Bleed Purple - November 2015

THE STORMTHROUGH

IN 2005, JOSH BURTON AND HIS FAMILY ENDUREDHURRICANE KATRINA. TEN YEARS LATER, THE

LOUISIANA NATIVE IS HELPING LEAD A RESURGENCEWITH THE WILDCAT FOOTBALL TEAM.PLUS...

WEBER STATE’S MR. IRRELEVANTS

THE VICTORY BELL

ALLI CLUFF: SOLVING FOR X

Volume 1, Issue 3 WeberStateSports.com

2015NOVEMBER

presented by

II Bleed Purple November 2015 WeberStateSports.com

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November 2015 Bleed Purple 1WeberStateSports.com

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CONTENTS

36

1628

21 32

FEATURES

16 DEFINITELY NOT IRRELEVANTWeber State football stars Tim Toone and Cam Quayle were each selected with the final pick in their respective NFL draft classes, but “Mr. Irrelevant” is a tag that no longer fits.BY JIM BURTON

21 SOLVING FOR XAlli Cluff worked through her college career much like she solves a difficult math problem, by working hard and systematically creating a finished equation.BY DARIN HOGGE

36 THROUGH THE STORMIn 2005, Josh Burton and his family endured Hurricane Katrina. Ten years later, the Louisiana native is helping lead a resurgence with the Wildcat football team. BY CHRIS J. MILLER

28 SOUNDING OUT A WINA tradition that dates back to the 1930’s was revived in 2002, and has been a strong symbol for Wildcat Football for the past 14 years.BY CORIE HOLMES

32 HEART OF THE MATTERHeart rate monitoring is providing WSU Strength and Conditioning with a high-tech look into athlete recovery as a method to maximize performance and enhance injury prevention.BY JOHN HENDERSON AND DARIN HOGGE

DEPARTMENTS

4 FROM THE A.D.

6 SNAPSHOTS

14 PLAYIN’ ON PURPLE with cross country’s Paige Dilmore

43 HIGH PERFORMANCE

47 CREATE A LEGACY

48 WILDCAT CLUB MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Val & Claudia Weathers

51 COMPLIANCE CORNER

53 NAME GAME

56 TOP TWEETS

STARTING LINEUP


THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINEOF WEBER STATE ATHLETICS

presented by

Volume 1, Issue 3

Editor in Chief Darin Hogge

Executive Editors Paul Grua Chris J. Miller Corie Holmes

Creative Director Darin Hogge

Contributing Writers Chris J. Miller Jim Burton Corie Holmes Darin Hogge Paul Grua Jerry Bovee John Henderson Becky Thompson Will Pridemore

Photography Robert Casey Darin Hogge Justin Johnson

Ad Director Dave Champlain

EMAIL: [email protected]: WEBERSTATESPORTS.COM

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/WeberStateAthleticsTWITTER: @WeberState

INSTAGRAM: WSUWildcats

Copyright © 2015 by Weber State Athletics Publications

All Rights ReservedReproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.

THE STORMTHROUGH

IN 2005, JOSH BURTON AND HIS FAMILY ENDUREDHURRICANE KATRINA. TEN YEARS LATER, THE

LOUISIANA NATIVE IS HELPING LEAD A RESURGENCEWITH THE WILDCAT FOOTBALL TEAM.PLUS...

WEBER STATE’S MR. IRRELEVANTS

THE VICTORY BELL

ALLI CLUFF: SOLVING FOR X

Volume 1, Issue 3 WeberStateSports.com

2015NOVEMBER

presented by

ON THE COVER

In 2005, Josh Burton and his family endured Hurricane Katrina. Ten years later, the Louisiana native is helping lead a resurgence with the Wildcat football team.

Feature on page 36.

Photo by Darin Hogge.

W ith Thanksgiving having just been completed and with the year-end holiday

season getting into full swing, I feel it is a great time to share a few things that I am grateful for as the Editor of Bleed Purple Magazine.

First off, I am very grateful for the staff of Bleed Purple. We have received many kind words about the magazine in its Inaugural year, and this project would not be possible without the dedication of everyone that contributes to it.

Internally, Paul Grua and Corie Holmes of our Athletic Commu-nications staff have been vital parts of the publication, from pitching feature story ideas to writing articles to editing, and I thank them for their efforts.

I am grateful for the images supplied by Robert Casey and Justin Johnson, who have each supplied photos that make the artwork of the magazine look so great.

And I am especially grateful for the phenomenal writing of Chris Miller and Jim Burton. They are both fantastic at their craft, and the experience that comes from their decades of great work in the journalism field have given us a pair of experts to which we can assign some of our top stories each issue.

I am grateful for the great student-athletes that we have at Weber State and for their willingness

to share their lives with us. Their great stories provide the heart and soul of Bleed Purple.

I am also grateful for the athletic successes that we have been able to celebrate during 2015.

Men’s tennis won its second-straight Big Sky Conference regular season title last spring, giving Weber State it’s first league title of the year. Softball soon followed with the program’s first-ever conference championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Mike Hardy of men’s track became an All-American by finishing fifth in the steeplechase at the NCAA Championships.

This fall, the Weber State women’s cross country team continued its dominance, winning its third Big Sky title in the last four years and finishing 22nd at the NCAA Championships. Meanwhile, WSU football proved they are well on their way back to being a team to be reckoned with in the Big Sky, defeating Montana on the road for the first time since 1987 to highlight a 6-5 record, its first winning season in five years.

With 2016 just around the cor-ner, Bleed Purple hopes for many more successes in the year to come.

Darin HoggeDirector of Digital Media and Publications


It’s time for another edition of “Bleed Purple Magazine” and once again our staff has done an amazing job of bringing to life the stories and experiences

of our student-athletes as they make up the heart and soul of our department. In this issue you will learn more about Josh Burton and his life experiences associated with Hurricane Katrina. You’ll also read about what Tim Toone and Cam Quayle are up to these days and one of my favorite articles in this issue is all about the tradition of the “Victory Bell” that is rung by the football players after a home win. You’ll find all that and so much more in this 3rd issue of Bleed Purple.

This week I was reminded again of the important role we all play in the lives of our student-athletes as one of our softball players lost her father after a valiant battle with cancer. I’ve watched as Mackenzi’s peers in the department have rallied around her at this difficult time. It’s been so rewarding to see athletes from each of our 16 sports write notes of encouragement to the Corta family. I know their efforts to show love and support to one of their own in a time of intense sadness has been a comfort not only to the Corta family but also to their community. In a recent post to facebook, Mackenzi’s mom Jacki, posted the following as a response to the outpouring of support from her daughters fellow student-athletes:

“I was completely taken back

today. In the mail we received a package from Weber State University Athletics. Inside we found hand written notes. All from WSU athletes from football, softball, women’s and men’s basketball, women’s and men’s tennis, track and field, women’s and men golf, women’s soccer and volleyball. Not just a note of “thinking of you” or “sending prayers”. They were heartfelt, encour-aging, and completely full of love.

190 notes from young athletes, coaches and administration. As I read each note I was overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support for our family and my girl “Z!”

I questioned how a university of this size would pull together for one athlete and her family. To be told it was an athlete NOT in the softball program that put this together just warmed my heart. In today’s world we hear of the athletes getting kicked off teams, drugs being done, suspended for this or that, and probations put

in place. It is this story I would hope could travel the nation. 190 athletes being selfless, showing a tender side, supporting one of their own, being not only an athlete but being a family!

I am so honored to be part of the Weber State family! I am completely blessed my girl Z is at such an amazing university.

The words “THANK YOU” do not do justice! My heart is full of so much love and encouragement. WEBER STATE ATHLETICS, YOU ARE DOING LIFE RIGHT! I would hope all 190 would see and feel my gratitude! Love and Blessings to all.”

Our thoughts and prayers will continue to go out to the Corta family and I appreciate the maturity of our Weber State student-athletes to understand that people matter! Truly athletics can reveal character for good and ill and now you get a glimpse of why I think this is such a special place. Thanks for your support!

Until next time, go Wildcats!

