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Show 10 SPORTS U setters still battling for a starting position Wednesday, August 27,2008 get used to running a different system." STAFF WRITER Shardlow is the returning partThe U women's volleyball team time setter from last season and will soon be able to switch from hopes to keep the position she was slamming volleyballs at one anoth- thrust into last year as a freshman. After all-American setter Sydney er to aiming their efforts at battling actual opponents. In the meantime, Anderson announced she would not an intersquad battle for the start- be returning to Utah after the 2006 season, the team was left without ing setter position has intensified. The showdown between Stepha- a setter and turned to Shardlow, a nie Shardlow and Abby Simmons walk-on out of California. "Stephanie had to set out of nebegan before Simmons, a freshman from Phoenix, ever arrived in cessity last year," Launiere said. "She did an amazing job hanUtah. Head coach, Beth Launiere had dling that pressure and improving planned to let the two girls compete throughout the year." Without an experienced setter to for the starting position ever since she recruited Simmons specifically rely on, the Utes were forced to run a 6-2 offense and use both Shardlow to play setter. "Abby is a talented athlete and and Keisha Fisher, who was origisetter, with high mobility and great nally recruited to replace longtime hands," Launiere said "As she gains standout Connie Dangerfield at the experience she will only get better." libero position, as setter. With the option to use either Simmons started out the season a step behind Shardlow and has spent skilled setters this season, Laumost of the preseason adjusting to niere is planning to return to her preferred 5-1 offense. Shardlow and an unfamiliar system. "A lot of teams in Utah play the Simmons have been taking turns in same style of volleyball and it's practice orchestrating the offense. "Both girls have been doing a phedifferent from what we did in Arizona," Simmons said. "I've had to nomenal job," Launiere said. "Con- Paige Fieldsted necting with hitters is not easy and they have been handling it well." Both setters would agree that the competition between them has made practice more intense and in the long run, the Rattle will benefit the team. "We knowvwe are competing, but the competition, makes everyone better," Simmons said. The girls are also aware that they are being evaluated and watched every day by the coaches. "We know the position hasn't been given to anyone," Shardlow said. "Each day we just go out there and try and win." Despite the fact that the women are competing for the same position, the two have formed a close friendship since practice started. Simmons said Shardlow has helped her with adjusting to the new system and being a freshman setter. "I didn't have anyone to help me last year and it was really hard to get adjusted," Shardlow said. "I just want to be that person for her." Launiere said it's great to see the two really working together and pushing each other to be better. www.dailyutahchronicle.com . 11 "They both want what's best for the team," she said. Shardlow's year of experience will be a big factor in who the coaching staff chooses as the setter. Launiere said with so many experienced hitters, improvement for both setters is key. Although Launiere said she will eventually settle on one setter, she gives no indication of when that will be or which person she will choose. "Whoever is running the offense the best and is getting the hitters the sets is the one who will get the job," Launiere said. Shardlow and Simmons both believe that the best person for the team should get the position, regardless of class and previous experience. "Being a freshman doesn't mean anything," Shardlow said. "We want the best person out on court." Stephanie Shardlow is in competition with p.fieldsted@ teammate Abby Simmons for the starting setter chronicle.utah.edu position, the competition has made practices The Great Debate: Who is the best athlete of all time? Fourteen golds have allowed Phelps to emerge as a legend Tiger Woods' accomplishments are nothing short of amazing MARCO VlLLANO W hen the debate over who is the greatest living athlete arises, most sports fans would claim that this would be someone obvious such as Kobe Bryant or the most popular athlete in the world right now, Michael Phelps. This is because their athletic ability and their accomplishments stand out over anyone else's in their respective sports. This being said, Tiger Woodsfitsthe bill as the best of the best as far as living athletes, and arguably any athlete in the history of competitive sports. An athlete, according to www.dictionary.com, is "a person with natural or acquired traits such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts." Here's a little breakdown of how Woods fits that definition. Strength. It's reported that Woods can bench 300 lbs. and standing at 6-foot-i and 185 lbs., he's built more like a an NFL defensive back, than a golfer. Agility. Golf is a sport that requires as much agility as any other. To make contact with a little white ball while contorting your body, controlling the club and trying to hit the ball long and straight down a gap no wider than State Street is something that a small percentage of people can do consistently. Endurance. Woods runs three miles a day with a 40-pound weighted vest on to prepare himself for the 7,000 yard stroll he takes every round for four days. Besides being great athletes and freaks in the gym, Woods and Phelps have something else in common— being victims to technological advancements in their sports. I say victims, because every world record that they set could be argued as skewed to the athletes who competed more than 10 years ago. In Phelps' case, the pools aren't going to change, but he will have to live with the fact that Mark Spitz might have been able to swim PHOTO COURTESY ASSOCIATED PRESS faster with the technology, such After winning eight gold medals Michael Phelps is being talked about as being as the LZR Racer one of the greatest athletes of all time. Speedo suit, that Phelps has access to today. while Woods is the best of hundreds of With Woods, golf courses have been thousands of golf pros from more than a lengthened, tightened and have been century of professional golf. made ridiculously harder. Not only The six individual events that Phelps because of technology, but because won this year shows how clutch and Woods was having a cake walk on versatile he is. Woods' best season as a