6A — Thursday, March 31, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sheppard starts on new path
By LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
Four
years
ago,
Austin
Sheppard stepped onto Michigan’s
campus as a freshman majoring in
movement science, hell-bent on
becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
Even in high school, Sheppard
knew she wanted to pursue a
degree in the medical field — but
had no idea where she wanted
to go to college. Originally from
Murphy, Texas, Sheppard was
a
well-accomplished
gymnast
as a sophomore at Plano East
High
School.
She
garnered
three prominent finishes at the
2010 Junior Olympic National
Championships, placing second
on floor, third on vault and
seventh in the all-around.
And with a record like that, she
caught the eye of Michigan.
The
Wolverines
started
recruiting
Sheppard
her
sophomore year. After a little
encouragement from her mother
to check the school out, she
decided she wanted to pursue a
higher education at Michigan.
Sheppard committed her junior
year of high school, ready to get
going when she walked on campus
as a freshman.
Now, after four years and
one change in career plans,
Sheppard not only has maintained
her reputation as a successful
gymnast,
but
also
hasn’t
abandoned her determination to
work in the medical field. With
such a long-term commitment
required to become a doctor,
Sheppard made the decision to
switch her goals to nursing.
“I wanted to major in movement
science because I wanted to be an
orthopedic surgeon,” Sheppard
said. “But then when I got here, I
realized how much of a demand
for school that was and how much
athletics would be on top of that.
For me, I just figured it wasn’t the
route I wanted to go. I still want
to do something in medicine,
though. I want to go into nursing.”
Balancing a pre-med track
and Big Ten athletics certainly
hasn’t been easy, but Sheppard
has managed to do it with great
success.
Despite being sidelined the
end of her sophomore year due to
injury and being limited to two
events, Sheppard was recently
named to the All-Big Ten first
team for the second time in her
career. She was also on the All-
Big Ten Championships Team
in 2014 and recently received
Academic All-Big Ten honors for
the third time in her career — a
clear indication that she is pairing
her education and her success in
gymnastics.
“I’ve always had a passion for
how the body works,” Sheppard
said. “Being a gymnast, I’ve had a
lot of injuries and I’ve been around
a lot doctors. I like seeing people
succeed after being hurt or sick,
and I’ve just always had a passion
for it, which is why I decided to
become a health and fitness major.”
Not
only
is
Sheppard
dominating in the gym, but she
is also projected to be one of the
first
four
student-athletes
to
graduate from Michigan with a
degree in health and fitness. The
degree is fairly new to the School
of Kinesiology (around 2013),
and combines a wide range of
topics like sport management and
anatomy and physiology.
While
Sheppard
plans
to
apply to nursing school after
she graduates to continue on
her medical path, the degree is
flexible since it has a foot in both
science and business.
“You get the best of both
worlds,”
Sheppard
said.
“If
someone were to go the athletic
director route, this would be
really great for that because you
have a bunch of history behind
sports and you also learn about
the marketing and ethics side of
business. It’s also good for if you
want to be a personal trainer or a
strength and conditioning coach.”
And while neither of these
career paths apply to Sheppard,
she’s positive that she’s picked
the
right
major.
With
the
program
offering
real-life
learning opportunities through
classes and programs, Sheppard
has been able to shadow in the
midwife section at the University
of Michigan Hospital.
She said she enjoyed her time
shadowing at the hospital, but
Sheppard really lit up when talking
about her experience working
with children with disabilities at
Ann Arbor Pioneer High School.
“I took a pediatric disabilities
class, so we learned all about
a bunch of disabilities with
children and just people in
general,” Sheppard said. “One
of the assignments was that
we had to volunteer at the high
school or a sporting event with
kids with disabilities. I learned
so much about them and I also
learned a lot about myself. I just
really appreciated them because
they were so committed and
determined.”
With her gymnastics career
winding down and her medical
career
just
getting
started,
Sheppard has worked hard at
combining both aspects of her life
to make her Michigan experience
as beneficial as possible. On one
hand, her degree has enabled her
with all of the right experiences to
continue with her education.
