This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A highly decorated soccer star at Bountiful High, Paige Hunt was midway through her first season at BYU when the LDS Church lowered to 19 the minimum age for women to begin missionary service.
Three months later — despite helping the Cougars go 20-2-2 and make it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament — Hunt opted to go on an 18-month Mormon mission.
Her decision shocked Brigham Young University's coaching staff, which, like almost every other coaching staff of a women's sport in Utah, was not prepared to suddenly lose key players to church missions.
"They were kind of blindsided," Hunt said.
Because eight seniors off that West Coast Conference championship team were graduating — including four starting defenders — and because the only returning defender, Taylor Campbell Isom, had torn her anterior cruciate ligament, BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood asked Hunt to wait a year and then go. Hunt agreed, then earned all-conference honors in 2013.
She left for Indianapolis, where former BYU basketball coach Steve Cleveland was her mission president, and returned before the 2015 season, quickly regaining her starting spot.
"I haven't regretted going one bit," said Hunt, who was named to the 2014 preseason all-conference team while on her mission. Apparently, WCC coaches didn't know she had left. The Cougars sure did.
Hunt's story illustrates the impact that the LDS missionary age change for females has had on women's collegiate sports throughout mostly Mormon Utah. Every Division I school in the state has been affected since the church's announcement in October 2012, and many returned female missionaries are just now getting back and making their presence felt on the courts, fields, tracks, diamonds and pitches throughout Utah.
"When the missionary age change was announced, we didn't realize it would have as big of an impact on us as it did," said Rockwood, who has had to deal with the change perhaps more than any coach in the country. "We have five out right now, one more going in a month. It wasn't something we had to deal with for almost 15 years, but now it has made us rethink our recruiting and all that."
Leaving with no guarantee • BYU, which is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, isn't the only Utah school with female athletes returning from Mormon missions.
Kate Stringfellow, a senior at the University of Utah who is on the school's cross country and track teams, returned last February from the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., mission and competed in her first race in more than two years in September.
"Getting used to the altitude again," she said, "was a big problem when I came back."
A two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, Stringfellow was well past 19 when the minimum-age change (down from 21) took effect, but said she "caught the missionary bug" after her junior year and also caught her coaches by surprise when she told them she was mission bound.
"My coach [Kyle Kepler] tried to get me to stay one more year and then go when my eligibility was finished, but I said the decision was made and I was going," Stringfellow said. "He was very supportive once I told him that, but he said he couldn't guarantee my scholarship if I left."
When Stringfellow, from Salt Lake City, returned last January, her scholarship was still there — even if her conditioning wasn't.
"I came back pretty out of shape."
Willing to give up soccer • Rachel Boaz, the starting goalkeeper on BYU's highly ranked team this season, was almost 21 and playing for San Diego State University near her hometown of Murrieta, Calif., when the age minimum shifted. She went anyway, often serving with women two years younger.
Boaz redshirted her first year, then was the Aztecs' starting goalkeeper in 2011 and 2012, leading her team to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2012. She said telling her non-Mormon coaches at SDSU that she was giving up her full-ride scholarship and leaving for 18 months was one of the most difficult things she's had to do in her life.
"It broke my heart," she said. "They were very frustrated, and I don't blame them. They didn't understand at first. But after I told them I was leaving, I just couldn't see myself in San Diego anymore."
Boaz said she was willing to give up soccer altogether, but before she left for Everett, Wash., an LDS institute teacher at SDSU contacted BYU and asked if the Cougars would take her when she returned.
She got back in December, quickly earned the starting job this fall and gave up just one goal in the first eight games to re-establish herself as one of the nation's top goalkeepers.
"I lost a lot of muscle, and it took months to get my strength back," Boaz said, "but it was the best decision I've ever made."
Rockwood said Hunt and Boaz have made "phenomenal" returns to the program.
Five BYU women's soccer players are currently serving Mormon missions — Rachel Bingham, Ella Johnson, Kayci Griffin, Shaylyn Orr and Alyssa Jefferson — and a sixth, Josie Manwill, will be heading to Kobe, Japan.
"Most of the girls who have decided to go didn't know they would when I recruited them," coach Rockwood said. "They weren't really thinking about it. It was something that just came to them, and certainly when the age change came, they thought more about it. Last year at this time, I had four girls tell me they were going, and then one more, later. We had to adjust, obviously. We haven't had any tell me so far this season, but you just don't know."
