After succeeding on and off the basketball court in 2015-16, rising junior Kara Hageman of Case Western Reserve University made the most of a summer vacation to Australia.

Hageman joined family members in visiting her brother Daniel, a 2010 CWRU graduate in engineering, who is enrolled in the PhD program in the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New South Wales. He is looking to 'bridge the gap' between 'global' and 'local' physiological events of the musculoskeletal system through high-throughput mSEM imaging, clinical lymphoedema-based imaging, and stochastic modeling. 

Hageman and her family explored the UNSW campus, toured the Sydney Opera House, and went on bicycle and bus tours around the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns. "The coolest part was definitely scuba diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef," Hageman said. "There were tons of interesting fish and we even saw a shark out there, which we thought was pretty insane."

Photos: Hageman scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef

A Biomedical Engineering major, Hageman tied for the team lead in scoring (13.7 points per game) and led the Spartans in rebounding (7.6 boards per game) in her sophmore season. Her scoring, rebounding, and 1.2 blocks per contest all ranked her in the top-six in the UAA. She earned UAA Winter All-Academic honors, honorable mention All-Association recognition, and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.

"Playing basketball and being a student-athlete at CWRU constantly challenges me in all aspects and I feel as though it is preparing me in ways I don't even realize for life after college," Hageman said. "I  feel so lucky to be able to play a sport I love with a team that I love at a school that still emphasizes the importance of education. I can't imagine it any other way."

"Kara is an incredibly hard worker, both in the classroom and on the court," said CWRU Head Women's Basketball Coach Jennifer Reimer. "Her success is a result of working at her highest capacity in every drill, every minute in practice. She sets a great example for her teammates. Last but not least, she brings great energy to our team--she puts the team before herself, always finds the positives, and her fabulous/goofy sense of humor is the best."

"The trip was such a rewarding experience," Hageman commented. "I have two older sisters who are planning on going to visit my brother in the fall. I keep joking that I am just going to hop on the plane with them and go again."

Photo: Hageman feeding kangaroos in Sydney