Jerry BoveeWeber State Director of Athletics

From the A.D. A Message from Jerry Bovee


Simply Smarter Weber St Program Ad.indd 1 9/15/15 3:56 PM



Senior center Joe Hawkins (55) leads the Wildcats from the tunnel and onto the field ahead of Weber State’s 32-14 Homecoming Game win over Sacramento State on Sept. 19.(Photo by Robert Casey)



Weber State goalkeeper Nikki Pittman makes a diving save during the Wildcats’ matchup against No. 7-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. on August 21.(Photo by Shane Lardinois)


Spirit Squad member Reagan Schroeder holds up the “W” in support of the Wildcats during football’s Homecoming win over Sacramento State on Sept. 19.(Photo by Robert Casey)


Running back Eric Wilkes fights for extra yardage as a defender tries to take him down in Weber State’s 38-17 win at Northern Colorado on Sept. 26.(Photo by Robert Casey)



Photos from the Weber State Men’s Basketball Alumni Classic in August. Clockwise from top right: Randy Rahe and Damian Lillard share a laugh on the bench as coaches of the Purple Team; Lillard gets congratulations from members of the Purple Team after winning the 3-point contest; Lillard reacts to a basket scored by the White team during the alumni game; Lance Allred dives on the floor to beat Eddie Gill and Kyle Tresnak to a loose ball. (Photos by Robert Casey)


Corie Holmes met with Paige Dilmore, a member of the 2015 Big Sky Conference champion cross country team, for the latest edition of Playin’ on Purple. In addition to the interview, the pair had some fun doing an emoji challenge. Check out the full video by clicking on the link above.

Playin’ On Purple: What’s your favorite memory or moment at Weber State? Paige Dilmore: So that’s really hard because there’s a lot of good ones. We have a lot of fun day to day with coach pull-ing tricks and the girls are just really funny. I have to say though that my favorite so far happened just recently when we won the conference championships for cross-country, so that’s really exciting.

P.O.P If you could play any other sport collegiately what would you play and why?P.D. I’ve never been a contact sport athlete even when I was little I didn’t do any of those sports. I really wanted to play soccer because I’ve always admired those athletes. Their endurance when running up and down the field and also their skill with the ball. I just think it would be so cool to be a soccer player.

P.O.P. If you could witness any athletic event past present or future what would you want to see and why?P.D. I love feel good sports movies. They are definitely my favorite genre. One of my favorites is Secretariat, the one about the horse racing. One of my favorite scenes is in the last race of the Triple Crown, I’m not sure which one it is, but when he pulls away and keeps spreading the gap on the second place horse who was supposed to win by a lot. It just gives me butterflies in my stomach cause I love that. I would definitely go back and witness that race.

P.O.P. If you could bring one musician back from the dead who would you bring back?P.D. I don’t really have a favorite dead musician or anything, but at the end of camp this year one of my teammates said that her biggest fear was Michael Jackson. If I could bring a dead musician back it would be Michael Jackson just so I could scare my teammate. It would be kind of mean but it would be worth it.

P.O.P. Who is your favorite person in the whole wide world?P.D. My favorite person is kind of cliché. It’s my younger sister. She’s 16, she’s my best friend. She’s so funny and lighthearted, and everything that I want to be she is. So we just kind of balance each other. I just love her so much.

with Paige Dilmore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tle6AMH41D4&list=PL5F-FHXMFG0RE5QAOBJKj25ilgQ-9BR23&index=1



T im Toone no longer catches passes or returns punts and kickoffs at Weber State or anywhere else for that matter. The former Wildcat football

standout and one-time NFL prospect recently walked away from the game, setting aside the teamwork, hustle and pressure-packed excitement of the gridiron game for the team-work, hustle and pressure-packed

excitement of the medical field. “I want to help people,” said the

former Wildcat wide receiver. Toone, 30, has returned to Weber

State after spending time with five different NFL teams – Detroit, Buffalo, Denver, Atlanta and New Orleans – and is set to enter the school’s nursing program in January. This is a departure from his earlier plans to go into physical therapy, but then again that career path was probably

a change from the one Toone had in mind when the Lions drafted him with the 255th pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

For those scoring at home, pick No. 255 was the last one that year.

In other words, Toone was Mr. Irrelevant.

Now, at first glance that might seem like a rather cruel moniker. But in the NFL, it’s actually not such a bad thing. It dates back nearly 40

DEFINITELY NOT IRRELEVANTWeber State football stars Tim Toone and Cam Quayle were each selected with the final pick in their respective NFL draft classes,

but “Mr. Irrelevant” is a tag that no longer fits.

By JIM BURTON


years when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Dayton receiver Kelvin Kirk with the 487th pick in the 1976 draft. Prior to that year, the last man taken in the draft was just that – the last man off the board. There was no real distinction made and cer-tainly no weeklong celebration the selection. It wasn’t until southern California businessman – and ex-NFL player – Paul Salata came up with the Mr. Irrelevant concept, which includes an entire week of activities, that anyone gave the last pick a second thought.

Since Salata’s brainchild came to fruition, only one school has enjoyed the distinction of having multiple Mr. Irrelevant titleholders. And that school happens to be Weber State.

More than a decade before Toone’s 2010 coronation, Wildcat tight end Cam Quayle was taken by the Baltimore Ravens with the 241st pick of the 1998 draft.

Quayle, who is now a pediatric dentist, said he had never heard of Mr. Irrelevant until he became one.

“My agent called me and was so

excited,” Quayle said. “I’m like, ‘Well, tell me more about this.’ He said, ‘It’s awesome. You’re the last guy and they make a big deal out of it. You get to have this big party in California; you’re going to love it. It’s going to be the best thing ever.’”

Quayle said that in his ignorance,

he underestimated his agent’s comments. But it didn’t take long to realize the magnitude of irrelevance.

“I bet I was on the phone for probably the next three days, probably six to eight hours a day doing phone interviews all over the country,” he explained. “I thought, ‘Man, how dumb am I? These guys all over the country are doing interviews and I’ve never even heard of this before.’”

Quayle, a 43-year-old husband and father of four who once got into a training camp fight with legendary Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, spent time with the Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars as well as the Barcelona Dragons of the now-defunct NFL Europe. In the fall of 1999, while in training camp with the Jaguars, he suffered a cervical spine injury, which didn’t necessarily end his career but certainly caught his attention.

“I remember thinking, ‘What am I doing beating my body up,’” he said. “I loved mountain biking, loved to backpack, loved to ski. It was at that


time I started thinking long and hard.”

Having already been accepted to dental school at Virginia Common-wealth, Quayle wondered if he might be one hit away from losing the many of the things he loved. It was at that time his agent offered a critical piece of advice, telling Quayle to make use of his dental school accep-tance letter.

“He said, ‘You’re a little different than my other clients, you’ve been accepted to dental school. You’ve got a great career ahead of you,’” Quayle said. “He said, ‘I’ve got three sons. If you’re one of my sons, I’d say hang it up and go be a dentist because it’s a sure thing.’”

Like Quayle, Toone had to decide between prolonging a journeyman playing career and starting a new chapter as a health professional. And like Quayle, Toone didn’t mind walking away from football as long as it meant being able to help others.

Initially, Toone’s plan was to go into physical therapy. Given his background in sports, he was intrigued by the idea of working

closely with athletes, but he soon audibled into another course of study. Partly because he’d grown up watching his mother work as a nurse, and partly because he liked the many special options nursing provided, he decided to change paths.

“I want (to provide) more acute care,” he explained. “So hopefully an emergency room setting or an ICU setting.”

Anyone who has seen a team of doctors and nurses working together in a high-pressure setting knows the importance of commu-nication, precise decision-making and teamwork. Naturally, the same goes for an athlete in a team sport like football. Toone said as he considered nursing, the aspect of teamwork in a critical-care situation was appealing to him. After all, he felt a similar rush of energy on the football field.

“There’s a lot of stress that there’s a lot of (immediate response) that goes into it,” Toone said. “I think I can do well, so I’m pursing that because I want to make that immediate

impact, I want to be entrusted with people’s lives. I’m going to work as hard as I can to help them.”

Certainly Toone learned about the importance of discipline and hard work during years of football. He also learned about communication, job mastery, trust and adaptiveness during his time in the NFL.

As for being the last pick in the 2010 draft and being dubbed Mr. Irrelevant, Toone was aware of what it meant to be the final selection and the notoriety that comes with it.

