alt=Dave McCannWhile the release of BYU’s first Big 12 football schedule made a lot of noise on campus last week, a handful of female athletes quietly went about their business. They have their own big battles ahead.
Violet Zavodnik, Lauren Gustin, Whitney Bower, Brecken Mozingo, Elease Rollins, Allysha Mae Mateo and Ashton Riner-Lunt make up a “Magnificent Seven.” While each is uniquely different, they have all played a role in raising the talent level across women’s athletics at BYU in an unprecedented way.
“It really is,” said BYU softball coach Gordon Eakin said recently. “Female athletics in general has really taken off and the level of play has gotten better and better.”
Violet Zavodnik
When the Cougars open the softball season Thursday against North Carolina in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Eakin will roll out a roster he thinks might be the deepest he has ever had in 21 seasons. The veteran coach will also have Violet Zavodnik in the outfield — a player who could be the best the program has ever had.
Zavodnik is a junior from Murrieta, California. DI Softball ranks her the 28th best player in the country. She is a two-time All-West Coast Conference first team honoree who has started all 107 games in her BYU career. In just two seasons, Zavodnik has produced 123 hits, 32 home runs and 101 RBI.
“I think that’s the proper ranking (No. 28) right now and is probably based on the league we are in and what they get to see her do in the WCC versus the 27 players above her playing in P5 conferences,” Eakin said. “So I think that’s about right, but she can compete with anyone in the country — talent wise.”
Zavodnik has one more year before the program jumps to the Big 12. While the schedule hasn’t been released, Eakin revealed the Cougars will play at Oklahoma and Texas next year — two teams that played against each other for the national championship last year.
“We are not going into the Big 12 to compete,” he said. “We are going into the Big 12 to win it.”
Lauren Gustin
It has been over 40 years since anyone in the women’s basketball program has amassed 1,000 career rebounds. Lauren Gustin hit that mark against Pacific on Jan. 28 and will look to build on it Thursday against Pepperdine (7 p.m., BYUtv).
Gustin needs 466 to catch Hall of Famer Tina Gunn Robison’s record at BYU and the junior from Salem is determined to do it.
“I hope so. That’s the plan,” she said. “Tina had a great career at BYU. Her jersey is hung up in the (Marriott Center). It’s something to strive for, for sure.”
Gustin averages 15.6 points and leads the nation with 16.4 rebounds — she averaged a stunning 19.8 rebounds over the Cougars seven games in January and pulled down 16 more Saturday at San Diego.
“Every single game you have to grind and battle to get every board you can,” Gustin said. “You have to go into every game with the mindset of ‘what is it going to take to win?’’’
BYU assistant coach Morgan Bailey, the 2015 WCC Player of the Year, averaged 17.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game her senior year. What she sees in Gustin is something she has never seen before.
“You don’t meet a lot of Lauren Gustins,” she said. “You don’t have to motivate her. When she is on the court — she’s on. What makes her different from anyone I’ve ever coached is the grit and heart and it is consistent every single day.”
Gustin and leading scorer Nani Falatea will lead BYU and its highly touted recruiting class into the Big 12 next year, where they expect to come face to face with former teammate Shaylee Gonzales. The two-time WCC Player of the Year earned her degree and relocated to Texas through the transfer portal.
“It’s exciting, especially playing against teams like Texas and playing against Shaylee,” Gustin said. “I feel like I have to get stronger, faster, bigger — whatever it takes. It’s gonna be fun and challenging to play against the best of the best, but I’m ready for it.”
Whitney Bower
Whitney Bower is on track to finish among the most decorated volleyball athletes in school history. With one more year of eligibility, the senior from Nampa, Idaho, already ranks among the top five with 3,603 assists, 101 service aces and 985 digs.
The four-time first team All-WCC setter has also won 95 games and led the Cougars to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a pair of trips to the Sweet Sixteen. She will have a big smile on her face when Big 12 teams start arriving at the Smith Fieldhouse in September.
Brecken Mozingo
It has been quite a ride already for Brecken Mozingo. The All-American junior (and UCLA transfer) from Sandy has scored 22 goals in 48 starts, including a dozen last season to lead No. 15 BYU to an 11-3-7 record.
The soccer team, which returns a talented roster for coach Jen Rockwood that also includes All-American Jamie Shepherd, will be the first sport BYU competes in as a member of the Big 12 in August.
Mozingo will take to the pitch as a leader who has been schooled by the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. She kicked a pair of goals in the Cougars’ 4-1 win against South Carolina in the 2021 NCAA quarterfinals. Nine days later, Mozingo stood and watched as No. 1 Florida State defeated BYU 4-3 in penalty kicks to win the national championship.
Elease Rollins
Rollins is an All-American on the balance beam and shares a claim to the second-best score in program history of 9.930. The senior from West Jordan will lead the Cougars against Southern Utah on Friday (7 p.m. on BYUtv).
Allysha Mae Mateo
No student-athlete on campus has two collegiate golf wins like Allysha Mateo. The senior from Honolulu won the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, in November, and the Coeur d’Alene Collegiate in Idaho as a sophomore.
Mateo has 13 career top-five finishes and is looking to add another one as BYU competes in the FAU Paradise Invitational today and tomorrow in Boca Raton, Florida.
Ashton Riner-Lunt
Ashton Riner-Lunt became BYU’s first women’s javelin national champion when she threw 191 feet and 1 inch at the 2022 NCAA outdoor track and field championships. The toss also earned her status as the program’s first woman to win an individual title since 1992.
The senior from Connell, Washington, who hopes to throw in Paris for the United States at the 2024 Olympics, also holds the BYU Robison Invitational record with a throw of 198.0. She will have the opportunity to defend her national title in June.
Whether these athletes will lead their respective sports into the Big 12 or just take pride in being a pioneer that helped get them there, these “Magnificent Seven,” and the supporting casts around them, have created a unique atmosphere on campus. It’s not a stretch to say the BYU women’s athletic program, including cross-country, may be more “Big 12-ready” than are the men.
Gustin said it best, “It’s amazing to see what all of these females are doing.”
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.