Written by Tim Petermann, former UWEC Athletics Sports Information Director
Sarah Glidden, the 2018 NCAA Indoor National Champion in the pentathlon, received this year's Sandy Schumacher Courage Award at the Blugold Hall of Fame banquet Friday, October 15.
The Sandy Schumacher Courage Award was established in the fall of 2012 to honor the longtime Blugold coach, teacher and pioneer. Schumacher was an advocate for young girls and women in athletics, and had a role in starting numerous athletics program for women on the UWEC campus. She also conducted the first volleyball and basketball camps for girls.
Schumacher, who was inducted into the Blugold Hall of Fame in 1995, battled cancer for more than two decades but lost her battle in 2011. Even in the months prior to her death, Schumacher could be found on the Blugold sidelines, intently watching the action.
The Sandy Schumacher Courage Award is presented to a female Blugold student-athlete or alumna who, when confronted with a life-altering situation, used perseverance, dedication and determination to overcome the event.
Glidden, who was from Greenville, Wisconsin and attended Hortonville High School, suffered a lisfranc injury to her right foot during her leg of the 4x400 relay trials at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Sarah completed her leg of the relay, helping the Blugolds take second, set a school record and qualify for the finals. The next day, despite the injury, she competed in the high jump and placed third. Upon returning to Eau Claire and with a complete exam by the training staff and doctors, it was determined that Sarah would require season-ending surgery. She would miss the 2016 outdoor season and the 2017 indoor campaign. By the 2017 outdoor season, Sarah was able to compete in the relay event, but the injury kept her from competing in her main event, the heptathlon.
Determined to compete again in the pentathlon and heptathlon during her fifth and final season, Sarah continued her rehab and training. During that final season, Sarah not only set school records in both the pentathlon and the heptathlon, but she won the indoor national title in the pentathlon.
Unfortunately, the last meet prior to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Sarah reinjured her foot and was unable to compete in the Championships for which she had qualified in five different events.
The following two years, Sarah coached the multi event athletes as a Blugold assistant, winning the 2020 USTFCCCA Men's D3 Indoor National Assistant Coach of the Year award. She currently lives in North Carolina and is a volunteer assistant track coach at Duke University. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a head collegiate track and field coach some day.