That fact that he wore dreadlocks, which danced outside his helmet when he ran, made him even more recognizable. Rather than simply becoming another Mr. Irrelevant, Toone, who served an LDS mission in West Africa, provided a visual for NFL fans to take in.

“It made my name more common, I guess,” he said. “Everybody knew me with the dreds and that whole image. I was easily spotted when I


went around Detroit.”Toone said he appreciated the extra attention that

came from being a Mr. Irrelevant. Granted, none of that mattered to his teammates and coaches. All they wanted to know is whether he could run fast and catches passes.

The fans and media, of course, ate up the Mr. Irrel-evant sideshow and the fact that Toone had a few extra layers to his story only made him more popu-lar.

Eventually, however, Toone’s NFL career came down to one question: Can you play?

Toone believed in himself and the answer, for him, was a resounding “Yes.” But just as with Quayle, inju-ries cost him valuable opportunities on the field and in practice.

“For me, it stunk just because I kept getting hurt and wasn’t able to play,” he said. “It was a hard time but having that (Mr. Irrelevant) experience and peo-ple knowing me, it was fun. It was fun to — I don’t know — brighten their day a little bit.”

Ultimately, that’s perhaps the best thing Weber State fans can take away from the story of Cam Quayle, Tim Toone and Mr. Irrelevant. They may have been tough guys on the field, good enough to become NFL draft picks, but away from it they were — and still are — good guys with a desire to leave their mark on the work by helping others.

And there’s nothing irrelevant about that.

Below: Toone joins Rich Eisen for an interview for the NFL Network following his

selection as Mr. Irrelevant. Right: A Q&A sidebar that appeared in Sports Illustrated

following Quayle’s selection.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d818f3793/Mr-Irrelevant-is-a-Lion?DB_OEM_ID=8600



Alli Cluff worked through her collegiate career much like she solves a difficult mathematics problem, by working hard and systematically

creating a finished equation.

By DARIN HOGGE

A lli Cluff didn’t always plan to be a teacher. Nor did she plan to major in mathematics, or even play collegeiate golf. But that is where she has

found her journey taking her, nearly a dozen years after one big switch started her down a path of great opportunity.

For years as an aspiring young

female athlete Cluff made her name in the sport of softball, but while she was very successful in the sport, she discovered that she didn’t love it. Golf meanwhile, had been merely an occasional family activity.

“My dad would take me golfing when I was little,” said Cluff. “He would put me out at the 150-yard marker and I’d play from there. I’d go with him occasionally when he

would go, but he didn’t play that much because he was busy taking care of us.”

As she entered her years at Fremont High School, she saw a chance to get out of playing softball. With the Utah High School Activities Association implementing girls’ golf as a sanctioned sport for her sophomore season, it was perfect timing to try something different.

SOLVING FOR X


“Once I got to high school, and I was good at softball, I didn’t feel like I could just quit,” said Cluff. “I felt I needed to play something, and golf was the same season, so instead of playing softball, I picked up golf and I ended up really liking it.”

Cluff’s switch from softball to golf not only moved her to a sport that she would end up developing a great love for, it also got her noticed by Weber State head coach Jeff Smith.

“I saw her play a lot of high school golf because I was recruiting that region quite a bit,” said Smith. “There were three players in that region that ended up playing for us and four or five that went on to play college golf. She was easily the best player at Fremont, but she had some stong competition in the region. I think that really pushed her early on to want to get better.”

Smith would eventually offer Cluff a spot on his team, which she gladly accepted. She joined the squad as a freshman on the 2010-11 squad on an academic scholarship, but quickly discovered the high level of dedication that playing golf on the collegiate level requires.

“That first year was rough,” said Cluff. “I definitely wasn’t good, especially compared to everyone else. I just worked my butt off to try and be at least competitive. Even within the Weber State program, I wasn’t really competitive at that point.”

So Cluff went to work. Determined to be competitive, determined to earn spots in the team’s tournament

lineups, she put in countless hours working on her game and found a place of refuge at the chipping and putting green. She would spend hours developing her skills there because of the love that she generated for it.

“I think I got really good with my short game because that was always the easy place to go and spend some good time working on my game,” said Cluff. “The most relaxing place in the world for me is to go chip and putt quietly by myself.”

Cluff spent her entire first season developing her game on the sidelines, not seeing action in a single tournament during her freshman year. While her skills were getting better and better, she still wasn’t

able to break into the lineup. Looking back, she has discovered it wasn’t just her level of golf skill that was keeping her from shooting the scores that would get her into action.

“I think the mental aspect of the game was the thing that was holding me back the most,” said Cluff. “You want to play tournaments so bad, and I think that desire holds you back sometimes, because you put so much pressure on yourself at qualifying. And the tournaments you do get to play, you are terrified that if you don’t perform well, you won’t get to play in the next one.”

Cluff finally broke through in her sophomore season, earning her debut in the team’s opening tournament, the Wildcat Invitational

“I think I got really good with my short game because that was always the easy place to go and spend some good time working on my game. The most relaxing place in the world for me is to go

chip and putt quietly by myself.”


hosted by Weber State at Davis Park Golf Course. Cluff responded on the team’s home course, shooting two-over-par 73 to finish third overall and helping the Wildcats earn the team championship in the event.

Cluff’s performance earned her a start in the team’s next outing, but a 106th place finish at the Circling Raven Collegiate helped her realize that she still had a lot of work to do. She was determined to stay in the

lineup, and performed well enough in qualifiers to hold her spot in the scoring fivesome for all but one event over the remainder of the year.

A pair of top-10 finishes in small field events late in the season gave Cluff some confidence, and she experienced a breakthrough moment in the second round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament that gave her a big boost heading into her final two seasons.

“My sophomore season we were at the Big Sky tournament at Ocotillo, and I shot one-over in the second round,” said Cluff. “I was not known to shoot one-over. I was usually shooting low 80’s back then, so it was kind of the round of my life. I think that was the turning point for me because I realized ‘I can actually play this game. I actually have the mental capacity, I have the physical ability to play this game’. My teammates were stoked. I had such good teammates, Kelsey Chugg, Jordan (Ulibarri) and all them. The next day I shot 76 or 77, so it was so much better. It was proof to me that I can shoot that low. And that’s when things started to click and I began to see an increase in how I played.”

That fateful day, Cluff recorded only a single bogey over her first 12 holes of the day before a double-bogey on the par-four 13th hole. She responded with a birdie at 14, and added a birdie on 18 to shoot 73 for the day. The following day, she struggled a bit out of the gates, but shot even-par over the last eight holes of the day to post a final-round 77, earning a tie for 21st overall with a three-round total of 230.

Cluff was again a fixture in Weber State’s tournament lineup her junior season, and her new mindset helped her improve her scoring average by nearly three full strokes. She finished eighth in the Wildcat Invitational, 11th at the Cal Poly Invitational and 26th at the 2013 Big Sky tournament. Back at Ocotillo, she again struck gold in one round, this time posting a 74 in the opening round. Like the year before, her round was blemished only by a single bogey and one double-bogey, and this time she offset it with a single birdie to finish at two-over-par.

“Once I hit my junior and senior


year, I finally realized that golf did not make or break me,” said Cluff. “How I played in a tournament did not change who I was as a person. But how I responded to a terrible round did in a way shape my character a little bit. So while my physical abilities improved, it was my mindset that improved the most. And that, in turn, led me to play better golf.”

Cluff became the team’s number one player by her senior season, dropping her scoring average again by over two strokes to 78.7. She went on to earn top-30 finishes in seven different events that year, including an eighth place finish in the Wildcat Invitational, a 17th place finish at the Bronco Fall Classic, 15th at the Cal Poly Invitational, 14th at the SUU Invitational and 13th at the BYU at Entrada Classic. She was rewarded with All-Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention honors.

“Alli was always a straight-A student and a good athlete,” said Smith. “In her four years here, she just turned herself into a really good golfer. She was one of the top players in the conference her last couple of years. She played No. 1 for us her senior year, and she did it all on hard work. She’s kind of the same way on the course as she is in the classroom, she’ll outwork everybody. She is a great athlete and a great student, but she earns everything in both the academic and athletic arenas.”

