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Winterton sets off for NCAA Championship

Rebekah Winterton competes in the NCAA Regional Championships last friday. Photo courtesy of U Athletics
Rebekah Winterton competes in the NCAA Regional Championships last friday. Photo courtesy of U Athletics

Growing up in Salt Lake City, Rebekah Winterton played multiple sports. By the time she reached junior high, she was told she needed to narrow her focus to just one. Almost on a whim, she chose to concentrate on cross country.

The Utes’ lone qualifier for this weekend’s NCAA Championships almost did not stick with the sport, though. After one particular practice on a scorching hot day, she was ready to quit.

“I called my dad after practice one day and said I was done,” she recalled. “He told me to just wait until the first race and it’ll get better.”

He was right. After grabbing third place in her first-ever race, Winterton went on to bigger and better things. She was named to the All-State team twice in high school and was recruited strongly by the likes of SUU and UVU. Utah expressed minor interest.

“She is really a terrific story,” said Utes’ head coach Kyle Kepler. “She wasn’t that highly recruited out of high school. I mean, she was only an 11:41 2-miler. Luckily though, we gave her a shot, and the rest is history.”

As a freshman, Winterton immediately set a goal to qualify for nationals someday, but even she thought it was more of a pipe dream than something that could turn into reality.

“I never thought I would actually get to this point,” she said. “It was a dream that scared me half to death.”

The road to the top certainly hasn’t been easy for Winterton. At the 2011 Pac-12 Championships her sophomore year, she had to run over a hard bridge in her spikes. As she was going across the bridge, she felt something pop. The resulting injury was fractured cartilage in her foot. That malady was slow in healing, and it wasn’t the last time she would be bit by the injury bug.

While in training for track after the foot injury, Winterton pulled her quad muscle, forcing her to redshirt the entire 2012 season. After her quad was healthy, she was finally getting back in shape when she hurt her IT band and found out that she has celiac disease, which forced her to completely change her diet.

“I was kind of just saying to myself, ‘Will I ever get better?’ ” she said. “It was just one injury after another, but I always knew that I would return to my best shape. Finally, I was starting to get healthy, and my workouts were going well. Coach Kep kept saying that I looked strong and looked good, so I knew I was finally back.”

As this season has unfolded, Winterton has had to adjust to a new role on Kepler’s team. Up until now, she had All-American Amanda Mergaert to look up to. The pair formed a special bond, and Winterton said Mergaert always pushed her to run harder.

Mergaert’s eligibility expired in the spring, and she is now helping Kepler coach the team. Winterton is the one making headlines.

“I’m still not used to that,” she said. “It has been a weird adjustment for me getting all this attention, but now it is my turn, and I need to take that role.”

Even though she is going into her first NCAA Championships, Winterton knows how close the race is going to be and what it will take to finish well.

“This race is going to be very tight,” she said. “The difference between 40th and 80th place could literally be 15 seconds. I will make sure to communicate with Kep while I am racing to see what place I am in, and make sure I finish strong. I usually have a strong kick.”

Kepler is modest in his expectations for Winterton this weekend but anticipates that she will excel.

“We will probably talk about a Top 100 finish, but it would not surprise me at all if she finishes a lot higher than that,” he said. “If she doesn’t, it is not because she didn’t work hard. There is something to be said about experience at this meet.”

Just days away from making her freshman dream a reality, Winterton feels all the trials and hardship she has been through have been worth it, but she’s already looking toward achieving even loftier goals.

“Next year, I want to be an All-American,” she said. “Now that I have accomplished this goal, it is time to move on and improve.”

First up, though, is the opportunity to star on collegiate cross country’s biggest stage.

[email protected]. edu 

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