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Show 6 Thursday November 21, 2013 SPORTS UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS TODAY: Men's Basketball www.dailyutahchronicle.corn CROSS COUNTRY Winterton sets off for NCAA Championship Utah vs. Grand Canoyn Griffin 7:30 p.m. Huntsman Center Adams STAFF WRITER Swimming & Diving Growing up in Salt Lake City, Rebekah Winterton played multiple sports. By the time she reached junior high, she was told she needed to narrow her focus to just one. Almost on a whim, she chose to concentrate on cross country. The Utes' lone qualifier for this weekend's NCAA Championships almost did not stick with the sport, though. After one particular practice on a scorching hot day, she was ready to quit. / "I called my dad after practice one day and said I was done," she recalled. "He told me to just wait until the first race and it'll get better." He was right. After grabbing third place in her first-ever race, Winterton went on to bigger and better things. She was named to the All-State team twice in high school and was recruited strongly by the likes of SUU and UVU. Utah expressed minor interest. "She is really a terrific story," said Utes' head coach Kyle Kepler. "She wasn't that highly recruited out of high school. I mean, she was only an 11:41 2-miler. Luckily though, we gave her a shot, and the rest is history." As a freshman, Winterton immediately set a goal to qualify for nationals someday, but even she thought it was 1 more of a pipe dream than something that could turn into reality. "I never thought I would actually get to this point," she said. "It was a dream that scared me half to death." The road to the top certainly hasn't been easy for Winterton. At the 2011 PHOTO COURTESY OF U ATHLETICS Pac-12 Championships her sophomore Utah vs. Missouri Invitational All Day Columbia, Mo. FRIDAY: Men's Basketball Utah vs. Lamar 7:00 p.m. Huntsman Center Volleyball Utah vs. Oregon 6:00 p.m. Crimson Court Swimming & Diving Utah vs. Missouri Invitational All Day Columbia, Mo. PAC-12 STANDINGS VOLLEYBALL WASHINGTON 15-1 STANFORD 13-3 USC 12-4 CALIFORNIA 10-6 ARIZONA 9-7 OREGON 8-8 COLORADO 7-9 UTAH 7-9 ARIZONA ST. 6-10 UCLA 5-11 WASHINGTON ST. 4-12 OREGON ST. 0-16 year, she had to run over a hard bridge in her spikes. As she was going across the bridge, she felt something pop. The resulting injury was fractured cartilage in her foot. That malady was slow in healing, and it wasn't the last time she would be bit by the injury bug. While in training for track after the foot injury, Winterton pulled her quad muscle, forcing her to redshirt the entire 2012 season. After her quad was healthy, she was finally getting back in shape when she hurt her IT band and found out that she has celiac disease, which forced her to completely change her diet. "I was kind of just saying to myself, Will I ever get better?'" she said. "It was just one injury after another, but I always knew that I would return to my best shape. Finally, I was starting to get healthy, and my workouts were going well. Coach Kep kept saying that I looked strong and looked good, so I knew I was finally back." As this season has unfolded, Winterton has had to adjust to a new role on Kepler's team. Up until now, she had All-American Amanda Mergaert to look up to. The pair formed a special bond, and Winterton said Mergaert always pushed her to run harder. Mergaert's eligibility expired in the spring, and she is now helping Kepler coach the team. Winterton is the one making headlines. "I'm still not used to that," she said. "It has been a weird adjustment for me getting all this attention, but now it is my turn, and I need to take that role." Even though she is going into her first NCAA Championships, Winterton knows how close the race is going to be and what it will take to finish well. "This race is going to be very tight," she said. "The difference between 40th and Both place could literally be 15 seconds. I will make sure to communicate with Kep while I am racing to see what place I am in, and make sure I finish strong. I usually have a strong kick." Kepler is modest in his expectations for Winterton this weekend but anticipates that she will excel. "We will probably talk about a Top ioo finish, but it would not surprise me at all if she finishes a lot higher than that," he said. "If she doesn't, See WINTERTON page 8 FOOTBALL COLUMN Bacon could be solution for women's basketball Asst. Sports Editor W omen's basketball simply is not popular. But that's not to say it isn't exciting. Last week I saw two basketball games in the Huntsman Center, and the only one worth watching was the women's contest. Trailing by eight down the stretch, the Utes were threatening to upset No.15 Nebraska in just their second game of the season. On back-to-back steals punctuated by 3-pointers, Utah scored six unanswered points with less than a minute to go to pull within two. Considering how exciting the game was, the atmosphere was dull. There was hardly anyone there to see it. Over the first few weeks of the season, the Ute men's and women's games have been stacked. Perhaps this was done in an effort to be more cost effective, but it also served as a way to try to get more butts in the seats for women's basketball. Women's basketball attendance is a joke in comparison to men's, and that's not just at the Huntsman Center. It's everywhere. Here's a dose of numbers: Last season, the national average attendance at women's NCAA games was 1,533. Men brought in an average of 5,129 people nationwide. Utah men's basketball ranked 50th in the country in attendance, averaging 8,611 fans despite the fact that the Utes had a mediocre season. The 50th spot on See MOBLEY page 8 Ow' Players who weren't here last year don't know th heartache that a 5-7 season caused a lot of us. For the players who were here, we remember that. lake Murp CONOR BARRY/The Daily Utah Chronicle Adam Schulz drops back to pass during the game against USC on Oct. 26, 2013 in Los Angeles, Calif. Utah's bowl hopes rest on Adam Schulz Austin Heywood STAFF WRITER The Utes are still reeling from the unexpected news regarding team captain Travis Wilson. The sudden loss of their starting quarterback to serious injury weighs heavily on the minds of every member of the Utah football squad. Even so, with two games left to play, the team turns its collective focus to one thing — making a bowl game. In order to achieve the goal that eluded them last year, the Utes must win their final two Pac12 matchups, which starts with this week's road contest against Washington State. Utah's suc- cess in Pullman this Saturday will depend largely upon the play of Adam Schulz, who has exactly one game's worth of experience as starting QB. Schulz's first start came last week against then-No. 6 ranked Oregon. Starting your career with a road game against one of the nation's best isn't an easy task, but it seems this week Schulz might just be going from the frying pan into the fire. Although the Cougars aren't nearly as talented as the Ducks, this game carries much more weight for the Utes, who are in a must-win situation to keep their bowl hopes alive. "This game is the most important game I've ever played in since I've been here," said tight end Jake Murphy, whose unexpected return to the lineup is a big positive for an offense that has struggled as of late. "Players who weren't here last year don't know the heartache that a 5-7 season caused a lot of us. For the players who were here, we remember that." The importance of getting a win is not lost on Schulz, but in preparing for the game he feels more confidence than pressure. "I'm taking it one game at a time," Schulz said. "I know what's at stake. We have to win. Seniors deserve a bowl game. It's not more pressure, I don't think. At first I did think about [the circumstances] more, but at the end of the day, I think you just have to play your normal game." Utah dominated Washington State in last year's matchup in Rice-Eccles, winning 49-6, but this year's Wazzu team is much improved. At 5-5, Washington State is just one win shy of qualifying for a bowl game, something the Cougars haven't done since 2003. "Their defense is markedly improved over last year," said head coach Kyle Whittingham. "Another year putting in Coach Leach's system, they're executing better on offense. Essentially they're doing everything better, but their defense has really stepped up." See FOOTBALL page 8 |