Utah high school athletics didnt sanction girls soccer until 1989, and then only after a lawsuit against certain school districts forced its hand. The prep and club structure in the state was well established by the time Vas

It was only a handful of few years ago that Ciaron Maher, the son of a dairy farmer in Victorias Western Districts, was a young trainer in Warrnambool with aspirations of an incidental life and love of thoroughbred horses and making it on the big stages of Australian racing.Since making the decision to give it a go just over a decade ago, Maher has trained winners of trophies at racings highest level on six occasions. This Saturday at Caulfield, hell be hoping Bon Aurum can be lucky 7 in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes over 1400 metres.When the bell rang to end his school day, rather than putting his head straight back in the books Maher went to work with local trainer Shayne Fisher. He didnt just help with looking after the small stable, but also learned his initial craft towards becoming a trainer, and a jockey.There were other kids from the Kermond family locally around my age who were going to the pony clubs, hunting clubs, showjumping and eventing. I was helping Shayne breaking horses in, and whenever they were going anywhere -- I was like a part of the family -- I got to experience different facets from an equine sports perspective, Maher told ESPN of his early days.Some people grew up heavily entrenched in racing alone, but I got to experience a good variety. I wasnt really dictated to by anybody to go into racing, thats just the way it happened and Ive been able to draw on all of those parts which has really helped me. Later apprenticed to the late Peter Hayes in Adelaide and in Melbourne, Maher rode with success over the jumps representing Australia in the annual jockeys challenge series against Ireland and also rode in England, Ireland and Dubai.His career as a jockey was stalled by his rising height, in 2005 his career as a racehorse trainer set sail. By 2010 he also set up a second training base at Caulfield, where he now works primarily from the stable building previously occupied by Peter Moody, together with facilities at Pakenham, east of Melbourne, and at Randwick in Sydney.The red-brick Booran Road stables at Caulfield have seen some champions grow and train towards great successes, not least Black Caviar during her 25-win blitz. Add to that, legendary Caulfield trainer Angus Armanasco occupied the site for decades until the late 1990s with top performers like Zedative and Tolerance.It was unbelievable. Really, to think that for us as a team that we could go to Caulfield five years ago and have three boxes, and then to be walking into Armanascos and Moodys old stables with an 80-box barn; it was surreal how it came around but the opportunity arose at the right time. Just two years into his fledgling training career, Maher shot to into the racing headlines when Tears I Cry won the Group 1 Emirates Stakes on the final day of the 2007 Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington at the extraordinary odds of 66-1.I said to dad after I got my [trainers] licence, if Im no good at it after two years Ill come back and milk cows, Maher told the Herald Sun in 2014.Hell not be milking cows any time soon.He has since added two more Group 1 wins in Queensland and two more at Flemington, both in the Crown Oaks, with Set Square (2014) and Jameka (2015). Pleasingly, both horses continue to show great potential in adding to Mahers trophy cabinet this spring.He has also trained won the Grand Annual Steeplechase and the Grand National Steeplechase three times apiece, and his versatility paints like an old-time story as much as one of a modern trainer.And it is literally a small stones throw from his Caulfield boxes that four-year-old Bon Aurum will jump from barrier five in the $500,000 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, the only 1400 metre Group 1 handicap of the Melbourne Spring Carnival. Bon Aurums only win to-date at Caulfield came in the Group 3 Guineas Prelude over the same 1400 metres trip 12 months ago to the day of his Rupert Clarke task. He returns to Caulfield after an impressive second-up victory at Flemington, over 1400 metres on Sep. 10, that surprised even his trainer.Im really happy with where hes at, hes just come up so well, 36-year-old Maher said.Hes been down at Warrnambool and did most of his work there before going to Flemington. He was a little bit wooly [in his coat] at his first-up start at Caufield and the way he hit the line really well second time around surprised me a little bit.Hes continued on that improving path; his coat still has a way to go but I think he should be pretty spot on for Saturday. With 52kg on his back, the handicap conditions of the race also offer a positive toward Bon Aurums chances.It is tough going to Group 1 level, but the handicap conditions appeal to him and hes a four-year-old stallion so if he can win or place it will certainly help his value.After failing to follow-up with a win in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas last October, the colt was found to have floating bone chips in one knee. The ensuing surgery seems to have healed well and delivered the desired results, albeit a little later than first hoped.It is becoming a very common surgical procedure and [the vets] are getting very good at it. He had it done at the right time. We had to cut it very fine with the timing and he didnt come up as well as we had hoped [in the autumn] but I think the extended break this time has really been the making of him.If injuries can be one source of frustration, other exterior distractions can weigh heavily on a trainers mind -- as seen in recent legal cases over banned substances, etc - and Racing Victoria stewards are investigating the circumstances of the ownership of Mahers 2016 Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes winner Azkadellia. How much of an effect does this have on the day-to-day running of a growing training