Much like the change from softball led her to find her true path athletically, Cluff changed course academically until she found where

she was most comfortable.She began her career at Weber

State with intentions to eventually move on to Physicians Assistant school, so she initially chose to major in Zoology, but quickly learned she would not be happy traveling on that path.

“My first day in Zoology, I was like ‘I don’t even like animals’,” said Cluff. “I didn’t like anything about it, so the next day I changed to Microbiology and I tried that for a semester. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t like I hated it, but I thought if I didn’t go to PA

school, I didn’t want to do microbiology the rest of my life. So then I went to Athletic Training the next semester, and then again, the first day of class I didn’t feel settled about it. One of my friends suggested math, and said ‘You’ve always liked math and always considered teaching’. So I tried that and it just felt a lot more comfortable.”

Once Cluff was settled on a major, her dedication again took over and she began traveling the grueling path of pursuing a mathematics degree.

“In her four years here, she just turned herself into a really good golfer... and she did it on hard work. She’s kind of the same way on the course as she is in the classroom, she’ll outwork everybody.”

-- Jeff Smith


“I did not have a social life. That was out of the picture,” said Cluff. “My teammates were pretty much all the social life that I got, and thank goodness for them. I’ve made a lot of good friends here. But, ask my teammates, I was doing math almost 24/7. I took one day off a week and that was it. All the other time, I was doing math. At the airport, on the plane, any time I got a chance, I was doing math homework.”

Cluff ’s hard work paid off with her school work as well, and she continued to excel academically. She went on to not only retain her

academic scholarship, which comes with stringent requirements, but she earned both All-Academic team honors from the Big Sky Conference and Academic All-America honors from the National Golf Coaches Association for three-straight seasons.

“She actually stayed on academic

scholarship for most of her time here, which is very hard to do as a student-athlete,” said Smith. “They need to maintain, I think, a 3.7 GPA to keep it, and with the nature of collegiate golf, it’s particularly difficult. Most sports compete one semester and have one semester where they just practice. Golf has equal fall and spring competition seasons, so there is no real off-season during the main academic year.”

Following graduation, Cluff accepted a teaching position at Fremont High School, going full circle to the place where her golfing career

began. Cluff intends to continue to teach math, at least until she feels another change of course needs to be taken.

“I have enjoyed teaching,” said Cluff. “I still don’t know if it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I have learned a ton even in the

year-and-a-half that I’ve been doing it. Things about work in general, and balance and life.

“Being the teacher was a big deal. I have always been the athlete. I have always been the student. I’ve always been the one to be like ‘tell me what to do and I’ll do it’. All of a sudden I was put in the role of ‘you tell them what to do’, and it was really hard to wrap my head around. I feel like it is starting to come slowly and will continue to come, but it was definitely a steep learning curve for me.”

Cluff feels that golf has impacted the way she teaches, and she often turns to the life lessons that she learned from the sport to enhance her teaching, mainly teaching students the importance of sticking with things.

“Some kids now just give up so easily and just throw in the towel,” said Cluff. “If something’s hard, they don’t do it. Really my first couple of years (at Weber State) were not that

enjoyable, solely because it’s hard to come and play at the collegiate level. It’s a different mindset. So I try to implement that with my students now.

“My character is so much different now. The way I look at things now is because golf has pretty much

Cluff (second from right) concluded her collegiate golf career at the 2014 Big Sky Conference championships alongside teammates (from left) Kristie Jensen, Emily Podlesny, Nyomy Obcemea, and Kaceelyn Pouttu.

“Some kids now just give up so easily and just throw in the towel. If something’s hard, they don’t do it. Really my first couple of years (at Weber State) were not that

enjoyable, solely because it’s hard to come and play at the collegiate level. It’s a different mindset. So I try to implement that with my students now.”


taught me to look at things that way. You can turn around a crappy round just by ignoring the bad shots and not letting those bad shots affect the next shot. My attitude in life and my attitude towards teaching has changed a lot because of golf.”

Much like she worked through her path in both athletics and academics, Cluff tries to get her students to think things through with their school work.

“I really think what I learned from college in the academic world was how to think things through,” said Cluff. “And that’s what I try to get my students to do instead of just memorizing and spitting out information.

“My theory is, I don’t care if you’re wrong. I just care if you have some

logical backing as to how you got your answer. Give me something and then we can work through where the error is. That is what I learned the most from all my professors in the math department. When you get to that higher level, it’s not creating new things, it’s using what you know to figure out what you don’t know.”

So far, Cluff has turned down each coaching offer that the Fremont administration has made. She feels like coaching is something she would very much like to try someday, but for now her goal is to continue to focus on growing as a teacher.

“I’m trying to take that one step at a time,” said Cluff. “I think it would help me with my teaching too, because you get a different side of the kids. You get to see them a

different way and get to build that rapport with them, so I would like to eventually.”

If she does enter the coaching ranks someday, she will likely approach it much like her collegiate golf coach does with his players.

“The biggest thing I’ve taken from Coach (Smith) is his attitude toward things,” said Cluff. “He was always very positive, very optimistic. He could get frustrated and disappointed, but at the end of the day you knew he cared. He didn’t let golf become our lives. It was part of our lives. He knew that most of us would not become professional golfers, but he gave us an opportunity to experience something that we could treasure and something that could build our character.”

So a few years down the road, she may be coaching, maybe just still teaching, or she may be doing something entirely different. But one thing is for sure. Whatever she is doing, she will be dedicated and working hard at it.

Cluff looks back fondly on her time at Weber State and she is grateful that it was part of the equation.

“It was some of the best years of my life,” she said. “Some of the hardest years of my life. I’ve met a lot of lifelong friends that I still meet up with. Weber State as a whole just gave me an opportunity that I never could have given myself.

“It makes me sad to look back on because I have nostalgia to come back, but at the same time, there’s so much good in the things that I need to be doing now. (Weber State) has been a catalyst for the rest of my life, so I just really appreciate everything that the school has done, all my professors, coach, my teammates. I’ve really been shaped by the whole experience.”




E veryone who has attended Stewart Stadium for a football game where the mighty Wildcats have come out victorious has heard the football players chant the

familiar “We are the Wildcats scratching, snarling,” fight song and the grand chimes that ring from the victory bell. The long-standing tradition of ringing the bell is a

highly regarded privilege for each member of the football team.

“The victory bell was a tradition that I didn’t know anything about until I got here,” head football coach Jay Hill said. “It’s a tradition that the players take great pride in.”

The victory bell, produced at the Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company in Troy, New York in 1888, was first brought to football game days in

1939. Before its reign as the victory bell, the bell, was housed in an Ogden City clock tower.

The Weber College class of 1937 wanted to build a tradition for future generations of Wildcats to follow and be proud of. The ’37 students met with Ogden City Mayor Harman W. Peery and suggested the bell be used as a victory bell to be rung after every touchdown or field goal at the

A tradition that dates back to the 1930’s was revived in 2002, and has been a strong symbol for Wildcat Football for the past 14 years.

by CORIE HOLMES

SOUNDING OUT A WIN


stadium. A few weeks later, with the mayor and city commissioners’ approval, the bell was gifted to the students.

The Victory Bell tradition went strong for several years, but then fell into a period of on and off use for the next 70 years.

During WWII the use of the bell was discontinued, but it remained a symbol of victory in the community. Following the war, the bell came back and enjoyed a period of use, but in the late 1960’s a new fight song caused the old bell to be used less and less.

In the early 2000s, the bell was found collecting dust after a lengthy period of non-use. The bell was then restored and refurbished by the Emeriti Alumni Council and has been

in continuous use for the last 14 years. When Jerry Graybeal took over

the Wildcat football program in 1998 he tried to honor traditions that had been lost over time.

“The tradition of the victory bell fell in our lap to be honest,” Graybeal said. “The first thing we did was tell the players about the history of the bell, and once they knew the history, they got excited to restore and honor that forgotten tradition. I put it on the players to get the bell and start the tradition up again and they wanted to do it.”

In 2002, Weber State’s first home game was a 44-0 victory over Western Oregon and fans got to wit-ness history reborn.

“We won our first home game that year and debuted the ringing of the

victory bell,” Graybeal said. “The athletes wanted to sing the fight song with the fans and ring the bell and it’s something that’s been done and honored ever since.”

