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Show 6 SPORTS Thursday, April 14, 2011 Fresh powder! TODAY'S SKI REPORT 14° / 9 a.m. 22° / 3 p.m. Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.cor Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS TODAY: Softball Utah @ San Diego State 6 p.m. San Diego, Calif FRIDAY: Baseball Utah @ New Mexico 6 p.m. Albuquerque, N.M. Softball Utah @ UNLV 6 p.m. Las Vegas Men's Tennis Utah vs. Air Force 1 p.m. Crimson Court Women's Tennis Utah vs. UNLV 2 p.m. San Diego, Calif SPORTS WORLD Bonds found guilty on 1 charge, jury deadlocks on other three SAN FRANCISCO—A jury has convicted Barry Bonds of one count of obstruction of justice but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on three counts that he lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using steroids and human growth hormone. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on three unresolved counts, leaving the prosecution to decide whether to seek a retrial. Bonds' legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out, but Illston did not rule on that request and set May 20 for a hearing in the case. 14° / 9 a.m. 22° / 3 p.m. conditions 19° / 9 a.m. 28° / 3 P.m. Canyons 19 °/ 9 a.m. Deer Valley 28 0 / 3 p. „ . Snowbird ► & weather from utahskiweather.com 14° / 9 a.m. 22° / 3 p.m. Solitude 15" 23° / a.m. 3 p.m. National talent, U-focused Sophomore Mike Juszczak brings world-class talent to Utah Kelsey Price STAFF WRITER As athletes in a club sport, rugby players don't enjoy many of the advantages offered to varsity teams that are sponsored by athletic departments, such as football and basketball. There are, of course, the obvious disadvantages, such as the lack of university funding for travel, equipment, team fees, etc. And of course, there are no athletic scholarships for rugby and other club sports. However, one thing remains the same—only a select few college athletes are able to claim they've represented their country on a national level during their eligibility years. Sophomore rugby player Mike Juszczak is one of a select number of athletes—NCAA or club— to represent his national team and concurrently play on a college team. Juszczak was named to the USA U-20 Eagles team last month, splitting preseason play between Utah's team and national team training camps. "U-2os is a great developmental program," said Utah head coach Blake Burdette. "Rugby relies extensively on feeder teams to channel college players into the upper echelons of national teams, so to speak. With rugby added to the 2016 Olympic games, these programs are becoming more important than ever." Juszczak plays flanker for Utah—similar to a linesman— and despite being just a sophomore, has quickly emerged as a leader for Utah's rugby team and was named as a co-captain alongside senior Camden Burd and junior Danny James. "Mike is very dedicated and a hard worker and brings a certain leadership our teams need," Burdette said. "He's a bit more quiet than some of the boys, and the CHRISTOPHER REEVES/The Daily Utah Chronicle The Utes' last home game this season is Saturday. Sophomore flanker Mike Juszczak plays on both the U's team and the national team. way he goes about his business, his strength—it's great to see him succeeding outside Utah rugby." The U-2o team for rugby is selected by identifying athletes during the course of a season, and then inviting those chosen for the player pool to a selection camp in mid-February. Juszczak—who had played with the U-17 team while also playing for his high school rugby team home in New York—was invited to the selection camp after a standout freshman season playing flanker for Utah last year. Juszczak attended a selection camp during Winter Break, where he, along with other players from across the country, was evaluated by coaches from colleges and national teams. Each player was assessed on criteria such as speed and tackling technique. After the initial camp, Juszczak was named to the 34-man roster and returned home to join the Utes as they began their preseason two-a-day camps before Spring Semester began. With a hectic preseason schedule for Utah, Juszczak spent January and February balancing college duties as well as the next round of selection camps. The first weekend of February, the Utes faced the Utah Warriors—the new professional rugby team in Utah—in an exhibition match. On Feb. II and Feb. 12, Juszczak and the rest of Utah's forwards showed off their defensive skills at the Las Vegas Invitational tournament, holding their opponents to just 12 points all weekend. Days later, Juszczak jetted to California for more training with the U-2o squad. While in San Diego, Juszczak See JUSZCZAK Page 8 Petersen gets helping hand from Utes legend Jake Hibbard 111111111111111 11.1.1 11111111.111 1111111111111111 1111111111111 11111111111111111111111111 ■111 ASST. SPORTS EDITOR After Monday's scrimmage, head coach Kyle Whittingham was pleased enough with what he saw out of junior placekicker Coleman Petersen that he listed him as the favorite to take over field-goal duties. "It's pretty exciting," Petersen said. "It's something I've been working toward for a while." Peterson came to the U in 2007 after he was named a Utah 5A all-star at Brighton High School, but he missed the 2007 and 2008 seasons when he attended a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints. When he returned to the team in 2009, he tore his PCL and took a redshirt year and didn't see any action in 2010. JEFF MCGRATH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Coleman