operation? Compartmentalising the daily mindset seems to allow Maher to keep the rest of the business ticking over positively.The quicker these things are sorted out the better but when Im at work Im focused and it is work as usual. Later in the day you might have to go and deal with that sort of stuff, which probably takes away from other things that you might be doing.With plenty of more positive things to look forward to over the next couple of months, both Set Square and Jameka are right in the mix to add to their Group 1 CVs.Set Square put in another eyecatching performance at Caulfield last Saturday in the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes, which was won by Jameka in a very impressive staying display. Having not won since her Oaks victory nearly two years ago, surely another win couldnt be too far away for Set Square?I dont think so. If she can just draw a [good] barrier, I think it will help her a lot. She always has to make long, wide runs, Maher told ESPN.Last Saturday over the 2000 metres she just traveled a little bit keenly, and with having no cover in the race it might have taken a bit away from her in the finish.She had the autumn off and a good break, so were very happy with the way shes going, and she has furnished into a five-year-old mare nicely after being quite light and narrow as a three-year-old and a bit uptight as a four-year-old.Its really good signs going into these longer and bigger races because you know you still have plenty to work with in the lead-up. After her win in the Naturalism, Jameka received a 0.5kg penalty for the BMW Caulfield Cup on Oct. 15.Im happy with the penalty, Maher told ESPN. She was very dominant so I suppose she had to get something. Shes ticking over very nicely and will head not to the Turnbull Stakes [2000m, Oct. 2], which is a no-penalty race, and then onto Caufield Cup.I think she is still on the up and Im just rapt with her. Shes really made the transition from a filly to a mare.The smart three-year-old Throssell is also looking every bit a promising AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m) candidate. Throssell is an early scratching in Saturdays Caulfield Guineas Prelude but that isnt necessarily for negative reasons.Ive always thought that he was a Derby horse - hes quite relaxed in the run.He might be able to win a [Caulfield] Guineas but I thought hes got a better chance to win maybe a Caulfield Classic (2000m, 8 October) and a Derby. Hes got a great set of lungs and tends to relax very well.Hes learning all the time and his work on Tuesday was quite sharp, and with Astern coming out of the Guineas Prelude we thought we might have a go. After drawing barrier 18, that was what changed our minds.Throssells next start is likely to be the Listed UCI Stakes (1800m) at Flemington on Oct. 2.UBET rate Bon Aurum a $6.50 chance in the Rupert Clarke Stakes, while Jameka is the Caulfield Cup second-favourite at $6.50 with Set Square rated a $26 chance. Wholesale Jerseys China . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. NFL Jerseys 2020 . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year. https://www.cheapjerseysfromchinareview.com/ . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. 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PROVO, Utah -- In an NCAA womens soccer tournament that lacks a prohibitive favorite, BYU would hardly make an unlikely national champion. The Cougars are 16-2-1 entering a first-round game at home and have one of the nations leading goal scorers in recent United States national team call-up Ashley Hatch. The senior is the tip of the spear for an offense that ranks third in the nation in goals per game.It would be a good story if BYU, a No. 4 seed, wins its first national title. It just wouldnt be a shock for the ages.The unlikely story is that this particular program finds itself in such a position in the first place.This is a soccer program that logic indicates should exist on the margins nationally.It should be there according to conference affiliation -- it resides in the once mighty but increasingly mid-major West Coast Conference. It should be there by dint of its own history, which is barely two decades old in a state that was similarly slow to warm to womens soccer. And its religious makeup suggests the same: The Mormon faith with which BYU is synonymous comprises less than 2 percent of the U.S. population -- but the entirety of the soccer team.None of it adds up to a championship contender this season, let alone a fixture among the sports upper crust. But BYU is both. At a time when the struggles of former national champions Santa Clara and Portland underscore how difficult it is for programs beyond major conferences to thrive, BYU keeps getting better, achieving a 80-17-9 record over the past five seasons and earning seeds among the top 16 teams in the NCAA tournament twice in that span. BYU opens its title pursuit Friday (ESPN3, 9 ET) against UNLV.We call it the bubble here, BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. We like to be in our safe bubble sometimes.Who knows how much of it would have happened, or at least how quickly it would have happened, if Rockwood had been just a little better at basketball. Although she was born in a hospital less than a mile from the sideline on which she now coaches, Rockwood grew up in Oregon. She wanted to play basketball at BYU. Instead, after playing that sport for a year at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho), she transferred to BYU and settled for playing on the club soccer team that was then the sports only presence at the school.I think my seventh-grade team could have beat this college team, Rockwood recalled thinking. So it was interesting. But I made most of my really good friends in college on the team.She shifted from player to coach upon graduation. There was speculation BYU might soon make soccer a varsity sport, and she tried to raise the level of play accordingly. Yet the team was fighting for practice space on campus and piling into vans and driving through the night to