A small victory bell was placed in each of the weight rooms at Weber State to encourage athletes to push themselves and achieve personal victories. Ringing the bell is synon-ymous with winning, achieving goals, and celebrating accomplishment.

“We ring a bell in the weight room to symbolize victory, achievements and personal bests,” Hill said. “The bell has become to me a symbol of the players playing at their best. When we get to ring it at the end of the game, it’s become special to me because I know the players are playing at their best.”

“Once (the players) knew the history, they got excited to restore and honor that forgotten tradition. I put it on the players to get the

bell and start the tradition up again and they wanted to do it.”-- Jerry Graybeal

https://www.facebook.com/weberstateathletics/videos/10153727074506528/



HEART OF THE MATTERHeart rate monitoring is providing WSU Strength and Conditioning with a

high tech look into athlete recovery as a method to maximize performance and enhance injury prevention.

By JOHN HENDERSON and DARIN HOGGE

A fter suffering several key injuries at critical times in the season, the Weber State University Women’s soccer coaches, along with the WSU

Athletic Performance team consisting of athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches, took an

in-depth look at what the underlying causes may be. To dig deeper into the physiology of the athletes, and how they were responding to the training load of practice, games, strength workouts, and daily stresses, they looked right at the heart of the matter.

Each soccer player now wears

a heart rate monitor under their uniform that tracks heart rate during activity. With this information, the team can now see how the athletes are physically bouncing back from each individual game, practice and workout. Using this information, they are able to make educated and objective decisions


on practice time, intensity, and duration to best serve the student-athletes. Before implementing the use of heart rate monitors, the team was forced to rely on the coach’s intuition, the athlete’s feedback, and best judgement.

“In our sport, because it is such a fluid game, we wanted to be able to determine what the work rate is of the players,” said head coach Tim Crompton. “That’s based on when they get their heart rate into a target zone and keep it there for an extended period of time. We also get reports on recovery, specifically soft tissue recovery, which gives us a gauge into when players are most prone to injury.”

The benefit of heart rate variability monitoring, is it gives the trainers and coaches a “look under the hood” of how an athlete is responding to training. They may find that while a senior on the squad is tolerating the training very well, and is making positive adaptations to the training, a freshman may be struggling to keep up with the workload. With this information they can identify a potential problem and reduce the volume for select athletes. On the flip side, they may see that an athlete is recovering well and can be pushed to the next level of fitness.

“It definitely makes an adjustment to how you manage players,” said Crompton. “It gives you an extra piece of knowledge to compare to what your eyes are telling you. There are occasions where the data is suprising, but many times it’s spot-on to what you’re seeing and it verifies your instincts as a coach. Many times during the season we have players that we just pull back until we see that recovery.”

The coaches have also found that the data helps their athletes realize

where they are physically.“It’s good that we can tell an athlete

‘this is what your heart is telling us,’ as opposed to ‘this is what we see’,” said Crompton. “Nobody likes to be told ‘you don’t look right, you’re tired and you’re done. That’s what we see.’ But when you can show them the data, they receive it a lot better. A lot of times, it serves as a relief to the player, because they’re trying to figure it out as well.”

Typically, the coaching staff only shares data with an athlete when an action needs to be taken with regard to training level, but occasionally the players will engage with the live data feed during training sessions.

“One of the things the monitors tells us is the fitness level of the athlete based on how quickly their heart rate recovers in exercise,” said Crompton. “So they’ll hit that red zone and they will be in that red

zone for the two, two-and-a-half minute exercise that we’re doing, and then they’ll come over and take a quick look at it. If within 40 seconds to a minute they’re back down into the 60 percent of max heart rate, that player is usually one of our fitter players. But if it takes five minutes, that usually coincides with their fitness level. So the players sometimes like to come over when we’re watching the data live and take a look at where they are at.”

While some injuries are bound to happen with the nature of physical contact sports such as football, soccer and basketball, injuries have been found to occur at a higher rate when athletes are fatigued and not fully recovered. With the use of heart

WSU Athletic Trainer Andi Pigeon super-vises a training session with the Wildcat Soccer team.


rate monitors, wellness questionnaires, and other measures, the performance team strives to reduce injuries and ensure that Weber State student- athletes are performing at their best by objectively rating readiness. By utilizing a high performance approach to preparation, Weber State Women’s Soccer has been able to reduce injuries, and improve athletic performance.

During the 2014-15 basketball season, freshman Jeremiah Jefferson was noticeably slower than what the coaches remembered during the recruiting process. He was often leaning over, gasping for air, grimacing during workouts and appeared to be in poor condition. After attempts to improve his conditioning to no avail, coaches and athletic trainers suspected there may be underlying problems. A battery of testing was performed to determine the cause of Jeremiah’s decreased performance.

With the use of heart rate monitors during practice it was determined that Jeremiah was actually recovering from the workload as well or better than his teammates. Inside the Health Promotion and Human Performance Lab, Tim Ruden conducted VO2 max testing which revealed that Jeremiah was in extraordinary condition and was in the top 95th percentile for VO2 max for an athlete. On court speed and agility testing was performed using laser timers and compared to the top drafted athletes in the 2014 NBA draft combine. According to the testing, Jeremiah would have been the second fastest athlete in last year’s NBA draft, proving the coaches evaluation that Jeremiah was indeed

a very fast and explosive athlete.“The strength coach and trainers

ran me through a bunch of tests trying to figure out why I was tired,” said Jefferson. “Why I was struggling and feeling so tired. The results showed that I was in great shape and that, physically, I was just fine.”

After completing blood tests, physicals, heart rate variability, VO2

max, speed and agility testing, the final piece was the athlete’s mental status and cognitive performance. Wellness questionnaire data revealed a lack of confidence and “overthinking” during practice sessions. Jeremiah, now understanding that his performance limitations were cognitive based, began to relax and started to process information

Heart monitoring, in addition to many other tests, helped solve a problem with basketball player Jeremiah Jefferson’s physical performance.


differently. He learned to practice more relaxed and play fast without hesitating. He gained confidence in his ability, and as a result, his speed, quickness, and agility returned to normal.

“Having the information (that the tests provided) gave me a real boost of confidence,” said Jefferson. “My physical performance has really improved.”

Without a means to “look under the hood” Jeremiah may have undergone too much conditioning in an attempt to get him back to speed, compounding the problem, and leading him to increased risk of injury and decreased performance. The Weber State basketball coaching staff and Athletic Performance team now see a different Jeremiah, one who is extremely explosive, quick, and athletic.

“That battery of tests helped eliminate some fears that we had,” said assistant men’s basketball coach Steve Smiley. “As a staff, we were very concerned about Jeremiah’s health. (The results) gave us confidence that we could push him physically

and he would be okay.”Since the findings have been so

useful, Weber State Strength and Conditioning and Athletic Training have implemented an athlete readiness management system consisting of a daily morning resting heart rate, and a wellness questionnaire for student-athletes. Each morning the athlete wakes up and collects a resting heart rate using a smart phone application. They complete a wellness questionnaire consisting of questions about quality and duration of sleep, stress levels, mood, and performance. The information obtained is used to help identify athletes who may be struggling physically, mentally, or emotionally in an effort to guide them to the right support. Morning resting heart rate gives the team valuable information on how the athlete is responding to training and the daily stressors. Strength coaches and athletic trainers can receive alerts for an athlete who’s heart rate is elevated too high, too long, and who may be entering into a state of overtraining.

Weber State University continues

to make efforts to ensure that their student-athletes have a positive and productive experience. The Athletic Performance personnel, which also includes a registered dietician, are constantly seeking new methods of measuring and monitoring the athletes’ performance and wellness. Student-Athlete health and wellbeing is their number one priority and they can now take one step further in making sure that Wildcat student- athletes are as healthy, well, and injury free as possible. We hope to continue to build our readiness, recovery, and monitoring ability by adding new technologies, and systems. By collaborating with campus resources we can use the data to evaluate performance analytics, and begin to create predictive modeling that will guide our training and practice programs. If we can maximize our athletes’ potential, and reduce injuries, we will be much more competitive, and ensure that our athletes will spend more time competing at the highest level, and less time doing rehabilitation.


Through thick and thin, Josh Burton knows where his strength comes from.