On the other hand, her final
NCAA Regional Tournament as
a Wolverine is this weekend, and
she couldn’t be more focused on
contributing everything she has to
her team. Anyone on the sidelines
might believe that Sheppard’s life
in the classroom is separate from
her life in the gym.
But for Sheppard, they’re both
connected.
“The four years I’ve been here,
there’s been people that come
and go because they graduate,”
Sheppard said. “You have to learn
how to work with them and bond
with them, and it’s made me a
better person to be able to work
with a team, because that’s really
important for a nurse to be able to
do that.”
Sheppard has left her mark on
Michigan history, in the gym and
in the classroom. Now, equipped
with the qualities she has learned
from her team and from her
education, she will seek to match
that success in whatever realm
the future may hold for her.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Senior Austin Sheppard is one of the first athletes to major in health and fitness.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Michigan set for
WNIT semifinal
By LELAND MITCHINSON
Daily Sports Writer
Throughout the WNIT, the
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team has gotten a lift from the
support of its fans. Each of the
team’s first four
tournament
games
have
been
played
at
Crisler
Center,
and
the Wolverines
have won three
of those games
by 20 or more
points.
Thursday,
the Wolverines
will take their
high-powered
offense on the
road, looking to advance to the
WNIT championship game with
a win over Florida Gulf Coast (32-
5). Michigan (22-13) reached the
semifinals last year as well, but
the Wolverines fell short, losing
to UCLA, 69-65.
“We’re
very
well-rested
compared to a lot of other teams,”
Flaherty said. “We’ve (gotten) to
stay at home. We’ve (gotten) to
practice here. I think that’s a huge
advantage. We have to bring our
intensity there, our tenacity there.”
The game in Fort Myers, Fla.,
will be a battle of strengths.
Michigan comes into the game
averaging 79.1 points, while the
Eagles limit their opponents to an
average of just 49.1 points behind
guard Whitney Knight’s 61 steals
and 87 blocks on the season.
Offensively, Florida Gulf Coast
is led by guards Kaneisha Atwater
and Knight, who average 14.2 and
13.4 points per game, respectively.
Madison
Ristovski,
Katelynn
Flaherty,
Hallie
Thome and Siera Thompson
are all averaging double-digit
scoring for the Wolverines this
postseason, and teams haven’t
had an answer for Michigan’s
variety of scoring threats.
Despite its offensive success,
Michigan may run into a matchup
problem against the Eagles, who
are 18-3 at home this season.
“They’re a great team at home,”
said Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico after Monday’s game. “They
play five guards. It’s going to be
really tough for (Thome) to play. But
it was a similar matchup tonight.
She had a really hard matchup.
They shoot the 3 like crazy, so it’s a
different kind of style.”
Though Knight is listed at
6-foot-3 and is the tallest player
on the Florida Gulf Coast roster
by four inches, she plays on the
perimeter. Beyond Knight, the
Eagles have no players taller than
5-foot-11. Thome would likely
have an advantageous matchup
on the offensive end and in the
rebounding department, but she
will struggle with the Eagles’
quickness when defending.
Thome
heads
into
the
semifinal contest just four points
away from becoming the second
freshman in program history to
score 500 points in a season, and
her performance will be a key for
the Wolverines.
Michigan
is
heading
into
Thursday’s game riding a wave
of momentum off a come-from-
behind victory over Temple in the
WNIT quarterfinals. After falling
behind by 15 in the first quarter, the
Wolverines mounted a second-half
push led by Ristovski and Flaherty
and held on for the 77-76 win.
The
tournament
run
for
Florida Gulf Coast has also
come entirely in front of a home
crowd. The Eagles have won
each of their four WNIT games
by double digits, and took down
Hofstra, 61-46, Monday in their
quarterfinal matchup.
If Michigan wants a chance to
finally bring a banner to Crisler
Center, the road goes through
hostile territory.
Michigan
at FCGU
Matchup:
Michigan 21-13;
FGCU 32-5
When:
Thursday 8 P.M.
Where: Alico
Arena
TV/Radio:
ESPN3