing more than a cyst. The possibility of it all being anything more serious than that never really crossed his mind, he said. UM baseball heads to Virginia needing wins to extend tourney streak And so, it wasn't until Anita and Mike Sr. came to visit their son that they learned about the mass and only because Bargfeldt jokingly brought it up over dinner. Once Anita Burns saw her son's leg, though, she knew something wasn't right. The very next day, Anita began pushing for her son's treatment, something that wasn't exactly easy in a n of roughly 4,000. There was, first, with a nurse. Then an MRI, the fluid-fille- small-tow- X-ra- results of which Anita had ovemighted to Colorado where a friend of hers, an oncologist, could read them. It was only then when that oncologist recommended removing the lump before it could further impact the blood flow in Burns' leg that the family began to worry. Two days later, Burns was back in Colorado for surgery with Dr. Ronald Hugate, a specialist who removed the tumor. Because of how it had grown close to some blood vessels and nerves, some of the tumor's margins couldn't be removed without damaging Burns' leg. Initially, the thought was that wouldn't be a problem because the tumor could be benign and that one surgery would be the end of Burns' treatment. That wasn't the case. Further testing revealed the tumor was cancerous, and again, the Burns family scrambled, with Michael having a second surgery to insert the metal rod in his leg. Radiation began soon after. "It was week after week of a lot of bad news," Anita Bums said. "He thought he might never play baseball again and we really didn't know if he'd ever play any sport again. You just don't now." Burns' treatment went as well as the family could have hoped, with the outfielder even playing some through radiation. By July, Burns was playing summer ball and communicating regularly with Miami's staff, which was eager to welcome him to campus. Last fall, Burns was participating in offseason workouts with the Hurricanes, proving to his new teammates, coaches and even to himself, that he was well. Now, with one week left in the regular season, the outfielder has put up solid numbers, starting 41 of the Hurricanes' 47 games and hitting .245 with three home runs, 28 RBIs and 19 runs scored. Like the rest of his teammates, he's pushing to try to help the Hurricanes extend their streak of 44 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, a streak that is in jeopardy because of Miami's slow start. Wins against Florida Gulf Coast and Virginia Tech this week, as well as a strong showing in the ACC Tournament, will help the team preserve that streak. But whether that tournament berth comes or not, the Hurricanes have been inspired this season by Burns' comeback and his willingness to continue playing, even when it seemed baseball might be taken from him. "He never complains about anything," Hurricanes coach Jim Morris said. "He's a 'Yes, sir. No, sir' kind of kid and he plays hard. To do what he's done, to come back really quickly, that showed a lot of hard work and determination on his part." Added Bargfeldt: "You see the smile on his face and you can see he enjoys the game so much more. He never takes a day for granted.... To see him play and do everything he's done after seeing him go through all that, you want nothing more for him. And his story, it's not just inspirational to him, but it helps us all. There are days maybe some of us don't feel like we want to get out of g bed and go to he but us reminds weights, all that we have to be thankful for this. It's been amazearly-mornin- ing." (c)2017 Sun Sentinel. |