By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON—Sage Wagner has been a running fixture at Ashwaubenon High School for the past four years.
All her hard work finally paid off as she signed a national letter of intent, Mar. 5, to run both cross country/track for the Grand Valley State University Lakers located in Allendale, MI.
“Super excited that this day has finally come,” said Wagner about the signing. “It’s been a long and exciting journey-definitely a lot of memories that I will remember once it’s all over come June.”
Wagner is a three-time state qualifier in cross country finishing 44th as a freshman and 11th as a sophomore.
In addition, Wagner and her three teammates qualified for State in the 4×800 relay in track and field as a Junior. She will most likely run middle-distance events in the upcoming track season.
“I don’t like to focus on the individual awards but rather one of my proudest moments was when we won the Pulaski Invite this past fall as a team,” added Wagner. “To see everybody jumping up and down and to share those moments with the girls is something I’ll never forget.”
Sage’s brother, Tannor, is currently running for the University of Wisconsin Badgers and while at Ashwaubenon a few years back they competed at a lot of the same events together.
“He has definitely pushed me to be better myself,” little sis added. “We always keep in touch and wish each other luck on the day of a big meet. We are each other’s biggest support system.”
Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts school that is located approx. 12 miles west of Grand Rapids which is very similar in size to Green Bay. The university is home to over 20,000 undergraduate students and compete in 20 intercollegiate varsity sports.
“I just fell in love with the area after I went to visit the school,” Wagner said. “There was actually a Justin Timberlake concert (laughing) at their big arena downtown but I couldn’t go because we were just too busy.”
Despite being a Division II school, the Lakers are a national power in both cross country/track. This past fall they won the GLIAC conference championship, NCAA Regional championship, and then went on and won the NCAA cross-country national championship, accumulating 41 points. It was the sixth national title in the history of the women’s program.
“The University has some amazing high-end facilities that I can’t wait to take advantage of,” Wagner said about Grand Valley State. “Every year they bring in really great talent, and I am excited to learn new things and to push myself to become better.”
Wagner has accomplished so much already in her high school career and she has the spring season to put her final mark on a running legacy that got started well before her first day of high school.
“I’m proud of her for being an outstanding mentor and student here at Ashwaubenon High School,” said High School Associate Principal/Activities Director Nick Senger. “She is a tremendous student that does things the right way. I’m very proud of her today knowing that she will be at one of the top running universities in the country next year in Michigan.”
