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The University of Utah Athletics
Dru Gylten: Finding Her Niche
1/23/2019 4:01 PM | Women's Basketball
By Nick Greut
Athletics Communications Student Assistant
Growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota and being born into a family of basketball athletes, redshirt freshman guard Dru Gylten knew that she was destined to play basketball.
At a young age, Gylten first picked up a basketball around kindergarten from the influence of her family. Both of Gylten's parents, Daniel and Kristi, played college basketball and so did her grandfather. Gylten's father played at Morehead State and North Dakota State College of Science, her mother played at Concordia College, and her grandfather played at the University of North Dakota where he was on the same team as NBA legend Phil Jackson.
"My grandpa played in college and so did both of my parents so they kind of had a big influence on me," Gylten said. "I'd say at a younger age I was kind of forced but then I soon started to love the sport and just decided to stick with it."
Living in Rapid City, there wasn't really any competitive travel basketball teams, so Gylten would travel 10-hours to Minneapolis every weekend to play with her AAU team. Gylten gives a ton of credit to her family and all the sacrifices they have made for her to help her reach her potential.
"Starting basketball at a very young age, my family has always been a part of my life. They were always pushing me to go to the gym and work on my skills," Gylten explained. "As I got older and went to high school, they were always pushing me to try out for the best teams and that ultimately led me to play for an AAU team based out of Minneapolis."
During high school, Gylten had a very successful career, a career that many high schoolers would love to have. Gylten was a four-time state champion, holds school records in assists and steals, and finished her career with a total of 1,250 points. Everything was going her way until the improbable happened. During the semi-finals of the South Dakota State Basketball Championship in her senior year, Gylten tore her ACL. Not having been injured her whole life, this was a different challenge for Gylten to face.
"When the injury happened the first thought in my mind was that I was letting my teammates down. I was a senior, I was a captain, we had won the previous three state championships in-route to our fourth so I just felt as if I was letting my team down."
Suffering an ACL injury is never good for an athlete, especially during one of the final games of your senior season and you have already committed to a school to continue your basketball career. Some schools might back off and look for another player to fill your position. This thought went through Gylten's head for a second, but associate head coach Gavin Petersen quickly got that out.
"After the injury happened and it kind of settled in, I started thinking about Utah and how they might not want me to come play for them anymore," Gylten said. "Coach Gavin was actually at the game and I talked to him right after and he said nothing had changed, they still wanted me, and that their plans are still the same but it would have to be prolonged one year."
When asking Gylten why she chose to attend the University of Utah, she simply said that she wanted to move to a place that was different. A place that had a city but at the same time had many different outdoor activities. Gylten saw Utah as having the best of both worlds and a school where she could see herself playing for four years.
"During my first visit, I actually committed to play here. I just loved the atmosphere, I loved that fact that it was a bigger city and that it still had the features of being an outdoorsy place. Being from South Dakota it's not really a big city place so I have always been used to going on hikes or going to the lake or something. The facilities were also amazing and I loved what the coaches' mindsets were. I thought it fit in well with the game I played and I think Utah was just the perfect fit."
When Gylten arrived on campus, she immediately started rehab. Never being injured before in her life, Gylten was facing a new life experience that would either make her or break her. From what we can see from her now, this experience didn't come close to breaking her at all.
"It is definitely something that really sucks that you have to go through, but once you recover from it and look back on it you just learn so much about yourself, your body, and about the support team you have. I can say now that I am glad I went through it, but at the time it wasn't the best."
The trust that the coaching staff showed in Gylten and the patience they had with her is really paying dividends. The Utah women's basketball team is off to a great start with having only endured one tough buzzer beating loss against Pac-12 foe Arizona State. Gylten is showing the promise that they saw in her in high school and is now a primary starter for the Utes in her freshman year. Gylten is excited to be back on the court with her teammates and accomplishing goals that the women's basketball program hasn't done.
Athletics Communications Student Assistant
Growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota and being born into a family of basketball athletes, redshirt freshman guard Dru Gylten knew that she was destined to play basketball.
At a young age, Gylten first picked up a basketball around kindergarten from the influence of her family. Both of Gylten's parents, Daniel and Kristi, played college basketball and so did her grandfather. Gylten's father played at Morehead State and North Dakota State College of Science, her mother played at Concordia College, and her grandfather played at the University of North Dakota where he was on the same team as NBA legend Phil Jackson.
"My grandpa played in college and so did both of my parents so they kind of had a big influence on me," Gylten said. "I'd say at a younger age I was kind of forced but then I soon started to love the sport and just decided to stick with it."
Living in Rapid City, there wasn't really any competitive travel basketball teams, so Gylten would travel 10-hours to Minneapolis every weekend to play with her AAU team. Gylten gives a ton of credit to her family and all the sacrifices they have made for her to help her reach her potential.
"Starting basketball at a very young age, my family has always been a part of my life. They were always pushing me to go to the gym and work on my skills," Gylten explained. "As I got older and went to high school, they were always pushing me to try out for the best teams and that ultimately led me to play for an AAU team based out of Minneapolis."
During high school, Gylten had a very successful career, a career that many high schoolers would love to have. Gylten was a four-time state champion, holds school records in assists and steals, and finished her career with a total of 1,250 points. Everything was going her way until the improbable happened. During the semi-finals of the South Dakota State Basketball Championship in her senior year, Gylten tore her ACL. Not having been injured her whole life, this was a different challenge for Gylten to face.
"When the injury happened the first thought in my mind was that I was letting my teammates down. I was a senior, I was a captain, we had won the previous three state championships in-route to our fourth so I just felt as if I was letting my team down."
Suffering an ACL injury is never good for an athlete, especially during one of the final games of your senior season and you have already committed to a school to continue your basketball career. Some schools might back off and look for another player to fill your position. This thought went through Gylten's head for a second, but associate head coach Gavin Petersen quickly got that out.
"After the injury happened and it kind of settled in, I started thinking about Utah and how they might not want me to come play for them anymore," Gylten said. "Coach Gavin was actually at the game and I talked to him right after and he said nothing had changed, they still wanted me, and that their plans are still the same but it would have to be prolonged one year."
When asking Gylten why she chose to attend the University of Utah, she simply said that she wanted to move to a place that was different. A place that had a city but at the same time had many different outdoor activities. Gylten saw Utah as having the best of both worlds and a school where she could see herself playing for four years.
"During my first visit, I actually committed to play here. I just loved the atmosphere, I loved that fact that it was a bigger city and that it still had the features of being an outdoorsy place. Being from South Dakota it's not really a big city place so I have always been used to going on hikes or going to the lake or something. The facilities were also amazing and I loved what the coaches' mindsets were. I thought it fit in well with the game I played and I think Utah was just the perfect fit."
When Gylten arrived on campus, she immediately started rehab. Never being injured before in her life, Gylten was facing a new life experience that would either make her or break her. From what we can see from her now, this experience didn't come close to breaking her at all.
"It is definitely something that really sucks that you have to go through, but once you recover from it and look back on it you just learn so much about yourself, your body, and about the support team you have. I can say now that I am glad I went through it, but at the time it wasn't the best."
The trust that the coaching staff showed in Gylten and the patience they had with her is really paying dividends. The Utah women's basketball team is off to a great start with having only endured one tough buzzer beating loss against Pac-12 foe Arizona State. Gylten is showing the promise that they saw in her in high school and is now a primary starter for the Utes in her freshman year. Gylten is excited to be back on the court with her teammates and accomplishing goals that the women's basketball program hasn't done.
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