National champion jumps to higher levels
“Long jump is a beautiful event where every day provides you with small failures and successes. That is why it is so fun. It constantly forces you to change and improve each day,” 2016 NCAA D-II Indoor Track and Field Long Jump National Champion Stachia Reuwsaat said.
“I jump because I love it. It is the most challenging and rewarding thing in the world. One day everything can work just as you want and the next day nothing can work regardless of how bad you want it to or how hard you try. It is something that continually challenges me to be better.”
Reuwsaat, CSC junior of Black Hawk, South Dakota, began jumping in high school and said she discovered that God had blessed her with a gift in long jump. She said she was blessed, again, with the opportunity to continue developing her long jump skills after high school at Chadron State College. After earning the top spot in the long jump at the national championships and a 4.0 GPA majoring in legal studies, she was chosen as the 2016 RMAC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Academic Athlete of the Year. Reuwsaat holds three individual school records at Chadron State (60-meter dash, indoor long jump, outdoor long jump), and is on the 4×100 relay record-holding team. Along with her national title in the long jump, she holds an additional two All-American titles. She has also been chosen as the RMAC athlete of the week several times.
Even the top-notch athletes have days where they feel like giving up. Reuwsaat said when she has these small moments where she considers not finishing a workout, she looks up at her incredible group of teammates she works with and is inspired to keep pushing through the pain. She said she regroups and remembers the reasons she is there and what she wants to accomplish.
“Maddie Brashears has been a great inspiration for me this year. She works hard and is always striving to be better, on and off the track. She is my training partner this year, and her positivity and focus is inspirational to work with,” Reuwsaat said. “Another motivator is Shelby Bozner. She is one of the hardest workers that I know.”
Reuwsaat’s family is also one of her biggest inspirations and motivators in her life.
“They mean more to me than they know.”
Reuwsaat said her family travels to her meets and support her regardless of the outcome. Her family and her boyfriend, Robert Ricks, 20, junior of Douglas, Wyoming, traveled to Pittsburgh, Kansas, to witness her earn a national champion title in March.
“It’s been amazing being able to watch her grow as a person and an athlete and also following all her successes and downfalls. It’s been a great journey to be by her side,” Ricks said.
Reuwsaat said their presence at her track meets, especially the national meets, means the world to her.
“They don’t know it, but I always find them before I jump,” Reuwsaat said. “When I am on the runway and can see them for just a second it gives me the extra burst of courage and confidence that I need. They are some of the greatest blessings in my life.”
Reuwsaat said CSC Track and Field Head Coach Brad Gamble has put in a great amount of work on and off the track to help her get to where she is today. She said that he transformed her running and jumping form and taught her the important components of long jump.
“There is no way in hell that I would be a national champion without Brad.”
Scott Benson is Reuwsaat’s trainer at home and she said he is there to help her regroup after challenging days and is also there for her greatest successes.
“He has helped me immensely to develop into a competitive collegiate athlete mentally, and without his strength programs over the summer I would not be the athlete that I am.”
Reuwsaat says she hopes to stay focused, reach another personal best, and qualify for the Olympic Trials this season. After graduating from CSC, her plans include attending law school and, if an opportunity arises, looking at long jumping at the next level.