- Utah's Fane Tausinga trains with Team USA for the 2028 Olympics in LA.
- Inspired by Alex Sedrick's 2024 bronze, Tausinga balances training and school.
- Sedrick mentors Tausinga, highlighting Utah's underestimated talent in the rugby scene.
SALT LAKE CITY — As the Winter Games wrap up, many athletes are already preparing for the next Olympic spotlight in Los Angeles 2028.
One such athlete is a rising rugby star from Utah who is now training alongside a Utah Olympian.
Utah helped create the Olympic rugby moment, and it's had a ripple effect all throughout the country.
Inspiration from Utah athletes
With an unforgettable finish at the 2024 Paris Games, Alex "Spiff" Sedrick's thrilling, last-minute try gave Team USA its first ever rugby medal — a bronze. Nearly two years later, the Herriman High alum considers it a core memory.
"It was really special," Sedrick said.
That moment caught the attention of young athletes across the country, like Fane Tausinga from Salt Lake City.
"Spiff was a really big inspiration to a lot of us girls, especially the girls from Utah," Tausinga said.
Rugby training for the Olympics
It's one thing to watch your heroes on TV, it's another to train with them. Now, Tausinga is training alongside Sedrick and Team USA's elite in Chula Vista, California.
While playing in a tournament in New Zealand at age 16, she got a rare rugby invitation. The coach invited her to train with the Olympic squad.
"When I first got it, it was a big shock, but I was really excited for it," Tausinga said.
That drive is exactly what Sedrick saw in her. And now, the 27-year-old is mentoring the next generation as they build toward LA 2028.
"When I see them come in, I see a lot of myself in them," Sedrick said. "Fane is all energy. She's like a little Energizer bunny."
That energy has earned the 17-year-old a couple of nicknames.
"We got Kiddo, Kid and Playground. I like Playground," Tausinga said. "I feel like it expresses me very free and open."
Balancing her goals
But behind the fun is serious sacrifice. When she's not on the field in California, Tausinga is back in the classroom at Salt Lake's East High School. She balances elite-level training with schoolwork, and living away from family for weeks at a time.
"My first week, it really like hit me that like these girls are top level and like, it was just really hard, like their speed, their conditioning," Tausinga said.
But she kept pushing because she has one ultimate goal.
"My dream has always been to just play on the highest level and now being here I just want to work hard to like, be the best I can be and just keep on playing and hopefully one day go to the Olympics," Tausinga said.
It's a dream Sedrick knows well and one's she's chasing again on U.S. soil.
"I will definitely be there. Whether or not it's in cleats," Sedrick said. "But I think to have a home Olympics, especially growing up like nearby, I think it's going to be so special to have hopefully a ton of home support."
She said Utah is a sleeper state with so much more talent to discover.
"I think that people kind of underestimate it because, you know, California has plenty of good athletes, Oregon Washington and plenty of good athletes," Sedrick said. "But Utah has some really good programs, some really good athletes."
From the medal moment in Paris to LA 2028, Utah is not only watching Rugby rise, it's pushing it forward.
