The NCAA celebrates Division III week April 3-9, 2017. Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with Division III to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community. Here at the University of Wisconsin Superior, we want to use the opportunity to highlight some of the unique stories of Yellowjacket student athletes. Today, we celebrate three-sport athlete (women's golf, hockey, and softball) Maggie Cragg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park H.S.).
While her decision on where to attend college beginning in the fall of 2014 eventually shifted in favor of the University of Wisconsin Superior by the opportunity to play hockey at the collegiate level, Champlin, Minnesota native
Maggie Cragg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park H.S.) had long admired the Duluth-Superior area. "I love Duluth, and I have a lot of friends who go to [the University of Minnesota Duluth]. It's so beautiful there, and here in Superior, too. I don't know if I would have been able to play [sports] at UMD." With four goals and 17 assists in 72 games for the Yellowjacket hockey team, she's proved her worth to the team in three seasons competing at the NCAA Division III level, but in the larger-school environment, it's unlikely she'd be able to play multiple sports like she does at UW-Superior, joining the golf team for its inaugural season in the fall of 2015 and the softball team prior to this current season.
"Apparently, my hockey coach [
Dan Laughlin] told Roger [Plachta, coach of women's golf and softball] I was good at golf," she laughed. "He's never seen me play golf. I got a call from Roger saying, 'Hey I heard you're great at golf, want to play? Oh, and you're team captain by the way. We ended up going to the national tournament our first year, and that was the best thing ever." Cragg and the Yellowjackets claimed the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Championships last fall and in the spring, traveled to Houston, Texas to compete at the NCAA Div. III Championships, where they finished 21st. UW-Superior finished third in the UMAC this past season while Cragg was 13th overall to cap off a successful fall season.
While she admits that the transition between sports is almost nonexistent with preseasons and postseasons blending together, she never saw the three sports interfering with each other. "You have this in the morning and this at night, or this one day and this the next day." She does not work a job during the school year but does nanny during the summer months. "I'm lucky to not have to work. My grandparents help me out with the money aspect because they know how busy I am." An exercise science major with a minor in health, Cragg keeps busy off the course/rink/field with a heavy workload of classes, and hopes to transition an internship at Acceleration Minnesota, a sports training facility mostly for hockey into a full-time job after graduating. "Every break I have between classes, I try to fit things in. Sundays are my big day to rest and catch up on things. Mostly, it's getting up early or staying up late to do things. You want to fit in fun activities like going out with friends."
A graduate of Champlin Park High School, Cragg values the personal education experience she gets at a smaller school as well. "I graduated with 900 people. So, coming to UWS was very different but way better. It's easier to communicate with teachers. You don't know everybody, but you know
of everybody. I pretty much see the same faces every day. In high school, nobody was familiar besides my friend group." Tragedy struck the Cragg family this past winter when Maggie's father passed away, but Maggie found a way to cope by keeping busy and joined the softball team at the behest of Placha. "I had a lot of things on my mind with my dad passing, so keeping busy really helps me. I have a huge support system with all of the girls. Joining the [softball] team was a very easy thing for me, and I have fun doing it, too."
By her own admission, she couldn't offer a great piece of advice to anyone deciding whether to play spots at the Division III level, but she summed up her experience well. "The competition with [NCAA Div. III sports] is still just as intense as Division I. You still have national tournaments, your playoffs at the end of the year, you get apparel to wear. It's still a college team." While the competition is stiff, she recognizes that in the end, the wins and losses are less important than the human element. "Every sport you play, you make new friends. That's what it's all about: the experience, having fun, making new friends."
