Addressing Mental Health In Colleges with Kelly Meyerhofer (Hour 2)

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer.

It is six past the hour of one o'clock.

Welcome into hour number two of the big program.

It is Tuesday, February 25th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite coming up a little bit later on in the hour at 12, pardon me, 1.30.

You're not going to want to miss this.

I read this story yesterday and I was, I became emotional.

And I texted Kelly Meyerhofer, the reporter, and I said, would you be willing to come on the show tomorrow and talk about this?

And she is so gracious with her time.

And she said, absolutely.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Kelly Meyerhofer will be here after the news at 12.30 with a very emotional and important story.

Or 1.30.

Pardon me, 1.30.

Thank you very much, Thomas.

1.30 with a very emotional and important story, great reporting on what

college athletes, and yes, to an earlier texture's point, I understand that it's not just athletes.

It's all of us, quite frankly.

But Kelly reported this on the lens of Sarah Schulze, who died by suicide in 2022.

She was a runner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Kelly puts together this great piece, this great reporting on mental health and college athletes, what's being done about it.

And the ending is powerful.

Looking forward to having Kelly on here at the bottom of the hour.

So here's the deal zombers.

I went out to use the facilities over the break and I took my CBS mug that I've had with me since 1988.

And I went out to the old water cooler.

to get water and it's sitting on the other side of the studio glass.

I feel like it's like, I feel like, I feel like a gorilla.

I can see the banana, but I can't get to it.

So-

Would you like me to go

grab it?

No, no, no, I think I should dial up some street music.

and because we can't really, people can't.

So we can just, let's take a look at the street cam.

Hopefully it's working.

Is it working?

We'll have a shot.

Let's find out.

Let's find out.

Let's go to the street cam here on State Street in downtown Madison.

Well, there's a couple of cars.

All right, play a little music here and you can do the play by play.

I'm gonna step out and get my water.

I'll be right back.

Here on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, we see several cars rounding the corner and it looks like somebody is approaching the crosswalk.

It's a pretty sunny day here in Madison, much warmer than it has been as of late.

I can't tell you much about the bustling downtown because there's really just a few people walking across the street right now.

I imagine most people are still working.

There might be at lunch.

And I've not seen any bikers breaking the law.

So there's that.

Thank you, Erin.

That's your downtown Madison traffic and walking report here in beautiful downtown Madison.

This shot's a little low on the same Davidson Street came I pray now here I am you're this mug I shouldn't even say it because it means I'm gonna drop it and break it I got this back in 1988 when I had visited New York City and this ties into what's worse Visited New York City the first time in 1988

a week before I graduated high school and went to my friend, Kerry Anderson.

Now, Kerry Anderson, Pink and I went to, because I was working for WRCO, the CBS affiliate in Richland Center, which is now part of Civic Media.

And it went to the CBS headquarters.

And at the CBS store, I got this beautiful CBS News mug, which is a very nice mug,

such

a

clean design.

It's a clean design, classic news type design, black and white.

Normal 12 ounce size coffee cup with the old CBS I logo right there for those watching on the stream and somehow in all my moves I've managed not to break this So I used it back in the day when I worked the radio and here I am back on the air all these years later

I will say when you said my CBS mug my first thought was oh, no, did it break?

But then you were

so calm.

I was like, there's no way there's no way it broke.

He'd be much more upset

And remember, as Letterman likes to say, anytime you hear or see me, your radio and streaming host take a sip of beverage.

It's the ideal time for you, the home listener, watcher, to have a beverage as well.

So here we go.

All right, we're set to go.

It's 10 minutes past the hour of one o'clock.

Before we do what's worse, and this ties in, this ties in.

According to Wallet Hub,

They have researched the hardest working cities in America, and guess what, Zommers?

Wisconsin does not have a hard working city.

According to Wall-Hub, now, well, but just listen.

The rating looked at an average work week hour, the employment rate, to share of households where no adults work.

the share of households were no adults work share of workers leaving vacation time unused PTO and the number of people between 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor working the highest scoring city in wisconsin is milwaukee at 83rd 83rd place wow we know milwaukee is a great city they're a hard working city well guess what i say

Good Because it's not a badge of honor to not use earned vacation date if

you

if you earn PTO use them I don't but you should And if you live in a household with no adults who work You're probably retired and if you're

on disability or something

or that and if you figure out a way to retire early Hey more power to you This is one rating or not winning

is just fine with me.