Burton, Weber State’s talented junior safety, is a vibrant personality,

just the kind of person you need

to lead the Wildcats secondary during one of the toughest Big Sky Conference football campaigns in history.

And Burton has been up to the task, leading the ’Cats in the locker room and on the field as

second-year coach Jay Hill and his staff continure to turn around the WSU football fortunes.

With a win over Idaho State on the final day of the regular season, the Wildcats posted a 6-5 record, including a 5-3 mark in Big Sky play.

In 2005, Josh Burton and his family endured Hurricane Katrina. Ten years later, the Louisiana native is helping lead a resurgence with the

Wildcat football team.

By CHRIS J. MILLER

THROUGH THE STORM


THROUGH THE STORM


With Burton leading the way on ‘D,’ the ’Cats have posted a pair of back-to-back wins this season, highlighted by a thrilling 29-26 overtime victory at No. 12 Mon-tana.

Burton is pleased with the success, but not satisfied. There is still so much for the Wildcats to accomplish this year and in the future.

“Things are turning around. Weber State is definitely a team on the rise,” Burton says with a smile.

Like any strong leader, Burton has mentors who have helped him develop crucial skills. But he’s also a work in progress, a talented student-athlete who continues to

develop in all areas of his life.After playing in all 12 games as a

redshirt freshman in 2013, Burton started every game a season ago, and led the Wildcats with three interceptions to earn All-Big Sky Conference honorable mention.

This season, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound safety is one of the top defensive points leaders. A highlight in the early going was an 8-yard interception return for a touchdown against Oregon State in the first game of the year.

“Coach Cory Hall, my mentor, always tells the defensive backs to get to the ball,” Burton says. “When we do that, good things happen.”

Hall is confident in Burton as well.

“JB’s a great kid. He’s well respected among the coaches,” Hall said. “The first thing that stood out to me about Josh was his range and ability to play the ball from center field.”

Part of No. 7’s growth and talent is a result of his work in Ogden. Much of his development is a direct result of his upbringing in southeast Louisiana.

Burton was a star for the Amite Warriors, a high school with a solid reputation in southeast Louisiana. With Burton – as well as current Utah Ute Reginald Porter –


on defense, the Warriors advanced to the state championship game in 2011.

Small towns dot southern Louisiana. Burton is from Roseland, a small town north of Amite, which is on Interstate 55 an hour north of New Orleans. The Tangipahoa River winds through the commu-nities.

“Life in my neighborhood was an everyday struggle, but that’s life,” Burton says, “There were bad things around me, but football and having faith in God and my parents serve as good role models helped me succeed.

“Football helped me want better in life.”

Facing challenges

Burton’s large and closeknit family was tested in 2005, but found the strength to rise above a devastating natural disaster.

In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi, eventually claiming 1,833 lives. The damages were estimated at over $108 billion.

For an 11-year-old, Burton mostly remembers being scared. His Aunt Diane lived in New Orleans, so they went and brought her home. He recalls trees falling, and lots of rain and wind.

But Burton’s home became a refuge during those days with as

many as 15 of the clan together in the days that followed.

“We didn’t know New Orleans was under water for a couple of days. It was so long for people to respond. We felt like people around the nation could have reached out sooner,” he says.

“But in southeast Louisiana people came together. We made it through. We had each other. If anything, Hurricane Katrina brought people together,” he adds.

Coming to Ogden

Burton’s path to Weber State had its challenges too.

He’d been recruited by several colleges, but some lost interest when his ACT score was lower than anticipated.

“If they’d have looked into it,

they would know I took my ACT the morning of our championship game, a game we lost by a single point,” Burton explained.

Then-WSU assistant coach Cecil Thomas kept his eye on Burton, and eventually offered him a scholarship.

He signed in late-July. “I was the last one to sign out of our recruiting class,” he said.

And well worth it.“Weber State has been a good

experience for me,” says Burton, on track to graduate in professional sales. “I’m learning a lot from my professors. Really, sales is really just about life.”

“The new coaches are great. So was the old staff, they’re the ones that recruited me here. Coach (Jody) Sears is a good man and I respect him.

“In southeast Louisiana people came together. We made it through. We had each other. If anything, Hurricane Katrina

brought people together.”

Burton’s family took in many family members

displaced by the devastation left in Katrina’s wake.



“Coach Hill has made us smarter on the field, and off the field as well,” Burton adds. “Regardless of the scores this year, we have come so far. We hope the fans stick with us.”

Smooth game

When Burton was in sixth grade, he learned to play the piano by watching his sister’s husband, Reggie Jackson, who was the school’s band director.

“He’s talented with all kinds of instruments, and I just learned by watching his hands as he played,” Burton explains. “One day in church, I started playing and they thought it was him.”

Not surprisingly, gospel and rhythm and blues music is his favorite.

“I love old school R and B, you know like Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Yolanda Adams, stuff

like that,” Burton says. “I like the smooth stuff.”

All about family

Burton’s eyes light up when he talks about his family.

“My mother Rosa has been pushing me since I was young, always believing in me. She’s the

one that runs everything,” he says.“My father Roy is a pastor at

Good Hope Missionary Baptist

Church. As I’ve grown older we’ve developed a better relationship. Time with family is precious.”

The youngest of 12, Burton literally starts laughing when talking about his closest siblings – there’s Nancella and Ileysha and Sara, and brothers Royal and Kendrick. “Time with them is great.”

One regret is that his grandmother Luella McGee died just before Burton received his scholarship.

“Like my own family, my teammates at Amite and here at Weber have grown closer,” Burton adds. “I love to chill with them and have fun.

“I’m not much for the nightlife, but I love the day life,” he smiles. “Just doing things with Cordero Dixon, Eric Wilkes, Mitch Tulane, all the DBs. I could name them all.”

Down the road, Burton hopes to try for football at the next level.

“My dreams of playing in the NFL are wide open. One day I hope I can be back home around my family. I want to be around my nieces and nephews, and hopefully influence them to aspire to great things,” he said.

Just like he’s doing with his teammates right now.

Below: Josh (second from left), with sisters (from left) Ileysha, Nancella and Sara. Above right: The Burton family.


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High Performance WSU Strength & Conditioning

Olympic Weightlifting for Athletic PerformanceBy CHRIS FRITZ

Two of the more common and complex lifts we use in the strength and conditioning department are the snatch and the clean. These 2 lifts

make up 2/3 of what are considered the Olympic lifts. Both lifts require the athlete to take the bar from the ground and accelerate it an upward direction to the finishing position either overhead, snatch, or across the chest and shoulders, clean.

The biggest benefit from these lifts is to train the neuromuscular system.

“The Olympic Weightlifting movements prepare our athletes to produce high levels of force during the pull phase, and also how to safely absorb forces with the catch phase,” said John Henderson, WSU Head Strength and Conditioning Coach. “These lifts are ideal for power production, and injury prevention.”

With this in mind our focus is

always technique driven, that is we care more about how they lift than how much they lift. By teaching our athletes to focus more on the technique required to execute the lifts we train them to maximize their power output, an essential quality to all of

our athletes.In addition to maximizing power

these lifts also help our athletes with mobility. As the athletes become more and more proficient in the movements the loads begin to increase and require our athletes catch in a full squat position. The full squat position increases an athlete’s mobility in the hips, ankles and throughout the thoracic region. The snatch requires the athletes to execute and overhead squat position to receive the bar, in addition to the mobility created by the full depth squat our athletes also begin to develop better shoulder and core mobility and stability. The increased mobility created throughout these lifts not only allows our athletes an increased ability to change direction but also is a major factor in injury prevention.Watch WSU men’s basketball player Zach Braxton hit a personal record with a 275 lb.

clean.

https://youtu.be/cst4NR7sShk


Performance NutritionBy ADAM HUFFIELD, MS, ATC, CSCS, RDN and JOHN HENDERSON, MS, ATC, CSCS

Reaching our athletic potential is all about the work we put into making ourselves better. Endless hours of honing our

skills at practice and improving our strength in the weight room are necessary to reaching that potential.

Another component that is often overlooked is nutrition. By failing to address nutrition we are setting a limit on ourselves that will prevent us from ever reaching our potential.

