United Athletic Conference

DENVER - The Western Athletic Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee met earlier this month in Utah with the purpose of working collaboratively to enhance the student-athlete experience at each of their institutions and across the country. A total of 17 student-athletes were invited to the meetings to share and brainstorm idea regarding their campus SAAC, WAC SAAC and National SAAC.

The members of WAC SAAC met in small working groups to discuss and plan events for the 2015-16 year. Some of the key topics discussed include academic and athletic excellence initiatives, career and personal development opportunities, and community service projects. Committee members developed comprehensive plans on how to address and fulfill each of these topics. The student-athletes were also led through a leadership program based on the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum and were introduced to new NCAA legislation proposals, discussing those in detail.

The attendees also filmed the 2015-16 WAC public service announcement and other videos that will be featured on wacsports.com, the WAC Digital Network and WAC social media.

“The WAC student-athletes present were engaged in all discussions and were truly a pleasure to be around,” said Utah Valley athletic director Vince Otoupal, whose institution served as host for the meetings. “I got better as an administrator having had the chance to spend some time with them.”

Seattle University's Baxter Arguinchona was elected 2015-16 WAC SAAC President at the meeting. Grand Canyon's Chayse Jackson was elected Vice President as was Missouri-Kansas City's Sydney Crimmins. Crimmins is also the WAC's representative on National SAAC.

New Mexico State's Cassandra Rupp and Utah Valley's Kimberly Nyhus were elected as Secretary while Cailyn Howard, Brandon Skelding, both from Chicago State, and Ross Taylor of Utah Valley were selected to make up the Media Relations Team. Justice Collins from Missouri-Kansas City and Brittany Holen from Grand Canyon were selected as Event Coordinators.

“It was a true blessing to come together as a conference and discuss important matters on how to continue to move the conference forward as a whole,” said Holen. “Our group is a truly remarkable collection of student-athletes. We are all leaders at our respective institutions and it is an honor to be among them.”

The group decided to focus on the “One Shirt, One Body” initiative as their community service focus for the upcoming year. The program focuses on donating athletic apparel to local communities around universities and is being led by the national SAAC group.

“Despite differences in jersey color and school it is amazing to see everyone work together in efforts to improve both student-athlete welfare and well-being,” said Crimmins. “As the National SAAC Representative it is a great feeling to see the ideas and vision set by National SAAC physically lived out at the Conference level.”

2015-16 WAC SAAC Roster