Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Hagerty leaps her way to FISU Summer World University Games

Huskie athlete makes quick rise in track and field

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Hannah Hagerty takes to the air during a meet on June 15.
An open mind created new opportunities in track and field for Hannah Hagerty that might not have been envisioned eight or so years ago.

These days the 24-year-old Regina product is a star for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team in the long jump and the 4 X 200-metre relay. Back when she was a Grade 11 student at Regina’s Campbell Collegiate, Hagerty was trying the sport for the first time just for fun participating in high school competitions.

She had taken part in dance for a lengthy stretch of time before testing out her skating stride in ringette. When she finally tried track and field, Hagerty found a space that she felt she belonged in.

“I, obviously, really liked it,” said Hagerty. “Then, I joined a club.

“I joined Excel (in Regina). I did that for two years, and I found a really big passion for it, especially with long jump.”

The 2024-25 campaign was a memorable one for Hagerty. With the Huskies, she claimed the Canada West Conference title in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.17 metres at the conference championships held February 21 and 22 in Regina.

At that meet, she proceeded to help the Huskies capture gold in the 4 X 200-metre relay in a time of one minute and 39.82 seconds. Hagerty’s performances helped the Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team claim a seventh straight conference title.

She then took part in the U Sports Track and Field Championships that ran March 6 to 8 in Windsor, Ont. Hagerty placed sixth in the long jump with a leap of 5.97 metres and helped the Huskies finish second in the 4 X 200-metre women’s relay with a time of 1:36.67. The Huskies placed third in the women’s team standings at that event.

Thanks to her steady performances, Hagerty will compete in the long jump at the track and field competition that will be part of the FISU Summer World University Games that run July 16 to 27 in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. She will be joined at the World University Games by Huskies women’s teammate Paige Willems (400-metre race), Huskies men’s teammate Jake Neufeld (decathlon) and the head coach of both Huskies Track and Field Teams in Jason Reindl.

Hagerty was pumped to get the chance to head to the World University Games.

Jason Reindl, left, and Hannah Hagerty go over video of a jump.
“That was honestly a dream come true as well,” said Hagerty, who stands 5-foot-10. “Representing Canada at the national level is obviously something that you don’t really think that you’re going to be able to do.

“With that dedication and hard work, I know that I am capable of competing at those higher levels and wearing that Team Canada gear. I feel like it will add a whole other level of excitement. I’m very thankful and very honoured, and I’m excited to see what I can kind of produce while I’m there under those pressures.”

On top competing at the World University Games, Hagerty will experience being in another country. She thought it might be a bit overwhelming for the first few days just being in Germany. Hagerty added it will be different seeing athletes wearing the team gear of their respective countries adding to the importance of the event, but she believes she can show she belongs there.

“I think there will be added pressure, but I think it is just all exciting, and I’m excited to see what comes from it,” said Hagerty.

After graduating from Campbell Collegiate in 2019, Hagerty first joined the University of Regina Cougars Women’s Track and Field Team and studied in kinesiology. Before the start of the 2022-23 campaign, she transferred to the Huskies and became a business major at the Edwards School of Business at the U of S. She made the move to get a fresh start in both athletics and academics.

Reindl has enjoyed coaching Hagerty with the Huskies as the program’s head coach and recently took on the role of being Hagerty’s primary coach in the long jump.

“As a head coach, I’ve kind of been working with Hannah for three years now, but as her primary coach, I really just started working with her in the last three months,” said Reindl. “It has been a unique change, but a pretty exciting one in terms of her enthusiasm for training and just excitement for pushing herself to be better.

“When we look at long jump as her primary event, it is speed, it is power and the ability to have a strong dynamic takeoff and some leverage. She has some long levers. She is a taller gal.

“Whether it was her development at Regina, what initial coaches here at USask in Kevin Cumming and Jayden Wiebe have been able to do with her, she just has a knack for the event and is able to do quite well and develop positively.”

Reindl said it will be a great opportunity for Hagerty, Willems and Neufeld to represent Canada on the international stage at the World University Games.

Hannah Hagerty works on her speed during a July 2 practice.
“We’re pretty fortunate in the sense that we’ve got Jake Neufeld, Paige Willems and Hannah (Hagerty) all going to Germany later this summer with myself as a team coach,” said Reindl. “It is something where the athletes get to experience not only an international event, but also one that is age regulated.

“The maximum age is now 25-years-old. It is kind of an international (competition) amongst their peers and student athletes. The opportunity to put on a Team Canada singlet (and) compete against some of the world’s best, it is just a great opportunity to test themselves and have some fun.”

Going into the World University Games, Hagerty said she gained a boost of confidence from how well her 2024-25 U Sports season went with the Huskies.

“I think I just surprised myself,” said Hagerty. “I have abilities to perform, but I don’t think anyone fully trusts that they’re going to be the one to like be a Canada West champion or anything like that.

“I think it came with a lot of surprises, but with those surprises, it also did come with a lot of hard work and dedication to being at practice and working hard and always focusing when I am at practice. The season was very exciting. I think it was eye-opening, and it is just exciting to see what can come from that.

“I think that was obviously a very good start, and I just want to keep building on that.”

To prepare for her upcoming international competition, Hagerty said being able to train at the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds has been a huge help.

“The past summer months of training have definitely been really, really good training,” said Hagerty. “That is where I transitioned under Jason (Reindl).

“He has obviously put in a lot of work and a lot of work into every single practice, into lifting and into the organization of preparing for each week. I know that when I come to practice there is a purpose and something that I’m supposed to be focusing on. I think, especially with long jump, each practice focuses on kind of a different element, which I need, because it is not just improving altogether.

“It is just working on specific things, so that when I do go to those big stages, things hopefully can come together all in one.”

Hannah Hagerty won the Canada West title in the long jump in February.
Hagerty also enjoys the fact that she can draw strong support from the very athletic family she comes from. Her father, Jeff, was a member of the 1990 Vanier Cup champion University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team and helped the Regina Rams win CJFL titles in 1993 and 1994. Her mother, Tammy, was once a triple jump specialist in track and field and played softball for a very long stretch.

Her older brother, Josh, is an alum of the Huskies football club. Josh broke into the CFL as a defensive back with the Toronto Argonauts in 2021 and was a member of their Grey Cup championship team in 2022. 

Josh played for the Edmonton Elks last season and started this season as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before being released on July 2.

Hannah said her family’s sports background is pretty cool.

“I think it has been really fun,” said Hagerty. “When I was little, I was always just very active being at baseball for my brother and being at football for him.

“Wherever he kind of was, I was just the little sister that kind of followed around, and it, obviously, added like a lot of excitement and fun. I know growing up being around sports, I was always very, very active. Then just seeing him (Josh) and how much time and dedication he has put into his sports and the things that he loves, it gives me a lot of motivation that knowing if you have that ability to kind of use that as your strength and really push towards what you want.

“He has been someone who has very much inspired me into just dedicating to what I want to do and seeing if I can take it to the next step. Obviously, I am very proud of him, and I know that he still has a lot to give. He is definitely someone that I’ve been very much inspired by.”

When the World University Games wraps up, Hagerty will return to the U of S to complete her final season of eligibility with the Huskies and finish up work on her business studies. She would like to continue with track and field when her Huskies days wrap up.

“I feel like I haven’t really thought about it being my last season, because I always feel like there is more to come,” said Hagerty. “That is just the mindset that I’ve been in for the past few years of being a university athlete.

Hannah Hagerty aims to stick good results at the World University Games.
“I feel like, even though it is my last season competing of eligibility with the Huskies, you never know what can happen. You never know where that might take me. There are very big goals and dreams that I want to achieve, so after this season, my hope is to still continue training and continue competing, and then just see what happens from there.”