Food is our fuel. We get out exactly what we put in. We wouldn’t put poor quality gas into a performance sports car, so why would we make food choices that limit our maximum athletic performance? Proper nutrition can bridge the gap between a good athlete and a great athlete.

Nutrition SimplifiedFood is made up of three macro-

nutrients. The first of which is protein. Protein is like a building block for

our bodies to use to build muscle, repair damaged tissues, and maintain certain body processes. Athletes will require more protein than non-ath-letes will. That said, eating excess protein will not automatically build more muscle. Protein cannot be stored in the body so excess will be converted to bodyfat. Not exactly the goal of any athlete. A good rule of thumb to follow is to aim for around 1 gram of protein per pound of body-weight daily or 15-20% of total calories.

Good sources of protein are lean meats, fish, and reduced fat dairy

products.The second macronutrient is carbo-

hydrates. Recently, carbohydrates have received a bad rap due to many of the popular low-carb diets. However, carbohydrates are the main source of energy when competing or working out, so performance athletes should never follow a low-carb diet. Doing so could zap energy levels and leave us feeling sluggish and unable to perform at our best.

Carbohydrates come in forms of sugars, starches, and fiber. Some carbs are better than others. The better ones are generally higher in starches and fibers and provide a longer lasting form of energy.

Aim for about 50-60% of your total calories to come from good

carbohydrate sources. Good sources include oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and whole grain breads.

The third macronutrient is fats. Fats just sounds bad and it is unfortunate because eating fat does not necessarily mean that you will store fat as bodyfat.

Fats are important to healthy skin, organ protection, cellular function, and hormone balance. Fats are also our primary source of energy when we are resting. The quality of fats is what we should be concerned with.

Saturated fats are found in animal products and tropical oils such as coconut oil. Saturated fats can clog our arteries and raise cholesterol levels. We want to limit saturated

High Performance - Nutrition


Homemade Protein BitesA great homemade option for a healthy protein snack. Recipe by Adam Huffield, MS, ATC, CSCS

Protein Bites

8 scoops chocolate whey2 cups oatmeal1/2 cup peanut butter2 tablespoons milk2 tablespoons honeychopped peanutsNutritional Information340 calories32 grams protein24 grams carbohydrate 13 grams fat

Mix 1st 5 ingredients and shape into golf ball size balls. Roll each ball into chopped peanuts. Makes 8 servings.

fats wherever possible.Unsaturated fats on the other

hand won’t clog our arteries and can even help to improve cholesterol levels. Good sources of unsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, fish oil, avocados, almonds, and peanut butter. Aim for fats to make up about 20-30% of total calories.

Determining Calorie NeedsDetermining how many calories

we need each day isn’t difficult. Use these simple formulas and it will give you an estimate of where you should be based on your current activity level. This activity level will vary throughout the year based on if you are in-season or off-season. If you find that you are gaining or losing weight, add or subtract 300 calories from your daily total.

Activity levelLow: Bodyweight X 13 = Total Daily Calories

Moderate:Bodyweight X 15 = Total Daily Calories

High:Bodyweight X 17 = Total Daily Calories

Very High:Bodyweight X 20 = Total Daily Calories

To lose bodyfat: subtract 300-500 calories from your total.

To gain muscle weight: add 300-500 calories to your total.

Nutrition Tips • Limit processed foods. Try to eat food that is as close to its natural state as possible.• Limit fast food. Fast food is generally not healthy food. If you must, opt for a sandwich shop, choose whole grain bread, load it with vegis and lean meats, and chose a low fat sauce.

• Make a grocery list. You’ll be less likely to impulse buy and you will save money.• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. 90% of what you need is here. Fresh produce, dairy, and meat are all found on the perimeter. The middle aisles are mostly processed foods. • Try to eat 5-6 smaller meals per day vs. 2-3 large ones.• Try to eat a variety of colors in your fruits and vegetables. The more colorful they are, generally they have a greater concentration of vitamins and minerals.• Lack of time is not a good excuse for poor eating. Try preparing all your meals twice a week such as Sunday and Wednesday. Cook large amounts and portion them out in meal size storage containers in your fridge. That way you can just pop it in the microwave and it takes just 2 minutes. • Utilize a cold bag or soft-sided cooler. Take your meals with you and you won’t miss a meal or be tempted by fast food or vending machines.

• Eat a large variety of foods. This keeps food from getting boring and ensures that you are obtaining all your nutrients. • Make sure the breads you buy say 100% whole grain on the package. Otherwise, it may just be over processed white bread dyed with molasses.

Protein sources: Chicken breast, turkey breast, flank steak, eye of round steak, lean ground beef, pork sirloin, tuna, tilapia, salmon, low fat milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, tofu, edamame, beans and legumes.

Carbohydrate sources: Oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole grain breads, potatoes, quinoa, barley, whole grain cereal, fresh fruit, and vegetables.

Fat sources: Olive oil, canola oil, avocados, olives, almonds, walnuts, flaxseed, fish oil, almond butter, and peanut butter. (Don’t forget that protein sources generally have fats too).



W hether you graduated in 1959 or as recent as 2013, you to can make a difference in the life of a current stu-dent-athlete. Recently Val, 59’ and Claudia, 65’ Weathers made a very

generous commitment to improve the academic life of a Men’s Basketball player, by creating an endowed scholarship. The Larson-Weathers Endowed Schol-arship for the Weber State Men’s Basketball program was set-up to honor Val’s former Coach Bruce Lar-son and will provide an education for a deserving student-athlete for many years to come.

Alli Cluff, Class of 2013, was an outstanding stu-dent-athlete. Not only was she an exceptional golfer, leading the Women’s Golf team her senior year; she was an Academic All American. Alli is just beginning a career as a math teacher at Fremont High School. She is also beginning to “pay it forward” by joining the Wildcat Club. Her donation will go directly to the general student-athlete scholarship fund. Please take a minute to see just how amazing Alli is:

Val and Alli represent the 300 plus Weber State student-athletes receiving financial help with their education. Every student-athletes’ story is different, but by providing scholarship assistance, you are

helping someone gain a valuable asset, an education. Whether you give an annual gift to a scholarship fund, such as the Wildcat Club, or create an endowed scholarship that reaches far into the future, even one supporter can make a life-changing impact on a student.

We are all about helping students-athletes turn their dreams into realities. We’re counting on you to help us accomplish that goal. With your support, we can change lives

Create a Legacy

For more information on becoming a Wildcat Club Athletic Fund member, please call us at 801-626-6576 or visit WeberStateSports.com

DirectorWildcat Club Athletic Fund

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by CORIE HOLMES

V al Weathers has been a Weber State fan since he himself was a Wildcat. Weathers played basketball at Weber Junior College

and was a part of the 1959 national championship team.

He was recruited by Coach Bruce Larson who became one of the most influential men in his life.

“I never had a great relationship with my father,” Weathers said. “I never had a positive male role model in my life until Coach Larson. He became a father figure in my life. He taught me how to be a good man. He did more than coach basketball, he coached life.”

Because of coach Larson’s influence in his life, and because of his love for the Wildcats, Weathers and his wife Claudia, recently set up the Larson-Weathers Endowed Scholarship for the Weber State Men’s Basketball program.

“I had so much support during my time at Weber that impacted the rest of my life,” Weathers said. “I wanted to give back to the program that changed my life and have the opportunity to impact someone else’s life.”

Larson was the head coach the Wildcats for two years from 1957-59. He not only coached the basketball

team, he was also the head coach of the baseball team and was an assistant coach for the Weber foot-ball squad.

“Coach Larson is the greatest example I have in my life,” Weathers said. “I named this scholarship after him as a way to thank him for everything he’s done for me.”

Larson looks back fondly on his time at Weber. “Those were a great two years for me,” he said. “We played in the old gym downtown or in local high school gyms. Weber State has had such great success in basketball so this scholarship means a lot to me.”

Under Larson’s tutelage, the Wildcats had great success. In his first season, the team with Allen Holmes and Weathers, ended the season as the junior college national runners-up. The next year Weber

Wildcat Club Member Spotlight Val & Claudia Weathers

Weathers (third from left in back) celebrates with members of the 1959 NJCAA National Championship team.


captured the NJCCA National Championship defeating Bethany-Lutheran 57-47 in Hutchinson,

KansasWeathers also recalls his time as

a Wildcat, recounting the many adventures he had as a player.

