CEDAR CITY, Utah - Sharlie Dimick, along with the rest of her teammates, will open up their cross country season this weekend in Logan. But she will be taking a detour that most of her teammates might not, to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
She will be in the stadium as the Thunderbirds take on the Utah Utes to open their football season, and as excited as she is to see SUU play, her main interest is on the opposite sideline.
Sharlie's brother is Hunter Dimick, a senior defensive end for Utah and will be going head-to-head against the Thunderbirds on Thursday.
“We've always had a typical, good, brother-sister relationship,” she said. “In junior high I was pretty much known as Hunter Dimick's little sister, but that was never a bad thing because all the teachers loved him and he was such a good athlete.”
Hunter is a captain for the Utes this season, after having a lot of success on the defensive side in his first three seasons with the program.
Sharlie said that the two became very close in high school, and continued to have an extremely tight bond when Hunter went to Utah and Sharlie came to Cedar City.
“He's always been an awesome example for me when it comes to sports,” she said. “There were times my freshman year when I would be so frustrated with school and running, and I would call him almost in tears and he would help me through it.”
Sharlie said the two weren't overly competitive, but there were some moments where they would go head-to-head.
“He did track his junior year, which was my freshman year, and we all had to do 4x4s and he actually beat me. His 400 time was faster than mine, but it was fun to be able to run track with him when he would throw and I would run.”
When it comes to watching her brother play, Sharlie becomes very invested.
“It's so cool,” she said. “It's nerve-racking, just because he's against these huge guys, but if he gets a sack or a big tackle it just makes me happy because no one deserves to succeed more than he does. I probably get just as nervous on game days as he does.”
Overall, Sharlie said her brother deserves a lot of credit for helping her get where she is today with a big opportunity to have a major impact on the cross country team in the upcoming seasons.
“I wouldn't be as good as an athlete as I am right now if it wasn't for him,” she said.
When it comes to her season, Dimick is setting high expectations for not only the team, but herself as well.
“I just want our girls team to prove everyone wrong,” she said. “I am so happy that our guys team has this amazing reputation, and they're all my best friends, but I want our girls team to shine this year too.”
For all things SUU cross country and track and field, follow @SUUTrackandxc on Twitter and Instagram and like the Southern Utah Track and XC page on Facebook.
