Aquinas College

La'Derrick Ward is entering his eighth year as assistant track field and coach for the Saints, with an emphasis on the jumping events. Ward began his career with Aquinas College midway through the 2017-2018 season and has enjoyed helping lead to much success on the track under head coach Michael Wojciakowski and associate head coach Kevin Winne.

Coach Ward has helped lead the women’s track and field team to an indoor conference championship in 2019, and guided 4 student-athletes to All-American honors out of ten qualifiers over the past five seasons. Ward has done exceptional with developing the jumps group, replacing eighteen spots on the top 5 performance list between the triple jump and high jump events, as well as two new school records.

La’Derrick came to Aquinas after spending two years as a part-time assistant coach in the jumps and sprints for Columbia College, as well as a volunteer coach for Missouri University. Prior to coaching, Ward had much success as a competitor in the jumping events over 13 years. Ward competed at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville (2011-2015) and received Long Jump All-American honors during the 2013(Outdoor), 2014(Indoor, Outdoor), and 2015(Outdoor) seasons. He left with four school records, five Ohio Valley Conference Titles and represented Team USA for the 2014 Pan American Games. Post collegiately, Ward Ward became the 2017 USA Indoor Track and Field long jump champion.