Wisconsinites are, in fact, hardworking, I believe.

I know that.

I know that.

Can I see it?

I travel the state.

Other cities, maybe not so much.

All right, let's go.

Time once again for What's Worst.

Here

we go.

Time once again for once worse, no prize money involved, nothing to give away, but it is your chance to be heard across statewide radio, all 11 news talk sports stations on the Civic Media Radio Network, the largest privately owned radio network in Wisconsin.

No better way to get your word, your advertising out than right here on Civic Media.

Go to civicmedia.us and find out how to join our team.

We would love to have you.

All right, Summers, timely, timely indeed.

as Mike Lucas likes to say, cities.

We're talking about hardworking cities there.

Well, here now in the news, if you've been watching this, a couple of big city mayors, both happened to be Democrats and some hot water.

First of all, you got this guy, Eric Adams in New York City, who was indicted on very severe charges of taking money into the table and all this kind of stuff.

Well, he's made a deal with Donald Trump allegedly.

Um, because Trump's attorney generals and whatnot are, uh, uh, New York city there, the justice department is saying, oh no, no, no, we're going to put those charges on hold.

We're not going to completely get rid of them.

But if you don't do what we want in terms of getting ready, uh, getting rid of undocumented folks, we'll throw you back in the clink.

And so you got Eric Adams, who's snuggling up to, uh, Trump over there.

And then on the other side of the, uh, country out in, out in Los Angeles,

You've got Karen Bass.

Now she's a piece of work.

Here now, we find out yesterday from CBS, speaking of CBS, that Mayor Bass went on a vacation, kind of a quasi-work trip vacation to Ghana, which of course, if you know your geography is right next to Rhea.

I'm just kidding.

That's an old joke.

But she went over to Ghana on this trip and she knew, according to CBS, that the weather conditions

were ripe for a major fire.

But yet she went anyway, she was out of town.

The fire chief there in LA was also a woman.

And after the fires now here this week, Mayor Basson Los Angeles, instead of taking the responsibility, she fires the fire chief says it's her fault for not calling out more firefighters.

Well, now CBS finds out yesterday that the ordinance in Los Angeles said that that responsibility.

According to law, guess where that lands?

With the mayor.

So yeah, so exactly.

So you got two people here, Eric Adams in New York City or Karen Bass in Los Angeles.

So the question finally to get to it, what's worse?

New York City or Los Angeles?

What's worse?

New York City or Los Angeles?

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

for two.

You could also text us on the Civic Media app.

You don't have it, you say?

Well, easy enough to get.

Simply go to your app store on your Apple or Android device.

Type in Civic in the search bar, C-I-V-I-C.

Media, Civic Media.

It'll pop up a little C-M logo.

Click on that.

It'll download in less than a minute.

It is free.

Gratis, no dinero.

Won't cost you a dime.

Because now you gotta say dime because pennies are on their way out It's what gale king at CPS calls a deal the civic media app you can listen to the Badger game tonight for free on it There is rumor that there is a hot new contest coming up soon And the only way you're gonna be able to enter is through the civic media app So do yourself a favor download the civic media app right now.

What's worse?

New York or Los Angeles eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two

4842 have you been to both cities?

I've been to neither neither really and you've done quite a bit of traveling or at least relative amount

not really I I've traveled around Wisconsin.

I've been to Okay, I've only really been to a few states and then England No, I'd like to do more traveling been I've been to Colorado I've been to all the neighboring states wait all the neighbor maybe I might have been to all the neighboring states

You were in Colorado first, you don't remember.

Yeah, we'll go with that.

Our own Casper, great engineer here at Civic and Madison says LA is worse, not even a contest.

LA is awful.

The driving alone makes me never want to go there ever again.

I have to say, as somebody who has not been to either, that's a big indicator for me,

is

that it takes you an hour plus to get anywhere in LA, whereas in New York, you can hop on a train.

Very true Matt Matt in Milton listening on WM MD X says New York is worse by far Giant rats and the orange of menace has his stench all over it.

LA is wonderful and some of the best food ever It's

a good point

Dana listening in lacrosse says Adams is straight on corrupt bass is just passing the buck New York is worse.

All right.

What's worse is passing the buck, but people died so very that's very true

What's worse, New York or Los Angeles?

