Throwers legacy at UW growing

by Andy Baggot
UWBadgers.com Insider

If it seems like Josie Schaefer has been repping the Wisconsin women’s track and field team for a long time, well, it’s because she has.

When Schaefer arrived on campus in 2017, a list of her UW freshmen classmates included Brad Davison, Trent Fredric, Dana Rettke and Jonathan Taylor.

Davison, the No. 6 all-time scorer for men’s basketball, is playing pro ball in Lithuania. Fredric, a first-round NHL draft pick in 2016, is closing in on 200 games played with the Boston Bruins. Rettke, the most decorated player in Wisconsin volleyball history, is playing professionally in Italy. Taylor, the No. 2 rusher in Badgers football history, just finished his third NFL season with the Indianapolis Colts. 

When Schaefer came from small-town Baraboo and took part in her first workout with the Badgers, her teammates included future NCAA champions Georgia Ellenwood, an Olympic heptathlon specialist, and Alicia Monson, the American record-holder in the 10,000 meters, as well as 10 future school record-holders.

“It does seem like she’s been here for a while,” Dave Astrauskas, the UW assistant coach who oversees throwers for the men’s and women’s team, said of Schaefer.

Astrauskas wore a knowing smile as he spoke. Schaefer is the kind of mature, gifted, selfless student-athlete that any coach would want by their side for as long as possible. She came to UW as a blue-chip prospect in the shot put and discus, the Gatorade Athlete of the Year in Wisconsin. Six years later – thanks to redshirting and a COVID waiver – she’s in position to close out her college career with an exclamation mark and a master’s degree in sports psychology.

Schaefer enters her final NCAA Indoor Championships, which begin Friday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ranked fourth in the shot put with a program-record effort of 61 feet, 0¼ inches. Winning her first NCAA title – she finished second outdoors in 2021 – would provide fulfillment, but that’s not her be all to end all.

“What’s more important is performing well,” Schaefer said. “That’s our focus. I need to execute well and be consistent and build momentum to allow myself an opportunity to get a great throw. No one’s ever satisfied without a (personal record) or a gold medal. I’d like to just put together a very well-executed performance and let those numbers and that hardware come.”

Schaefer, a U.S. Olympic qualifier in the shot and discus in 2020, is part of an 11-person contingent that will represent the Badgers in the national meet. 

The No. 18 men’s team has seven participants: Cade Amborn in the heptathlon; Sam Coil in the weight throw; Adam Spencer in the mile; Jackson Sharp in the 3,000 meters; Lawrence Johnson in the 60 meters; and the distance medley relay quartet of Spencer, Sharp, Colin Enz and Abdullahi Hassan. 

The No. 21 women’s squad has three other entries: Destiny Huven in the 60 hurdles; and Chloe Lindeman and Olivia Roberts in the weight throw.

Schaefer, a grad student seeking her master’s in psychology, Lindeman, a junior, and Roberts, a redshirt senior, are buoyed by strong finishes in the Big Ten Conference meet last month. Schaefer was second in her specialty, while Lindeman and Roberts finished second and third, respectively, in the weight throw. Lindeman is ranked fifth nationally with a heave of 78-0 and Roberts No. 13 at 73-2¾ for the NCAA meet.

On the men’s side, graduate transfer Coil won the Big Ten Indoor championship in the weight throw and ranks fifth nationally with a personal best throw of 73-9 ½. 

The weight throwers are pieces of an elite, evolving legacy at UW. Every woman on the indoor top 10 record list for the weight throw were tutored by Astrauskas, while nine of the top 10 in the shot were developed by Astrauskas. On the men’s side, all 10 of the best weight throw efforts at indoors have come since Astrauskas came onboard in 2009.

“I think it says when you have a good group of people, good things happen,” Schaefer said.

Five of the top 10 marks in the women’s weight throw at Wisconsin belong to student-athletes on the current roster. Lindeman is first, Roberts fourth, Abby Peeler eighth, Chikere Odoucha ninth and Danni Langseth is No. 10.

“We have a very successful history as a throws program,” Lindeman said. “So it’s really interesting seeing how this younger group has come in and is kind of inheriting it and taking it over.”

Astrauskas developed Kelsey Card into an NCAA champion and Olympian in the outdoor discus, while Michael Lihrman set the collegiate record and won an NCAA title in the indoor weight throw.

“I’m grateful not only for the talent I have right now, but also the people I have,” Astrauskas said. “They make it so enjoyable to come to work every day.”

The current group in the women’s weight throw is especially impressive.

“I’ve been blessed to have a lot of the right people here, people who have come in, worked hard and had an open mind,” Astrauskas said. “We’ve worked at that together. I think right now we have a really unique thing going on because there’s six of them in the top 11 all-time here at UW. You can only take five to the Big Ten meet, so I don’t need to do a whole lot of motivating. They kind of motivate each other with their performances. It’s a great thing as a coach to sit back and watch this.”

Schaefer, whose brother Jake is a freshman thrower on the men’s team, grew up going to UW track camps and is well versed in the throws history at the school. She stayed close to home “because I knew that’s where excellence happened and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Lindeman said having Schaefer in the mix is like having a big sister on the team.

“Josie kind of fostered this mentality for all of us that we were going to be friends,” Lindeman said. “It was meant to be. Our entire group, we’re all great friends. We spend a lot of time together outside practice. Having Josie has been huge because we’ve been able to succeed together.”

If Schaefer is the cerebral technician, Lindeman is the emotional lit fuse, especially this time around. She missed the qualifying cut-off for the last two NCAA meets by one spot.

“It put a fire under my butt,” Lindeman said.

“That’s a lot of fuel for her fire,” Astrauskas added. “To not give up on it, but just have it motivate you I think is something special.”

Schaefer used the word “special” to describe Lindeman.

“She’s one of the most selfless, generous people I’ve ever met,” Schaefer said. “She would give you the shirt off her back and the food off her plate if you needed it.”

Schaefer would love to win an NCAA title as much as she’d like to see Lindeman prevail.

“It’s going to be fun seeing her against the best of the best,” Schaefer said.