Bio

The success UW-Oshkosh’s women’s track & field program would not have been possible without the dedication of excellence-driven individuals like Tara (Harding) Jaeger.

Winning back-to-back NCAA Division III titles in the long jump and earning 11 All-America titles in indoor and outdoor track & field from 1993-97, Harding is one of the many athletes who have helped build UW-Oshkosh’s winning tradition.

Attracted to UW-Oshkosh by the women’s gymnastics program, the Fond du Lac native decided early in her freshman year that her athletic experience at UW-Oshkosh would take her on a different path – one that ended in track & field.

Making her mark as a rookie, Harding earned top conference honors in the indoor triple jump and All-America status on the outdoor 400-meter relay team. She also contributed to the team’s sixth consecutive indoor conference title.

In 1994, Harding built on the success of her triple jump career and earned sixth place and All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship. This individual success helped the Titans to the national team title. Harding also claimed the indoor conference triple jump title and helped the Titans win the outdoor league team title.

Harding set a school record with a jump of 18-10 to win her first of two NCAA Division III indoor long jump titles and earned second place in the national triple jump competition in 1995. She also took indoor conference titles in both the long and triple jumps and the 800-meter relay to earn the title of Outstanding Field Athlete at the conference meet.

Harding clinched consecutive indoor national and conference long jump titles and a third consecutive national team title in 1996.

With two years of eligibility left in the outdoor season, Harding earned All-America titles in the long jump, triple jump and the 400-meter relay, conference titles in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, long jump and 400-meter relay and school records in the 100-meter dash, long jump, and 400-meter relay. These accolades were grounds for Harding's selection as the 1997 NCAA Division III Athlete of the Year. Both conference and national team titles followed Harding's individual achievements in both 1996 and 1997.

Harding has become a seventh-grade mathematics teacher at Sabish Middle School in Fond du Lac. She also coached track & field at high schools in both Campbellsport and Fond du Lac.

Harding's husband, Joel Jaeger, ran on the UW-Oshkosh men’s track & field team. The Jaegers have a 3-year-old son, Miles.