TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (October 2, 2019) - The Salt Lake Community College Department of Athletics and Recreation is used to seeing outstanding results from its student-athletes.

Each year, dozens of SLCC student-athletes help their individual programs earn conference and regional titles, giving the institution the opportunity to compete on the national stage. Additionally, those same student-athletes achieve in the classroom to a level that allows them to successfully matriculate to four-year institutions to achieve their individual goals. Those types of accomplishments, while extraordinary, are fairly typical; however, some stories involving Salt Lake student-athletes can aptly be titled as atypical.

Take SLCC Softball pitcher/hitter Tarni Stepto and her story, for instance; the Australian native helped the Bruins to a 47-8 overall record in 2019, a Scenic West and Region-18 title and a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament. While she has experienced much success in Bruin blue, Stepto has helped her home country earn a spot to compete against the best teams in the world as Australia earned the WBSC Asia/Oceania qualifying spot into the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a recent tournament win in Shanghai, China.

Stepto said the experience of helping her team qualify for the Olympics couldn't have happened without her experiences at SLCC.

"SLCC has helped me develop into not only a more advanced athlete but a great student in the classroom," she said. "I have been fortunate to receive a ton of support from the coaches, athletic department, professors, family and friends; this is what has driven me to be the best student-athlete I can possibly be. (SLCC head coach Cyndee Bennett and assistant coach Tara Bendt) have made a huge impact on my career; without them and my supportive teammates I wouldn't be in the position that I am today."

With the Bruins in 2019, Stepto was named as the Scenic West Athletic Conference's Pitcher-of-the-Year, hitting .521 with a team-high 17 home runs while earning a record of 12-3 with an ERA of 1.62. A native of Sydney, Stepto was an NJCAA All-American as a pitcher, finishing Third-Team All-America.

"I'm extremely thankful for my time at Salt Lake Community College," said Stepto, who will return as a sophomore for this upcoming season "It's been a year of self discovery, learning, building of relationships, and making every day count. This is just a stepping stone in my career and I have been lucky enough to have started this journey at SLCC.

Softball will be featured in the Olympics for the first time since 2008 when it begins play in Japan next summer, with perennial powers like the United States qualifying through world championship play. Additional qualifiers, such as Australia, qualified through regional tournaments. This will be the fifth time the Australians have qualified to play in the Olympics; the team has earned one silver medal (2004 in Athens) and three bronze medals (Atlanta in 1996; Sydney in 2000; Beijing in 2008) in Olympic competition.