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

I have been to both cities.

I can tell you, I enjoy both cities.

They both offer spectacular things.

Each of them...

have their challenges, like any city.

But we'll reveal what Zomers and I think might be worse.

What's worse, on the other side of the break, so stay with us for that.

Kelly Meyerhofer was a great story at the bottom of the hour, so stay with us much more ahead.

What's worse, New York or LA on the Todd Allballs show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Thank you.

Start spreading the news.

I'm leaving today.

I want to be part of

it.

New York, New York.

Is there a more recognizable American tune, Zomers, than New York, New

York?

Yankee Doodle.

Yankee Doodle Dandy, maybe.

Or like the Star Spangled Banner.

But you know, it's in good company.

It's gotta be the

top five.

Asking you a question here, don't forget to come in after the bottom of the hour break, a very, very important interview.

More of a story discussion with great reporter from what Milwaukee Journal sent Nell Kelly Meyerhofer great story.

She wrote a mental health and UW athletics Right now the lighter side to the show asking as we do every day What's worse?

And you can take we laid out the two mayors Eric Adams in New York and Karen Bass in Los Angeles, but take it however you want And I've been to both I like parts of both cities, but what's worse?

New York or Los Angeles 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 You could also text us for free on the civic media app our ongoing contributor and friend Jeff Perry says strictly speaking musically LA is worse Sinatra's New York New York versus Randy Newman.

I love LA

No contest and on a similar note Brian in Milwaukee says LA is worse New York has Broadway, but Wisconsin reigns supreme

Well, well, there you go.

I

mean Broadway and Sinatra and everything like yeah, I mean New York has some good music

Also Dana in the like it so we did Dana's lacrosse already Eric listening on WMDX Madison says it's not even a discussion New York is the best city on the planet

Karina, listening in Milwaukee, getting the job done, driving around there, keep her safe.

Karina, listening on WAUK, says Los Angeles is worse.

You just read Brian's there in Milwaukee.

Jack in Merrimack, listening via WAUK, says the situation in New York is much worse, in my opinion.

Not only is the mayor probably guilty of corruption, but another criminal is essentially blackmailing him to enforce his dictates.

Last I heard blackmail is unlawful to Jack and Merrimack.

Thanks Jack always appreciate you.

What's worse New York or Los Angeles?

855-752-4842 855-752-4842 I've probably been to LA more than New York

I spent more time in Los Angeles.

I'm gonna get very nuanced with my answer.

Because the people who are sitting there driving in Los Angeles, yes, I mean, I think if you live there or visit enough, it's just a given.

I'm not always always, but most times, if you have to drive any amount of distance for groceries or to make a target run, whatever it is,

If you have to get outside of your neighborhood beyond seven, eight, 10 blocks, it's an hour.

It's an hour to anything in Los Angeles.

It just is.

If you have to get on one of the LA free ways to go somewhere, you might as well just say it's going to be an hour to anywhere, sometimes longer, especially if you go during rush hour.

Also, I mean, I've been out to the Rose Bowl a handful of times, spent time at the Staples Center.

in downtown Los Angeles, downtown LA is okay.

I guess in fairness, I haven't spent as much time in downtown LA as I have in Manhattan, New York.

But I would say that there's a lot more.

There's a lot more things to do in New York City, whether it's Manhattan or whether it's in Brooklyn or whether it's in Queens, then right downtown Los Angeles.

Now, the greater Los Angles area, Downey, you know,

Other other places that I've been Pasadena.

I love Pasadena, but that's a suburb of LA, right?

So But just to get around in terms of transportation like to get from the LaGuardia Airport to Brooklyn or Manhattan You grab a cab or grab a train.

It's not that big of a deal as you said Zomers you go to the train and you you you go into Manhattan if you want Los Angeles is a bigger.

It's a bigger deal.

So

I've probably, my answer is probably gonna be, if I had to choose, I'd say the Los Angeles, the city of Los Angeles proper is worse than the city of New York proper.

But I love the Los Angeles area.

There's a lot of good people out there.

Maybe a lot of good people in both places, right?

What's worse, New York or Los Angeles?

Conrad, the great Conrad, by the way, producer of Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Conrad.

I think we should add that on.

It should be nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Khan.

He also is there.

Yes, he's there.

Azamur says, why isn't it called the title of all show Azamur's then?

Conrad and Green Bay listening on our great station, WGBW says, talking about basketball this year, I'll take the Knicks over the Lakers this year.

LA Clippers are just fighting to stay above 500.

Well, there you go.

That's a whole other genre, sports and basketball between the two cities.

I mean, the Knicks haven't been legit in forever, right?

Well, I'm not

sure.

And I think they're like in the, they're like in Brooklyn now.

They're not really in New York City proper anymore.

Even though Brooklyn's a burrow, I get it.

By the way, tune in tonight, six until eight.

Pete Schwabba and Night Light, along with the great Conrad, it is a great program.

They've had some great shows on lately.

Actors get ready to talk about the Academy Awards.

Conrad, this is for you and Zomers.

Let's figure out a day soon here to get Peter the program.

We need to have

Peter

the Oscars.

All right.

WMDX, a listener there saying Los Angeles as a city is worse, but Adams is the worst mayor.

New York City itself is fantastic.

Walk or mass transit is the best way to get around.

People are way more interesting.

I've seen some pretty interesting people in Los Angeles.

People are weird

everywhere, man.

I wouldn't say weird.

I would.

That's not necessarily an insult.

No.

Normally, the smog, the pollution is worse in LA, I think, when I've traveled out there.

But the

sunset,

the sunsets are spectacular.

I mean, we were, we did the show, you know, from our friend Kelly Calls, a bar, the sports bar down there and restaurant, the underground.

By the way, when you're in Hamosa Beach, stop at the underground.

And Hamosa Beach is just, I mean, my God, that's just, that's beautiful out there.

And everybody is beautiful at Hamosa Beach.

You have good food, you're rollerblading, you're jogging, you're in the ocean, you're playing volleyball.

So there's others, do you want to, you want to, what's worse?

I think I got to say, I've never been to either, but.

I'm going to base this almost entirely on transportation and weather, and I'm going

to say LA is worse.

wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the Toddled Ball Show on the Civic Video Radio Network.

It's 34 minutes now, past the hour of one o'clock on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025.

Glad to have you along, Zomers on the board.

Really hope that people stay with us for this next half hour.

This is an important topic as we were talking before we came back to break here, from break.

I know every time that we've talked about mental health issues on this show, we get a...

tremendous amount of engagement, meaning people texting or calling or just send us messages.

This is something that I've pledged to do more of on this show this year.

And I cannot thank our next guest for being here enough, making time for us.

She is Kelly Meyerhofer, the higher education reporter among her other beats at the great Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

You can also find her work on JS.

JSN Journal, SSN Sentinel, online.com.

Kelly, thank you so much for taking the time for us to welcome back to the show.

I'm happy to be here, Todd.

We are so happy to be here because this is a tough subject, but you handle it so well.

And this is one of the reasons why I so much believe in local journalism and people who are based here in Wisconsin

And let's get into it.

Tell this is a story of Sarah Schultz, who was a runner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but she was also a daughter.

She was a family member.

She was a friend.

She was a teammate.

She died by suicide in 2022 while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And you have written this story that was published yesterday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about her.

about her mental health and general college athletes, what led you, what made you as a reporter say, I want to dig into this or there has to be something more here?

What was the initial impetus for doing this story?

I mean, I remember when the story broke, like the spring of 2022, you know, her family sort of announced that she had died by suicide.

And at the time, there were several other high-profile college athletes who had died by suicide.

I think there was five that spring in college.

And there was a lot of national stories about it.

And at the time, I was busy with some other stuff, but it seemed like something to dig into more specifically about her circumstances and what happened.

So it was something I knew I always wanted to look into and it was just a matter of finding the time to approach it thoughtfully.

And in hindsight, I think having, you know, looking at it a few years after the fact, you know, gave her family and teammates time to process it and think about it a bit more.

I think

it was actually much

more powerful to look back as opposed to reporting in the

moment.

I think maybe you're, yeah, maybe I think obviously you're right because you really get into in depth with this and I guess let's just start in order of your writing and you start out at a track meet the Nuticoam Indivitational where green ribbons were being given out to all participants.

Explain what that green ribbon is about and how that came about please.

Yeah, yeah the green ribbon.

