Published April 24, 2018
The DC3 Collegiate Leadership Team traveled to Fort Hays State University on Saturday, April 14th, to compete in the Collegiate Leadership Competition. The team of six women was comprised of student athletes from Coach Zach Loll’s basketball team. Originally, 12 women went through leadership training and out of those 12, six were chosen to compete.
“This was our first year entering this competition so we didn’t really know what to expect,” said DC3 Collegiate Leadership Team Coach Marg Yaroslaski. “These women went into this new unknown with incredible capacity and tenacity. They impressed us as coaches but also impressed the other coaches – we got many compliments on how they handled themselves throughout the day. There was no doubt that DCCC was represented well!”
Other teams present came from Fort Hays State University; Washburn State University; Emporia State University; Iowa State University; and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Throughout the event, teams were presented with a total of six challenges, varying from physical to mental tasks. Teams were scored on completing the challenge as well as how well the team worked together to come to a solution.DC3’s Collegiate Leadership Team scored 100/100 out of the six tasks. Each member was able to take a turn at leading the team and was scored on her leadership ability. Team Member Denis Ortiz received the highest team score with 93/100 and Ashley Nelson earned the second highest team score with 88/100. Ms. Ortiz was selected by her team as their most valuable player.
Although DC3 did not score first place and so were not given their ranking, the team is anxious to try again next year. “The CLC was a great experience for our team,” said Coach Loll. “The work they have done will pay dividends for them years from now. Once again, it is about creating lifelong learning experiences for these student athletes both on and off the court.”
Community support was strong for the event, with several members of the community coming to weekly team competitions to judge the team, in preparation for the big competition. Those community members included Jan Stevens of the Dodge City Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tara Burkhart of the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce, Erica Welsh of the Hampton Inn, and Kristina Crawford of Davis and McCann Law. Several DC3 faculty and staff also participated as judges to help the team prepare.
“We deeply appreciate the extra support we got from the community,” Yaroslaski said. “We faced some budget shortages and reached out to our community for help offsetting the expenses of taking the team to Hays. Without that extra support from Brak-Hard Concrete and Sheri and Larry Cook, our team would have worked had all semester for nothing.”
Pictured: Kaylyn Maple, Rylee Burris, Alec Fitts, Makaela Ewing, Kaylee Dale, Allie Baker, Ashley Nelson, Francheska Aguino, Addison Rowley, Denis Ortiez, Kyra Trice