A challenge for head-count sports • In most women's college sports, coaches have a set number of scholarships available. They can divide them up as they see fit so almost every player on the team gets a fraction of financial aid.
That's not true of volleyball and basketball, which are called "head-count sports," because the athletes receive the entire scholarship.
So when starting outside hitter Kimberly Dahl told BYU women's volleyball coaches she was leaving in June 2014 for a mission to Olongapo, Philippines, they were taken aback.
"She was a starter, a big part of our [2013] team," said new BYU head coach Heather Olmstead, an assistant at the time. "Because we are a head-count sport, it is pretty impactful when a volleyball player leaves."
Dahl, from Pleasant Grove, returns in December and will have two years of eligibility remaining.
"We are supportive of missions, but it is definitely something we want to be in discussions with them about and figure out how we can make it work for BYU and how it can work for them," Olmstead said. "We are super supportive of it, but it has to be something that is thought out pretty carefully."
Before the age change, Olmstead, who played for Utah State University and coached at USU and the University of Utah, said most young women would finish their eligibility before leaving. That's what former BYU outside hitter Hannah Robison recently did.
"Obviously, times have changed," Olmstead said. "It is relatively new to women's college athletics, and everyone is learning how to deal with it."
Twitter: @drewjay Returned and current Mormon missionaries in Utah women's collegiate sports
Athlete Sport School Mission
Brooke Romney Basketball BYU Concepcion, Chile
*Jessica Chatman Basketball BYU Lansing, Mich.
Kate Stringfellow Cross country Utah Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Ashleigh Warner Cross country BYU Little Rock, Ark.
Jennica "Niki" Barrow Cross country BYU London (South), England
Erika Birk Cross country BYU Cleveland, Ohio
Sidney Reilly Cross country BYU Jakarta, Indonesia
Jessica Hilton Cross country BYU Denver (South), Colo.
Laura Young Cross country BYU Los Angeles, Calif.
Jenessa Mitchell Cross country Dixie State Little Rock, Ark.
Lauren Atkinson Golf BYU Jacksonville, Fla.
*Josie Manwill Soccer BYU Kobe, Japan
*Rachel Bingham Soccer BYU Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
*Ella Johnson Soccer BYU Omaha, Neb.
*Kayci Griffin Soccer BYU Santiago (East), Chile
*Alyssa Jefferson Soccer BYU Santa Ana, El Salvador
*Shaylyn Orr Soccer BYU Redlands, Calif. (Spanish speaking)
Paige Hunt Soccer BYU Indianapolis, Ind.
Rachel Boaz Soccer BYU Everett, Wash.
Celeste Wheelright Soccer Weber State Scottsdale, Ariz.
*Jessica Woodford Soccer Weber State Mexico City, Mexico
Shelby Christensen Soccer Dixie State Scottsdale, Ariz.
Megan Marchbanks Soccer Dixie State Vancouver, Wash.
*Tess Matagi Softball SUU Not available
Natalie Bennion Swimming BYU Paris, France
Sarah Bushnell Swimming BYU Sydney, Australia
*Hannah Hansen Swimming BYU Salem, Ore.
*Haley Bertoldo Swimming BYU Cebu (East), Philippines
*Abby Giles Swimming BYU San Pablo, Philippines
*Michelle Watkins Swimming BYU Tokyo (South), Japan
*Shaylee Howard Swimming BYU Indianapolis, Ind.
*McKenzie Wells Swimming BYU Fort Worth, Texas
Kelsey Girardelli Track & Field USU Guadalajara, Mexico
Tylee Newman Track & Field USU Jackson, Miss.
*Sierra Malm Track & Field SUU Not available
*Courtney Allred Track & Field SUU Not available
Stacie Carter Track & Field Weber State Barcelona, Spain
*Emily Black Track & Field Weber State London, England
*Paige Cooper Track & Field Weber State Dallas, Texas
*Taylor Cox Track & Field Weber State Cleveland, Ohio
*Melissa Garrett Track & Field Weber State London, England
*Summer Harper Track & Field Weber State Roseville, Calif.
*Emily Morgan Track & Field Weber State Brazi
*Kimberly Dahl Volleyball BYU Olongapo, Philippines
Jaclyn Condie Volleyball Dixie State Mexico City, Mexico
* Currently serving