It's a symbol of mental health awareness and her teammates started, you know after this tragedy, you know, they were all pretty traumatized by it and they They really took it as a learning moment and became mental health advocates and during this this cross-country meet that's held at UW every year They decided to put together these little green ribbons and athletes across the country could wear them if they wanted and

they were so amazed by how many like more than half of the athletes boys men and women you know put on these ribbons as as a sign just to reduce stigma and to show that you know mental health matters.

And we see this, I mean, my two godsons went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduated in the last five years.

And my oldest godson, Alex, he would wear a kind of a chartreuse bright green color bandana on his backpack.

I know a lot of student organizations, if they've been trained in how to help someone or assist them, if they are in a mental health crisis, that if you see a student with that green bandana on campus, it's known that you could approach anybody with that and have that conversation.

Yes, the bandana project is similar to this, but the ribbon is a little less or more for athletes just to wear while they're racing.

Right.

So you get into this story and you say that it's a tragic reminder, quoting from your story now, of course, tragic reminder of the stressors facing student athletes and the consequences when those pressures feel insurmountable.

She was one of at least five, Sarah, five college athletes, actually who died by suicide in the spring of 2022.

I am for those watching on the stream.

I'm wearing my Wisconsin Badger hoodie because the Badgers play a basketball game tonight.

I'm a huge Wisconsin fan.

Like I said, my two God sons graduated from UW Madison.

And one of the great things about this story that you reveal that I think makes the reader think about myself included

is we as fans get caught up in the fun of all this.

And look, it is we have Brady, you know, this show frequently an alum of Badger football, but rarely do we as fans think about what these student athletes face.

Talk a little bit about what you found in your reporting.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not a huge sports person, but I'm really struck, you know,

You know Sarah was a runner, so it's not not a super popular sport in the way like football or basketball is but just looking at the sports landscape and where it is right now There is so much more pressure on these athletes than than there was you know 10 years ago 20 years ago you look at social media and how fans can just you know harass athletes online if they miss a Layup

There's, you know, sports betting is exploding and that increases that sort of online harassment.

We have the Big Ten that's been expanded to include the West Coast.

So that increases travel demands on athletes.

And then we have this NIL era, which, you know, in some ways is really good because athletes can now

get paid for their name image likeness.

But it also puts a lot of pressure and expectations on them to live up to their endorsement deals.

So there's just a lot of new facets to their life that athletes 20 years ago did not have to deal with.

You're talking to your story that college athlete suicide rates are on the rise according to a 2024 study writing suicide

is now the second most common cause of death amongst collegiate athletes, second only to accidents.

I just think that a lot of people would find that astounding.

You bring up here, you have the sports betting in particular, that it's a huge industry right now.

And people are betting money that they can't afford to lose.

Not everybody, but some people.

And so they're betting on everything from who's gonna score the first bucket in a basketball game to is the kicker gonna make a field goal from more than 20 yards out.

And when these young women and men are human, as we all are, you have adults who are going on social media and attacking these people because they, the fan, lost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

because a student athlete fell short.

And blaming these, I know they're not kids, but young people for their betting.

That has to be a tremendous amount of stress on these people being made to feel like trash because people are blaming them for their betting.

I never really thought about that seriously until this story.

Yeah, and I didn't really get into that facet that much because that wasn't you know, something that Sarah dealt with as a runner.

It's much lower profile sport, but I thought it was just worth mentioning that you know, this is the landscape and it's something you know, I'd love to explore more in future reporting.

Yeah, and I think it also just goes to show you and you point this out in your article, maybe not directly, but the way I took it is

You know, Seth Davis, the great sports reporter and broadcaster tweets, I think every day, be kind.

Be kind.

Words hurt.

Words matter.

We're all human.

And not, you don't suggest that that alone.

There is no singular cause in Sarah's death.

or anybody else's, but that certainly was a part of it.

Let's get into, we're talking to Kelly Meyerhofer, great reporter from the Milwaukee Journal.

Certainly you can find this story at JS online.

Talking about Sarah Schultz's story here, a track athlete at UW Madison who died by suicide in 2022.

You talk about this fighting for a chance to compete and you write that Sarah was more often felt in competition with her teammates than other schools, according to Sarah's mom.

Talk about the dynamics here and we're going to get into UW Madison has made some changes.

But at the time, there was there was a lot of pressure from this one particular coach at UW.

Yeah, it wasn't something until I really started talking to our teammates that I understood about, you know, being a runner in college athletics, you you have no off season.

