Hagerstrom Inducted into Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Over the weekend, Kathy Hagerstrom, PERA's Assistant Director of Operations & Equipment, was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Hall of Fame. The ceremony, which took place at the the Glacier Canyon Lodge of the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells, was held on the evening of Saturday, September 24th. 

Hagerstrom was a inducted to the WBCA Hall of Fame as a player, recognizing her spectacular four-year career at Neenah High School. While at Neenah, Hagerstrom guided the team to four-consecutive trips to the Wisconsin Class A State Championship Tournament. The team finished as state runner-up in 1976, before returning to win the state championships in 1978. Hagerstrom graduated as Neenah's all-time leading scorer, while also earning Wisconsin's High School Player of the Year and Parade All-American honors.

Hagerstrom went on to star at the collegiate level at the University of Nebraska, before starting her coaching career while earning her master's degree in athletic administration from Central Missouri State University. While at Central Missouri, she was an assistant coach with the team that won the 1984 Division II National Championship. She continued on with stints at Indiana University and UC-Davis from 1985-1991, before arriving at Wellesley as head coach in 1991. 

As head coach of the Blue, Hagerstrom posted a career record of 229-192. She retired as the program's all-time winningest coach after 18 seasons on the Wellesley bench, having guided the Blue to four postseason appearances, including the program's only NCAA tournament appearance in 2000. 

Hagerstrom was named NEWMAC Coach-of-the-Year on two occasions, 1999 and 2000. In 2000, she was also named the New England Women's Basketball Association (NEWBA) Coach-of-the-Year and ICON NCAA Division III District I Coach-of-the-Year, as well as one of eight finalists for ICON Division III National Coach-of-the-Year honors. Under Hagerstrom's tutelage, Wellesley student-athletes succeeded in the classroom as well as on the court. Liza Janssen '94 earned Kodak All-America honors as well as an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, while Amy Barao '01 was named Kodak All-America Honorable Mention and Shani Delaney '01 earned an NCAA Ethnic Minority Postgraduate Scholarship.