The new face at Fort Lewis College is an old face.
Sarah Meier will be returning to FLC to take over as sports information director starting July 1, according to a news release Wednesday to The Durango Herald.
Meier served as the Skyhawks’ SID from 2002 to 2006, before spending the last seven years in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference front office, where she recently was promoted to associate commissioner.
“Sarah is well-known and well-respected by the FLC athletics community, and we are very pleased to welcome her back to campus,” FLC athletic director Gary Hunter said in the news release. “We had more than one excellent candidate interested in the sports information director position, but Sarah’s expertise and experience in college athletics, as well as her history with Fort Lewis College, made her an ideal person for this job.”
In the release, Meier said the opportunity to return to a campus work environment, especially at FLC, was too good to pass up.
“It’s been a goal of mine to return to a campus, and the fact that this opportunity is at Fort Lewis College is amazing,” she said. “I’m ecstatic to be back in the beautiful community and town and to be working at one of the top institutions in the conference.
“Everyone working in college athletics has a priority that ties us all together, and that is the student-athletes, so to be able to be working with them one-on-one is very exciting,” she said. “I really miss working with the student-athletes, the coaches, the administration, the campus and the community, and I look forward to reestablishing those relationships.”
Meier’s RMAC office experience includes administrative work such as accounting operations and conference championship planning. She’s also had the opportunity there to build contacts and relationships with the NCAA, other RMAC schools and media organizations throughout the West.
During her previous tour at FLC, she was awarded the Fort Lewis College Director of Athletics Appreciation Award to go with the College Sports Information Directors of America Rising Star Award and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators Judith M. Sweet Commitment Award.
Meier holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and a master’s degree in sports administration from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
She and her hustband, Nathan, have three children – Luke, age 7, Hannah, 4, and Matthew, 2.
Meier will fill the position left vacant since April 3, when FLC fired former SID Chris Aaland, also a former colleague of Meier’s at FLC.
The longest tenured member of the college’s athletic department, Aaland worked at FLC for 22 years after graduating from the school in 1991. His wife, Shelly Aaland, who spent 10 years as the women’s volleyball head coach in addition to serving as an assistant coach and playing for the Skyhawks, also was fired April 3.
FLC declined to say why the Aalands were fired.
heraldsports @durangoherald.com
