Regardless of whether or not you follow women’s track and field, you should know about the Wisconsin champion that is Kelsey Card. Card, a fifth year senior at UW-Madison, finished her final year in the best way possible: winning a national championship.
Card won the 2016 NCAA discus championship at the NCAA outdoor championships, recording 208 feet, 5 inches, ranking No. 7 in NCAA history.
A native of Plainview, Illinois, she is the most successful field event athlete in Wisconsin women’s track and field program history. Her national championship discus title is just one of many impressive performances under her belt.
Some of her other achievements include earning seven first-team All-America honors, claiming a spot in the NCAA Top 10 lists in outdoor shot put and discus, and recently being nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Card is one of 517 nominees for the NCAA award, which is an award that highlights academics, athletics, community service and leadership among graduating female college athletes.
According to Mike Byrne, the director of cross-country and track and field, Card has mastered both academic and athletic feats.
“We’re very proud of Kelsey’s hard work in the classroom, where she maintained a high GPA while double-majoring, and on the track,” Bryne says. “She is the complete student-athlete and we are proud of all of her achievements. There are so many outstanding student-athletes here at Wisconsin, so it’s always special when one of our track and field athletes receives this prestigious honor from the conference.”
It appears as if Card has the potential to accomplish a wide variety of exploits being a student-athlete at UW-Madison, and Wisconsin throws coach Dave Astrauskas believes she has the ability to undertake at even wider variety of accomplishments.
“Kelsey has a good sense of where her body is and knows how to deliver an implement,” Astrauskas says. “If I gave her a bowling pin, steel bar, javelin, or anything else, she could throw it a long way. The only reason we haven’t tried her out in the javelin is because I don’t want to throw off the rest of her form.”
Like Coach said, the last thing anyone would want to do is ruin Card’s form. Her form has helped her to a number of honors and achievements in both indoor and outdoor competitions.
For outdoor events, Card surpassed 60 feet in the shot put and 200 feet in the discus throw along with the hammer throw, ranking at the top as the only woman in collegiate history to do so. Additionally, Card earned the Big Ten’s all-time record in the shot put and discus. Her discus national championship also ranks her seventh all-time among college athletes in the event.
Card’s accomplishments continue onto indoor events as well, where she is also a UW record-holder in the shot put and weight throw.
There’s no doubt that Card has a real chance to win the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Being a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, earning bachelor degrees with two majors, working at the UW Sports Medicine department, along with her laundry list of athletic feats, Card has every category checked out.
Whether or not Card wins, she’ll always have Wisconsin’s vote.
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph