The following story first appeared in the Spring 2020 Augustana Magazine 

Augustana athletics entered a new era in 2019 when it opened a performance fueling station inside the Elmen Center on the Augustana campus. Part of a department vision of enhancing the student-athlete experience, the area is open to student-athletes to assist in post-workout recovery for all 19 Viking athletic programs. 

As an added step in student-athlete well-being, Augustana has also partnered with the Sanford Sports Science Institute to have sports dietitian Lizzie Kasparek, MS, RD, CSSD, LN, provide education to the over 400 Viking student-athletes.

"This shows our commitment to our current and future student-athletes," athletic director Josh Morton said. "This is an important step to help our student-athletes develop as athletes and we also want to give them nutrition education that sets them up for the rest of their lives."

The defending national champion Augustana softball team has taken great use of both the fueling station and picking the brain of Kasparek as a sport that plays doubleheaders and needs to refuel between contests. 

"We [the softball team] have utilized her (Kasparek) so much," senior Kara McDougall said. "She's really helped us with what we should be eating during and between games. She just helps us with healthy snacks and what is going to fuel our bodies the best."

Not having a fueling station over her first two years on campus, McDougall has had a change in her daily routine both in workouts and everyday college life. 

"It's changed my routine in lifting," McDougall said. "After lifting, I wouldn't eat anything or drink chocolate milk. It's nice and convenient to refuel our bodies.

"Andy Stocks, our strength and conditioning coach, tells us we need to have three meals a day along with three snacks a day. Having the fueling station available to us where we can get the snacks is helping fuel our bodies, build muscle faster and also in recovery."

McDougall had two classes this past fall in the Elmen Center and was able to go to the fueling station in-between classes. 

As far as nutrition in general, McDougall pointed back to Kasparek and the benefits she has on Viking student-athletes. 

"It's super helpful for all the athletes at Augustana to talk about nutrition," McDougall added. "You can do research on your own, but you just don't know what is going to benefit you. It's just helpful to go to Lizzie and talk about nutrition."

The performance fueling station, in partnership with Dean Foods, is stocked with chocolate milk and other high-protein snacks along with fruits.

--GoAugie.com--