General | 6/21/2017 11:00:00 AM
DETROIT -- Wayne State University Director of Athletics Rob Fournier announced the hiring of Ashley Casavant as Compliance/Student-Athlete Support Specialist. She began her duties this past Monday.
A native of Indianapolis, Ind., Casavant is a 2010 graduate of Michigan State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology. While in East Lansing, Casavant was a 12-time letterwinner for the Spartans (four letters each in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track), earning Academic All-Big Ten recognition 12 times. She was part of the 2007 Michigan State team that finished fifth at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
After graduating from MSU, Casavant served as a marketing and promotions intern for the Indianapolis Colts during the summer of 2010 before accepting a graduate assistant coaching position with the women's cross country and track & field program at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. While completing her master's in sports administration at Belmont, Casavant also interned for the Nashville Predators for six months in the community relations office (Predators Foundation) that partners with over 100 charities in Nashville.
Casavant served as the SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) co-chair at Belmont and helped specifically with the Battle of the Bruins student-athlete talent show from 2014-17. She partnered with Friends of Jaclyn Foundation in 2014 and the cross country team adopted a pediatric cancer patient to be an honorary member of the program. Casavant also served on the Community Board at Mercy Multiplied for three years and was an active volunteer in their missions with her team.
She remained at Belmont after earning her master's degree serving as the assistant director of women's cross country/middle-distance and distance track for nearly five years until joining the WSU staff. During her time with the Bruins, she coached nine school record holders (from 800m up to 10K) along with five Ohio Valley Conference Champions (one in Cross Country and four in Track) and 11 All-Conference Cross Country runners (top 14). In addition, she mentored three All-Region runners, 36 All-Conference Track runners (top 8), the 2014 OVC Indoor Track and Field Female Athlete of The Year, the 2013 Freshman of the Year for the OVC, and one NCAA National Cross Country qualifier (2015). She also guided the 2012 OVC Cross Country Individual Champion. In 2013 and 2014, Casavant, a certified Level 1 USATF coach, helped tutor the women's cross country team to consecutive runner-up finishes at the OVC Conference meet. Casavant also saw a lot of success on the recruiting side of the sport and signed at least three athletes per year to an NLI continuing to elevate the caliber of athletes joining the program. The fall 2017 incoming class is the most decorated women's distance recruiting class yet (three of the women are below the 11 minute mark for 3200m, one is sub 18 minutes in the 5K, and one is below five minutes in the 1600m).
During the 2015-16 academic year, BU's Hannah Wittman was awarded the OVC Runner of the Week three times in cross country and five times in track and field, along with being named the 2015 OVC Scholar Athlete winner, the 2015 OVC Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year and the 2016 OVC Track & Field Female Athlete of the Year. Over the course of her seven years at Belmont, Casavant coached Hannah Wittman to 16 All-Conference finishes with 13 being top-three finishes, totaling 104 scored points during the track & field championship meets. Wittman finished her career as a five-time school record holder (indoor mile, 1500m, cross country 6K, outdoor 5K and 10K) and a two-time NCAA South All-Regional runner. Her fourth-place finish at the 2015 South Regional race ranks Hannah as only the third Belmont female runner to qualify individually for the NCAA National Championship meet both in cross country in 2015 and in the 10,000m at the 2016 NCAA Track & Field Championships. Wittman graduated in 2016 as one of the most decorated distance runners ever to attend Belmont University.
