Strong Day at WHAC Championships for Women’s Track

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — First-year head coach Cary Ossiff led Maygrove women’s track & field into battle against conference field at the WHAC Indoor Championships Saturday (Feb. 21) at the new Alksnis Athletic & Recreation Building on the campus of Aquinas College. Ossiff left the championship site with season-best marks in tow for all three Mustangs in the shot put event.

Ossiff and the Mustangs were once again led by sophomore Kassadie Dewdney-Sims (Waterford, Mich./Mott High School) in 12th place. The sophomore posted a season-best throw of 10.76m in Saturday’s shot put event to lead off a highly successful day for the Mustangs. Dewdney-Sims shattered her previous season-high throw of 10.54 set at Saginaw Valley’s Jet’s Pizza Invitational on Jan. 31.

The .22m improvement for Dewdney-Sims was just the beginning for the Mustangs on Saturday as the sisters’ Staudt picked up season bests as well.

Amber Staudt (Novi, Mich./Schoolcraft College) set a PR in the shot put with a toss of 8.60m. The younger Staudt sister opened the day with a throw of 8.55m – a mere .01m off of her previous best – before finishing her flight-one performance with a PR toss of 8.60m.

Rounding out the day for the Mustangs was Rachel Staudt (Novi, Mich./Lawrence Technological University). The eldest Staudt sister continued to return to form Saturday with a season-record 9.87m toss. The near 10 meter throw lifted Staudt into 14th place overall in the 22-participant event – a mark Ossiff and the Mustangs will gladly take heading into the 2015 outdoor campaign.

CHAMPION OF CHARACTER AND ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Rachel Staudt was also named the Mustangs’ representative on the 2015 WHAC Indoor Track & Field Champions of Character Team. Staudt was named the to the team after being nominated by Ossiff for being the Mustangs’ top representative of the NAIA’s Five Core Values of Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.

Capping off a memorable day, the oldest of two Staudt sisters was also tabbed as a member of the WHAC All-Academic Team for exceeding the conference’s standard of a junior or above in academic status and a 3.25 or above cumulative GPA. Staudt currently owns a 4.0 GPA at Marygrove after transferring in from Lawrence Technological University last year.