“Back then, things weren’t the same as they are now,” Weathers recalled. “I remember one game we were coming home from Boise,

Idaho to make a game in Ogden the same night and one of our cars broke down. Coach Larson took the starters and one sub to make it before game time and the rest of us hitchhiked or hopped a train. Not one of us was late for that game. Something like that would never happen today.”

Larson only coached two years at Weber before heading to the University of Arizona where he coached for 12 years and still resides in Tucson.

Weathers has been a basketball season ticket holder for over 50 years. He and his wife are founding members of the Wildcat Club.

“When we first got married, we had to choose between buying a television or getting basketball season tickets,” Weathers said.

“I knew it was pointless to fight for the TV,” Claudia said. “I knew we were getting the tickets.”

And the couple still has season tickets all these years later.

During Weathers’ basketball career, Weber State played at the Weber College gym-nasium, which still exists in downtown Ogden. Below: Weathers poses for a photo inside the gym.


“My scholarship means a lot to me because not a lot of people get thechance to play at the collegiate level. So I thank God every day.”

Richaud Gittens - BasketballTempe, AZ

Class of 2017

Call 801-626-6576 or visit WeberStateSports.com for more information or to join.

Join the Wildcat Club and help support WSU Student-Athlete Scholarships


Compliance Corner Student-Athlete Employment

A s social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram have become a large part of our daily lives, our

coaching staffs have increasingly used these platforms as a way of communicating with prospective student-athletes during the recruiting process. Social networks have replaced telephone calls as a preferred channel of communication for a large number of the recruits our coaches target each year.

While our coaches can use social media as a tool of communication with recruits, NCAA rules prohibit

boosters from communicating with recruits and their family members on social media. These rules exist to ensure that that there is not improper influence when a recruit is choosing where to attend college. The prohibition on contact on social media includes, but is not limited to:

• Posting on a Facebook wall• Commenting on a recruit’s photos• Using the inbox/email feature• Instant messaging• Direct messaging• Twitter “@ replies”• “mentions”

Weber State requests that its boosters refrain from contacting recruits and their family members on social networking. A number of schools have reported violations of NCAA rules due to booster contact with recruits on social media. When a violation occurs, we must impose penalties that may affect our coaches’ ability to recruit, which we do not want to happen. While social media interaction between boosters and recruits may be well-intended, it is still a violation of NCAA rules.

Remember to ASK BEFORE YOU ACT! Please contact us if you have any questions on NCAA rules.

Sincerely,

Will PridemoreDirector of [email protected]

One of the missions of the Weber State Office of Athletics Compliance is to educate those who support our athletics programs. You may or may not know that NCAA rules control what a booster can and cannot do with recruits and current student-athletes. Improper interactions between a booster and a current or future student-athlete may jeopardize the student-athlete’s eligibility. According to NCAA rules, you are a booster if you1. Have participated in or have been a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution’s athletics

program (e.g. Wildcat Club);2. Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization;3. Have assisted or been asked to assist by the athletics department in the recruitment of a prospective student-athlete;4. Assist or have assisted in provided benefits to student-athletes or their families; OR5. Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution’s athletics program.

It is important to remember that once you trigger booster status with an institution, you are always considered a booster.

Insta



By CHRIS J. MILLER

Carl Arky has seen some of the greatest accom-plishments in Weber State athletics history, and called them with great energy and flair

for the fans and listening audience.And now, after 18 years of calling

games for the ’Cats, Arky recently

left his position as radio voice of the Weber State Wildcats to pursue other opportunities.

Breaking down “Wildcat Carl’s” resume takes a calculator. Arky called more than 700 football and basketball games, including six Big Sky Conference basketball champi-onships and six NCAA Tournament appearances.

Arky also worked Weber State’ last two trips to the NCAA Football Championship Series football playoffs.

Arky’s final call for WSU was the Wildcats’ overtime victory over Montana in Missoula in October.

In making the announcement, Arky thanked many who he had worked with at Weber State, including Brad Larsen, Paul Grua and Kerri Robinson, as well as the ownership of KLO-AM 1430 radio, the Webb family.

Arky is a Utah sports broadcasting

icon, with stints on television and radio, calling World Cup archery events all over the world, as well as a popular stint as “Cowboy Carl” while covering the National Finals Rodeo for 10 seasons in Las Vegas.

Arky summed up his Weber State experiences this way:

“I’ll carry those memories with me and will always be a Wildcat at heart. No one will be cheering louder or be more proud than old Wildcat Carl.

“Thanks for your time, this time, till next time.”

Stepping in

Filling his shoes will be Steve Klauke, also known to so many Utah sports fans. Klauke, who has filled in for Arky through the years, is a two-time Utah Sportscaster of the Year, and has been the voice of the Salt Lake Bees since 1994.

He’ll be joined on men’s basketball home broadcasts by David Patten, a former WSU basketball standout.

Lolotai a pioneer

While the name Al Lolotai isn’t as recognizable as some sports pioneers, the former Weber Junior College football player was an influential member of the Samoan culture and opened the doors for many young Polynesian athletes to dream big.

And for that, Lolotai will be honored in January when he is inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.

The 2016 Class, which includes Troy Polamalu (USC, Pittsburgh Steelers) and Vai Sikahema (BYU, Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles), will be honored on January 29-30 in Oahu, Hawaii.

Albert Lolotai joined the Weber Junior College football team in the early 1940s, a strong offensive lineman from Laie, Hawaii.

In 1945, Lolotai became the first Samoan and Polynesian to play in the National Football League, spending that season with the Washington Redskins.

A year later, Lolotai joined the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football Conference and starred for

Name Game Arky Ends Tenure as Voice of the Wildcats


three seasons. The AAFC merged with the NFL after that season, but Lolotai decided instead to become a pro wrestler, adopting the name ‘Alo Leilani.’

Lolotai held several wrestling titles in the 1950s through 1970s, winning the Stampede North American Heavyweight title in 1978 at the age of 58.

Others to be inducted in January are Charlie Teetai Ane Jr. (USC, Detroit Lions) and Rocky Freitas (Oregon State, Detroit Lions). The selection committee includes former college coaches Ron McBride and LaVell Edwards, ESPN SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett, NFL player expert Gil Brandt and inaugural inductee Kevin Mawae.

’Cat tracksFormer Weber State basketball

players Kyle Tresnak and Slobodan Ocokoljic continue their pro careers in France, on the same team.

The pair are members of GET

Vosges in the French NM1 league.Tresnak finished his WSU career

in 2014, and played last season in Oviedo, Spain.

Ocokoljic, who finished his college career at WSU in 2004 has been playing in leagues around the world ever since. The Serbia native played last season in France as well, and is the oldest player on this year’s squad by seven years.

Tidbits

We note the passing of Steve Schmitz, a former WSU running back in the 1970s, who died on Oct. 16, at the age of 68. Schmitz was a successful prep coach at North Tor-rance High in California, winning state titles in football, wrestling, golf, track, basketball and baseball. …

The last time Weber State defeated Montana in a Big Sky Conference football battle in Missoula, this writer was the student editor the Weber State Signpost. In that game, on Oct. 24, the Wildcats, under coach

Mike Price, prevailed 29-26. It’s great to get another win. …

Former WSU distance runner Brett Hales finished third at the Warrior Dash World Championships held Oct. 9-10 in Tennessee. …

Ex-Weber State basketball assistant coach Phil Beckner joined the

Nebraska coaching staff this season. Buckner spent last season as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA D-League. …

Weber State University hosted the USA Weightlifting College Nationals in September on campus. The Sept. 24-27 event drew hundreds of elite competitors from around the nation. …

The fans were the big winners of the first WSU Alumni Classic basketball weekend, which included players and coaches from the 1970s to today. Look for the Aug. 29 event to be repeated in years to come.

Chris J. Miller, a 1986 graduate of Weber State, is a former Weber State Signpost sports editor and editor in chief, as well as a former longtime sports editor at the Stan-dard-Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at cjmsports.

Kyle Tresnak (left) and Slobodan Ocokoljic (right) were separated by eight years between their careers at Weber State, but the pair have become teammates in the European pro-fessional ranks.


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