them. Only a few athletes have been pro consists of nine wins, including three able to change the face of their sport. majors. It's even more exceptional that Woods has set more records than any Woods does this year in and year out in other athlete in professional sports. Here a sport that forces your nerves to stay in are just a few of the accomplishments check for every shot. Just imagine shootthat he has achieved in his 12 years of pro- ing a game-winning free throw,fieldgoal fessional golf—14 major championships, or base hit more than 65 times in one day. just four shy of Jack Nicklaus' record; 65 This is another reason that Woods is the career wins on the PGA Tour, trailing best living athlete—unlike anyone else in only Sam Snead and Nicklaus; and scorsports, he has come up with more clutch ing records in all four majors. shots than Michael Jordan. Sure, Phelps set world records and Phelps' performance in the Olymdid something that no other Olympian pics this year was one of the best in has ever done, but he's going up against sports history, but Woods has done a fraction of the field that Woods goes this virtually every season he's played against week in and week out Phelps competitive golf. He has put himself on is the most decorated Olympian of all a pedestal that might be unreachable by time out of 10,000 people that have any athlete in all of sports. competed in 29 Summer Olympic games, m.villano@chronicle.utah.edu Golf team set to tee off in two weeks Marco Villano compete on thefive-manteam. "We're going to be really good, talent-wise," McCracken The young guns are taking said. "What we're going to be over golf circuits all over the lacking is experience. So it's gocountry, so why should college ing to take a little bit of time for golf be any different? these younger guys to get their The 2008-2009 U golf ros- feet under them in competition ter is loaded with sophomores and getting used to playing col(five) and, as ESPN's Dick Vi- lege gol£" tale would say, "diaper dandy" Due to the lack of experifreshmen—the Utes have four. ence and bad weather when the Needless to say, this will be spring season starts, McCracka rebuilding year for the U golf en decided to schedule the mateam that lost its star player in jority of their tournaments in the middle of 2008. It's also a the fall Typically, the golf team chance for the young guys to get would play five in the fall and some tournament experience. six in the spring, but this season The good thing is that head the U will play six tournaments coach Randall McCracken in the fall and three in the won't have a problem shifting spring. "1 kind of changed up players around to see who can our schedule a little bit because STAFF WRITER the weather has been so bad in the winter" McCracken said. "We're going to hopefully play well in the fall and start later in the spring, so we'll at least have a chance to play and practice a little bit before that first event." The Utes will tee off their season during the first month of the Fall Semester, on Sept. 6. They will be traveling to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. The highlight of the schedule will be the University of Hawaii Kauai Invitational in November. The Utes came hot out of the gates last season and were in good position to take the regional championships after the falL But when winter rolled around, players were unable to put in the amount of practice needed during the rough spring months. "With Dustin (Pimm) deciding to turn professional early, we lost our No. 1 player and our other guys played pretty good, but it wasn't quite as good as we needed it to be," McCracken said. "We just couldn't get into a rhythm in the spring." During the offseason McCracken leaves the players alone to attend to their own tournament and practice schedules, "They're all out doing their own thing and I try to stay away from them during the summer," McCracken said "They get tired of me over the course of the year." m.viUano@chronicle.utah.edu BRYAN CHOUINARD^S W e have all learned a valuable lesson from our friend Ferris Bueller. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." We as sports fans must adhere to this adage now more than ever. We have all been guilty of it. At one time or another, whether we know it or not, we have all taken for granted the moments we have been lucky enough to witness in sports. In this past decade alone we have seen moments that some have lived and died and never witnessed. It had been 86 years since the Boston Red Sox had last won a World Series, yet we have seen them hoist the trophy twice in four years. We have seen child prodigies, such as Sidney Crosby and LeBron James not only grow up in front of us, but also grow to dominate their respective sports. But just like I will never forget where I was the night Aaron Boone hit a home run off Tim Wakefield in game seven of the 2003 American League Champion Series, I will always remember where I was when Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. While Phelps' gold medal in the 4x100 medley relay was not the most exciting race of his 17 swims in his nineday 2008 Olympic campaign, it was the one that cemented his legacy as one of the greatest Olym- t pic athletes of all time. It ! was also the single medal • that showed the world he t is the most complete and dominant athlete of his time. '; This may be hard for some to buy into because the average fan in this country only cares about swimming every four years. We don't obsess over his every move like Tiger Woods, or break down all his tape like : USC, but every time we check back in with Phelps, whether it's at the Olympics or the World Championships, if s the same person standing atop the podium with gold around his neck. At the same age the foremost golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, had collected one major in his career, the 1997 Masters. Arguably the most dominant tennis player in history, Roger Federer, had won four of his now 16 majors by the age of 23. Not only are Phelps' accomplishments at his age unprecedented, but "unrivaled as well. We were forced to ask ourselves the question when Phelps won six golds in Athens. He gave us the answer in Beijing and he will prove all the doubters wrong in London in 2012 that he is in fact the greatest athlete alive. So remember sports fans, take a good hard look at what Michael Phelps is doing and cherish it, because it is something that will put all athletic accomplishments into perspective for years to come. b.chouinard@ choncile.utah.edu SPORTS WRITERS HEEDED CONTACT TONY T.PIZZA ©CHRONICLE. UTAB.EDU |