You do cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter, outdoor track in the spring.

you're running 60 to 75 miles per week, and you're living, hanging out with, and competing against your friends, your teammates.

There's only seven spots on the travel roster during the cross-country season, and there's 25 women on the team.

So a couple, a second, two seconds, if you're a little bit slower this day, you're not gonna go to the meet, you're not gonna compete.

And it's just, you know, that was a really tough environment for Sarah and a lot of her teammates to adjust to.

And talking with her friends and family, you point out that people who knew Sarah said, look, she was kind of just a fun, go lucky, my words, almost goofy person, choked jokes, easy with a smile.

you know, appear to be able to quote unquote handle it.

Again, my interpretation of your writing.

But then you get into the sub headline is fitting mental health into student-athlete schedule can be tough.

You write the article quote, but mental health was rarely, if ever, discussed by the coach, said five of Sarah's former teammates.

The UW athletic department had sports psychologists on staff, but they said the wait to see them was often more than a month.

The sessions tended to be focused on improving athletic performance and privacy and there were also privacy concerns.

You write that online appointments and off-site community providers paid for by the athletic department are available for students concerned about privacy.

But the department during this time had the equivalent of two full-time in-house mental health providers as well as contracts with nine community providers for about seven

100 athletes the staffing levels are the norm or were the norm for that time again 700 athletes two full-time people with some community providers But it might be months to get into these people and I think particularly all of us myself included if we're if we're struggling with mental health It's like well if I can't get in to see somebody now.

Just forget it.

I'll deal with it

Yeah

It was an interesting part of my reporting, you know, when I talked to the UW Athletics Mental Health Director, he said, you know, it wasn't even until 2016 that the NCAA recommended athletic departments should have like in-house counselors.

I mean, previously, student athletes were just told to go to the campus counseling center where wait times are even longer than what student athletes experience.

I write the story as well, an NCAA survey, more than 23,000 students and 22, 23, nearly 70, 70%, 70% reported knowing where to go on campus for mental health problems, but only about half said they would feel comfortable in doing so.

Again, we need to do more as a society.

We need to expect more of our universities, whether they're athletes or not.

Do you let young people know how they can you know, I know I'm I know you're not here to analyze But I mean that's just my take is that I mean was that you're reporting that you clearly seem to see a need for for more money being spent on these type of things

You know and in fairness to the UW athletics after this tragedy, you know, they did increase their staffing They made some changes and their data that they provided to me does show that

you know, there's been an increase in the number of athletes seeking out mental health services.

One data point that I thought was really interesting was that since 2022 when this sort of like mental health liaison program started, where they sort of work with individual teams, you know, when the football team got their mental health liaison since then, there's been a fourfold increase in the number of football players, you know, utilizing mental health services because of this.

And I think that's fantastic, but again, tragic that it took someone's death to really get people to pay attention.

And again, I'm a huge supporter of the football program as well, but unfortunate that it took a premier sport, quote unquote, my term to get people to pay attention.

that if somebody plays track or runs track or cross country, that wasn't big enough.

It wasn't a big enough revenue thing for some people to pay attention to.

We're gonna come back more with Kelly Meyerhofer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

You're not gonna wanna miss this.

The ending to this story is emotional.

Come on by.

Welcome back to the Toddleball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

It is nine before the hour of two o'clock at the top of the hour.

ABC or CPS News, depending upon which great station on Civic Media Network you're listening to, followed by sports and weather.

And then the Maggie Dawn show from two until four, followed by Dominic Selvia and Pete Schwabba's Night Light from six until eight.

Right now we are talking with Kelly Meyerhofer, the great reporter, higher education to her main beat at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Very powerful story.

You can read it at jsonline.com.

Jsonline.com was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Yesterday, headline, the pressure on student athletes keeps mounting.

For one UW Madison runner, it was too much.

It is the story of Sarah Scholes, who died by suicide while a runner and student at the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2022,

Kelly is here to detail this great reporting.

And again, I said this offline, Kelly.

I'm going to say it to your face online.

I really hope that whoever is in charge of this nominates this because this work should be recognized.

This is kind of journalism that Shed's light makes you think and you learn something.

And it's a tribute, quite frankly, to Sarah and her life.

So thank you for this great reporting.

I want to get back into the story here.

