The MSU women’s track and field team has acquired new help in the throwing department.
Amy Wabaunsee, a physical education teacher at Lansing’s Immaculate Heart of Mary-Saint Casimir, was hired by women’s head coach Angela Goodman earlier this season to coach the throwers.
Wabaunsee’s employment was made public Tuesday and Goodman said her addition to the team has been positive thus far.
“She has stepped right in and has established a great rapport with the athletes and has been able to really help them as they’re starting to improve,” Goodman said. “We’ve seen a lot of big changes in that group. It’s been a very good addition to our family.”
Family ties to MSU aren’t restricted to the women’s team. Wabaunsee is the wife of men’s throwing coach Will Wabaunsee. The husband-wife coaching tandem has created a great working atmosphere for both coaches, Amy Wabaunsee said.
“We work well together, we met through track and field,” she said. “It’s a love we both have and enjoy.”
Goodman said Wabaunsee has proven to be the best candidate for an assistant coaching position. Not only has she been around the program - before being hired she spent the last three years with throwers at MSU camps - she has shown the willingness to improve MSU’s track and field team as a whole, Goodman said.
“She is someone that is aware of the state of the program, someone who wants to grow with it, stick around,” Goodman said. “That was very important to me (when hiring her).”
Before joining the college ranks Wabaunsee was an assistant at Tonganoxie High School in Kansas and held an assistant position at Lansing Catholic Central.
With a little time under her belt at the college level, Wabaunsee has had time to run through the feelings of stepping up to the next challenge of her coaching career.
“It’s exciting, it’s a new challenge at a higher level,” she said. “But I think I’ve been able to take that challenge and my girls are throwing pretty well right now.”
Despite a busy teaching schedule - K-8 - Wabaunsee said leaving school and heading straight to practice doesn’t bother her because she is doing exactly what she loves.
“It’s something I really enjoy so it hasn’t been a problem,” Wabaunsee said. “Everything ties in together.”
Wabaunsee participated in all throwing events at Emporia State University in Kansas and was even ranked in the discus in 1993.