Petersen goes through reps in practice Wednesday with former Utes kicker Louie Sakoda. Head coach Kyle Whittingham named Petersen as the frontrunner to start at placekicker in 2011 after Monday's scrimmage. Now with the position open, Petersen is looking to lock up the job. To help further his goals, he started working with former Utah great Louie Sakoda, who earned All-American honors his senior year as a kicker in 2008. He said the time he has spent with Sakoda has been invalu- FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK able to getting him to where he is now "I started working with (Sakoda) in January and kind of almost overhauled my whole kicking," Petersen said. "Just kind of worked on my steps and my approach and things like that." If Petersen is named the starter come fall, he will be following a long list of great kickers at the U. Petersen said the pressure is there for him, but he does his best to keep it off his mind. "There's definitely a big kicking tradition here—(special teams coordinator coach Jay) Hill pretty much reminds us that every meeting, but I try not to think about it," Petersen said. "I try to think about my role on the team and trying to make my kicks." Offense on the mend Jordan Wynn's absence from the team because of an injury was obvious during Monday's scrimmage, as young quarterbacks Griff Robles and Tyler Shreve struggled in leading the offense. How- TRACK & FIELD Aggresive' Utes hope to break records in Calif. Jake Bullinger STAFF WRITER The track team will be split up this weekend with meets in Utah and California on Friday. After the Utah Spring Classic was canceled this past weekend, the Utes will attend the Marc Faldmo Invitational in Logan and the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif. "The Mt. Sac Relays are a huge meet," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "It will be important to be aggressive and not get caught in the back on the track and do well on first attempts in the field events. The meet will feature many ranked teams and some of the best individual collegiate and professional athletes from around the world." Two players to watch at Mt. Sac will be Amanda Mergaert and Alyssa Ab- bott. Mergaert holds the school's three fastest indoor times in the mile, and she will try to break the school's outdoor record in Walnut. Abbott is also nearing a school record in the 5,00o meters. Her fastest time is 16 minutes 29.11 seconds, good for third-fastest in school history. "It's nice weather down there, so hopefully a lot of us can get some (personal records)," said high jumper Langley Iverson. Stormy weather kept the Utes from competing on their home track this past weekend, and Abbott and Mergaert didn't run in Utah's most recent meet at Utah Valley. Both were slated to run in Salt Lake City before the lone home meet was canceled. Forecasts predict that the weather in California won't derail Mergaert and Abbott in their quests for school records. "After missing a weekend of competition last week, we are trying to take advantage of the good weather that is expected by getting a few of our athletes some extra competition at some other meets nearby," Kepler said. "One of the reasons we enjoy going to California on this weekend is that the multiple meets give us a great deal of flexibility." Iverson will try to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the high jump. She was the only Ute to qualify for the Indoor Championships during the indoor season. She will be competing in the Olympic Development competition Saturday in Walnut. "With regionals coming up, I need to jump (5-io) or better to move on to the NCAA Championships," Iverson See TRACK Page 8 ever, Monday's struggles weren't limited to quarterback, as Whittingham said he wanted to see improvement across the board on that side of the ball. However, after looking at the tape of the scrimmage and seeing his team in action Wednesday, Whittingham was happy with the progression he saw. "There's some positives to take from (the scrimmage) offensively, although the production wasn't nearly what it needed to be, but it's a process, and we've got to be patient," he said. "We were much better today..We challenged them after the scrimmage, and they watched the films yesterday. They understood what their deficiencies were, and they came out here, and they worked hard on it." Injury update Linemen John Cullen and Vyncent Jones got banged up during the scrimmage and did not return to the game. Cullen was back and practicing Wednesday, and Whittingham said he is fine. Jones will be out for three to four weeks. j.hibbard@chronicle.utah.edu Fly-fishing and life 101 from PRT class is past weekend I took one of the greatest college classes of my life. It's one of those classes where you feel you truly got your money's worth because of the lasting lesson it teaches you. Funny thing is, it wasn't a biology class or a journalism class, and it's not in the business department, either. The class? PRTL 1133—Backpack Fly-Fishing. OK, I know what you're thinking. This class has no academic value, it won't help you in your studies—I'm a journalism major with a business minor—and it's nothing but a joke class. My response: The outdoor classes offered by the parks, JAKE BULLINGER Staff Writer recreation and tourism department are far from jokes. Their lessons might not come from a textbook, but they have a great deal of practical value. Take my fly-fishing course. First of all, I had never backpacked or fly-fished in my life. A fly rod has never even been in See BULLINGER Page 8 |