And before we forget, I want to make sure we get this in.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or self-harm, you can call the National Suicide Helpline at 988.

Just pick up your phone, dial or text 988.

That's all it takes.

And of course, that was put in part in place by Wisconsin's own Senator Tammy Baldwin.

There is also a foundation.

Did you have that in front of you, Kelly?

There's a foundation for Sarah as well that they have set up.

I'm sorry, I don't have that right in front of me.

Yeah, it's just the Sarah Scholes Foundation.org.

And Scholes is spelled S-H-U-L-Z-E.

Sarah Scholes Foundation.

Let's get into the story more, Kelly.

You talk a little bit about one of Sarah's coaches, Mackenzie Wartenberger, who we will note is no longer with the program, but this particular coach, you're reporting, tell us about that.

Excuse me.

Yeah, the coach that recruited Sarah was a different coach and she ended up leaving right before Sarah started practice at UW.

So they brought in a new coach, this woman named Mackenzie Whartonberger.

And interviewing with her teammates, you know, it showed that there was a lot of intensity, toxicity in the culture of the team.

And the coach would often like pit runners against each other.

One of the athletes I talked to said she started having panic attacks and she would dread the one-on-one meetings that she would have.

with the coach and it seemed like an unhealthy team environment is sort of how her Sarah's parents described the situation.

And it sounds like there was some sort of investigation into the coach.

She ended up, the athletic department told her she had to leave.

She had to cut off all contact with student athletes in December of 2021.

the coach and then a month later she stepped away and she said on social media she was leaving to focus on her family.

You know the university didn't provide a ton of records showing if there was an investigation at least one athlete I talked to said she was interviewed as part of it so you know the circumstances are still a little unclear about exactly what happened but it was not

a good environment for Sarah or a lot of her teammates.

And it was one of many stressors that was going on, you know, in the months leading up to her death.

You write into the article, she had an internship at the state capitol that she was basically forced to give up that she really, really enjoyed.

More and more, lots more in this story here.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW Health have declined to give you a lot of details and open records requests so far.

I want to get to this final phone call that Sarah's mom had with her six weeks before, or just before she

died by suicide.

Her mom, say they talked about soccer a little bit.

Sarah quote, Sarah gave no indication she was having similar thoughts, her mom said.

She had just gotten into a summer study abroad program and started to imagine life without running.

Her mom says, quote, it's probably the happiest we'd seen her in a long time.

To go from that to six weeks later, she's no longer with us.

It's just so jarring.

And I think that's what's so shocking about suicide is just how fast it can happen.

This perfect storm of events can trigger this avalanche of emotions that feel like they can't escape."

I want to make sure we get the ending in here.

She was going through a breakup with her boyfriend, according to family and friends.

She was going through a lot of stress on the team.

She wasn't able to access proper health care.

As you note in your story, there's no one reason for her death, but all of those led up to it.

UW Health did make changes in mental health liaisons, mental health first aid, and more staff.

But let's get to the ending of this story.

You tell it, Kelly.

I have about a minute and a half left.

Sure, yeah.

The story sort of ends circling back with the green ribbons and how her family and friends still wear these ribbons as part of their daily life, and including one time last spring when Sarah's parents met.

this teenager Nick Ripke on this walk for suicide prevention on campus last spring.

It was the first time they met him and he gave them a teddy bear which had a recording device in it when you squeezed the bear and it played a recording of the beat of Sarah's heart which he received through a transplant.

And he told them about how he had this heart condition when he was a kid, and it never allowed him to really do sports.

So once he got Sarah's heart, he wanted to do something different that he wouldn't have been able to do.

And he decided on running a 5k.

And he didn't know at the time that his heart previously belonged to a division one runner.

So Sarah's mom sort of felt like it was her way, Sarah's way of saying she just wanted to run one more time.

Incredible.

ending that Sarah's heart literally lives on because she was an organ donor and her parents allowed that to happen.

Kelly Meyerhoffer incredible reporting you can find this story and many others by Kelly at J S online dot com.

Thank you so much for being with us Kelly thanks for this reporting.

Yeah, thanks.

Our pleasure that will do it for now.

Thanks to Kelly.

Thanks to Luke Mathers, Aaron Summers and you for listening, whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in do not give up.

Keep banging your drum.

Remember 988 if you need help.

Thank you Don, see you next.