tournaments in California, dependent on families for a place to sleep. Her compensation was about $500.I had a girl on the team who taught an aerobics class at BYU who made quite a bit more money than me, Rockwood said.Again, this is not ancient history. This unfolded during the first half of the 1990s. At about the same time, North Carolina broke into double digits for NCAA titles in womens soccer. And it was more than a decade after Jim McMahon and Steve Young brought BYU national attention on the football field. But when the school finally added womens soccer as a varsity sport in time for the 1995 season, it made an important corresponding decision. Rather than hire someone with experience coaching Division I soccer, it hired Rockwood -- someone who understood the school.BYUs choice to eschew Sunday competition isnt the only way the team differs from other schools, but the decision is instructive in the ways it shapes a soccer program. The scheduling element alone means that BYU cant participate in most early-season tournaments, which typically involve four schools that play games Friday and Sunday. These events are useful for strengthening RPI resumes, a necessity for programs from smaller conferences with national aspirations. Instead, Rockwood needs an athletic department willing to commit the resources to make separate one-game trips to Penn State and Ohio State little more than two weeks apart, as BYU did this season.The choice also changes how the program recruits.A gifted attacking player who has scored 18 goals this season and whose knee injury a year ago may have been all that stood between BYU and another national seed, Hatch arrived in Provo without the sort of club and youth accolades thaat usually accompany players of her ability.dddddddddddd That was at least in part because she didnt play in all the high-profile showcase settings growing up in Arizona.My faith is something that is really important to me, Hatch said. So when it came to playing at those higher levels, I knew I just had to work harder to get recognized for colleges -- or go to camps and work extra hard at camps because those were my only opportunities to be seen because lots of championship games were played on Sundays, and I wouldnt be attending.Michele Vasconcelos, a fifth-year senior and the WCC player of the year who enters the NCAA tournament with 14 goals and 12 assists, sometimes played on Sundays growing up in the Salt Lake City area. For her, while uncomfortable, the compromise ensured she could compete at a high enough level to continue playing in college. BYU was never in danger of losing the states high school player of the year to a larger program -- she still has a childhood journal with entries about how much she wanted to play for the Cougars -- but her faith shaped at least some of the schools appeal.It definitely played a huge role, Vasconcelos said. I loved the aspect of not being able to play on Sundays.When BYU first reached an NCAA quarterfinal in 2003, the catalyst was All-American and current assistant coach Aleisha Rose. The national high school player of the year, Rose played for the U.S. national team while in college. She stopped playing for the national team in part because of the necessity to compete on Sundays.While not as spectacular as the views of the mountains that abut Provo, the facilities at BYU are attractive. The practice field is a block away from the building that contains the team facilities and the glitzier Student Athlete Academic Center. South Field, where the team plays its games, is perfectly sized to make what rank as some of the largest crowds in the country sound that much louder. But there is little that would turn heads, certainly not amid the splendor of new facilities at schools like Oregon or across the SEC. What sells BYU is the very uniqueness that could limit it.I can go to big [youth] tournaments now and there are just not as many [Latter-day Saint] or Mormon kids playing because now they have to make those Sunday decisions at 10 years old or 11 years old because of the youth system being so competitive, Rockwood said. But the Utah kids, there are so many people who would prefer not to play on Sundays that the club system here schedules around Sundays. So kids are still developing at a high level without having to play on Sundays. Its changed our recruiting and our pool over these last five years.Weve always relied on a lot of Utah kids over the years, but probably more so now than even in the past.The transformation of a barren recruiting ground into something fertile enough to provide for the program is also an integral piece of the puzzle, with BYUs success likely both cause and effect in that process. The governing body for Utah high school athletics didnt sanction girls soccer until 1989, and then only after a lawsuit against certain school districts forced its hand. The prep and club structure in the state was well established by the time Vasconcelos came along, but she can recall her sister, more than a decade older, talking about a different era when opportunities were scarcer and competition weaker unless girls played on boys teams.At the college level, there are now six NCAA Division I programs in the state, with more than 100 in-state athletes on their rosters. There were no Division I programs in the state as recently as 1994. BYU is by far the most successful, with more NCAA tournament appearances than the other five combined.I feel like its every Utah girls dream to go to BYU [to play soccer], Vasconcelos said.That may be hyperbole, especially considering the University of Utah is also in the NCAA tournament and thriving after the schools move to the ultra-competitive Pac-12. Or that nearly half of the state, unlike 98 percent of the BYU student body, isnt Mormon.Yet the proof is in the results. And enough people share that dream to make it anything but fantasy to think BYU could win it all.This group wants to do something that BYU soccer has never done, Rockwood said. And thats potentially get to the final four and see what happens. ' ' '