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

