Kutztown University Athletics

Tara Lynn Crozier-Wallick (’98), is one of the best throwers in Kutztown University women’s track & field history.  Crozier won a national championship and was a five-time All-American in her four years at Kutztown.  As a freshman in 1995, she placed in two events at each of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Outdoor Championships.  In 1996, she earned her first All-America honor, placing second in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  She was second in the weight throw at the ECAC championships, and third in the shot put at PSACs.  In 1997, Crozier placed second in the 20-lb. weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships for another All-America award.  Also during the indoor season, Crozier won the ECAC title in the weight and was second in the shot put to earn ECAC Field Athlete of the Meet honors.  In the spring, Crozier reached the pinnacle of success, winning the outdoor national championship in the hammer with a throw of 190 feet, 11 inches.  The mark would stand as the NCAA meet record until 2002.  Also that year, Crozier competed at the USA National Championship, placing eighth in the hammer throw.  She won the PSAC shot put title and was second in the discus.  In 1998, Crozier repeated as a multiple All-American, placing third in the indoor weight throw, and finishing as the national runner up in the outdoor hammer throw.  Indoors, Crozier won the ECAC title in the weight throw, then placed second in the discus outdoors.  During her time at Kutztown, Crozier was named the 1997 Co-Female Athlete of the Year, the 1998 Female Athlete and Senior Athlete of the Year.  She set the school records for the 20-lb. weight (57-8) and hammer (190-11), which still stand.  She was a three-time Lehigh Valley Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (LVAIAW) Track & Field Athlete of the Year, earning the LVAIAW’s Outstanding Athlete award in 1998.  In 2000, Crozier-Wallick was named one of KU’s top female athletes of the 1990s and one of Kutztown’s Top 30 Athletes of the 20th Century.   She is married to Michael Wallick and has a son, Michael William, and a daughter, Madison Lynn.  A 1995 graduate of Harry S. Truman High School, she completed her bachelor’s degree in art education at Kutztown in 1998 and is employed by the Bristol Twp. School District as an art teacher.