PANELISTS FOR THE EVENT
Scott Brinen
Owner and Head Coach Badger Track Club and cross country and track coach at Monona Grove High School
Scott is a lululemon Ambassador in Madison Wisconsin. He coaches girls cross country and track and field at Monona Grove High School. He is the owner and head coach of the Badger Track Club. Scott is a former Wisconsin Badger Track and Field and Cross Country athlete who competed in 2 NCAA Cross Country National Championships. While at the UW, he was a member of 6 winning Big Ten Championship teams (2 Cross Country, 2 Indoor Track and 2 Outdoor Track), the only team in Big Ten history to win the distinguished Triple Crown three times. Post college, Scott competed in 2 USATF National Cross Country Championships. Scott has been active alongside other letter winners of UW sports and was the president of the W Club from 2021-2022.
Scott was chosen to be the Head USA Track Coach for the 2019 INAS Global Games in Brisbane Australia through Athletes Without Limits. He was the Head USA Cross Country Coach for the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Meet in San Diego, and lead the US team once again at the Virtus Global Games in Vichy France in June of 2023. Virtus Athletics is the world organization for athletes with intellectual impairments. Also in 2019, he brought the USATF Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championship to Madison as the meet director in a partnership with the Madison Area Sports commission and Wisconsin USATF. In the fall of 2020, he joined the Girls on the Run of South Central Wisconsin board of directors. Scott is a board member for Girls On the Run South Central Wisconsin as well as the Chair for BAASK (Badger Athletes and Alumni Supporting Kids) in a partnership with Wisconsin Athletics and the American Family Children’s Hospital.
Through his coaching experience, board memberships, and conversations with former athletes, it has given him a unique perspective into the minds of current and former athletes.
Kelsey Card, OLY, M.S., LMFT (she/her/hers)
Elephant in the Room Counseling LLC
Kelsey Card is a two-time Olympian for Team USA in the discus throw She also earned multiple Big Ten titles in several of the throw’s disciplines, as well as a national title for the Wisconsin Badgers during her collegiate tenure from 2012-2016. Kelsey completed undergraduate degrees in Human Development and Family Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies with a certificate (minor) in Classical Studies. Following competition in the Rio Olympic Games, she stayed on to train post collegiately at UW-Madison. Kelsey Completed her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2019 and is the owner of Elephant In the Room Counseling. While finishing her education and growing her client experience, she continued to train full time and competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice focusing on sport psychology located in Madison, WI. Kelsey attributes a large portion of her athletic successes to her own sport psychology work she did while as an athlete. Working with student-athletes brings her immense joy and satisfaction. Kelsey champions mental health for athletes of all ages and skill levels. She also uses her role as a Lululemon Ambassador to promote body positivity and size inclusivity. Her partnership with Harbor Athletic Club allows her to pursue what health and training for life looks like for her now that she is retired from professional sport.
Kelly Jaminski LPC, RYT-200 (she, her, hers)
Kelly is creative and passionate about helping others work toward wellness in various aspects of their lives. She is a licensed professional counselor and registered yoga teacher. Kelly’s experience includes working in rehabilitation counseling and outpatient behavioral mental health settings in the Dane county community. She also worked at UW-Madison as a professional and varsity student-athlete on the women’s hockey team. She serves as a Co-Clinical Director for the Special Olympics Wisconsin Strong Minds program. She has a strength-based style which incorporates trauma informed care practices and various client-centered approaches. Therapeutic approaches used include: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI), positive psychology, mindfulness, and body-centered practices (polyvagal/somatic). Areas of specialty and interest include: stress management, life transitions, anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, work challenges, LGBTQ issues, pregnancy/postpartum, compassion fatigue, identity/search for meaning, chronic illness and pain, grief, sports performance/working with student-athletes, and self-discovery. Kelly welcomes working with adults of all genders, ethnicities, and diverse abilities.
Gabi (Anzalone) Zielinski was a letter winning member of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Cross Country and Track and Field Programs from 2011 -2016 with specializations in the distance events. Prior to being part of the UW team, she had a successful high school career in Michigan where she was a state champion and multiple time All- American. While at UW she was a top athlete in the 10,000m in the Big Ten Conference, participated in multiple NCAA championships, and earned multiple Academic All-American Honors. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Rehabilitation Psychology, Gabi continued her academic and athletic career in Madison – earning her Master’s degree in Social Work as well as training for and competing in the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Presently, she is a forensic social worker for the State of Wisconsin. She continues to run, though not competitively, while focusing on a healthy relationship with her sport, her body, and her family life. Gabi is passionate about female health and discussions related to mental health and body image as it relates to sport. Also, she is passionate about working with emerging young athletes to help break through mental barriers in competition. She hopes to soon have a private practice to be able to provide formal therapy. Until then – she’d love to hear from you and offer informal support and resources as you continue to navigate being an athlete or loving an athlete.
Alicia Pelton
Former Athletic Director, Madison West High School & Founder, Athletic Leadership Alliance
Alicia Pelton has spent the past 30+ years actively involved in sports as an athlete, wife, mother of athletes, manager, teacher, business owner, coach, mentor, board member, marketing director and high school athletic director. Her range of experiences weaved through many diverse segments of the population in various parts of the world and helps her understand the perspectives of players, coaches, owners, and parents. Since 2015, her passion has lied in growing the game for females from participation to leadership roles, focusing on changing rules, questioning policies, she presents ways to diversify the candidate pool and coaching girls, speaks out and educating the communities.
In 2018, Alicia was one of the founding members of the Wisconsin Women’s Soccer Advisory Council that celebrates females in soccer. She is one of the principle advocates that has grown girls hockey in Wisconsin by 25% in three years with WI now the fastest growing girls hockey state.
In 2019 Alicia took the role of Athletic Director at Madison West high school, the fourth largest school in Wisconsin and is focused on fixing facility and Title IX issues as well as having an impact on Wisconsin high school sports for girls, ranked as one of the lowest ten states in participation.
A 1987 graduate of Janesville Craig, Alicia was a varsity basketball, track, cross country and tennis player. She went on to the University of Wisconsin – Madison to run track and field as a triple jumper and heptathlete. After a career ending injury she completed her dream by playing basketball in the Swedish Elite League. Pelton earned a BA at UW-Madison in Sociology and a master’s degree in Sports Leadership, MSLD, at Northeastern University. She is a 2011 inductee into the Janesville Athletic Hall of Fame.
Dr. Kris Eiring
Psychologist, PhD (she, her)
Kris is the former Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology for the University of Wisconsin Badgers. In this role she helped to create a mental and health and performance psychology department for the Wisconsin athletes. As a former Wisconsin Badger track and field athlete, this was a dream fulfilled for Kris as she believes in supporting athletes and their mental health needs. Kris is a licensed psychologist and certified mental performance consultant who currently has her own practice in Madison Wisconsin.
Her sport psychology services for athletes include addressing coping with injuries and the rehabilitation process, managing performance anxiety and becoming stronger both mentally and emotionally. she has worked with athletes of all levels and various sports, including endurance training and competitions, swimming, track, cross country, basketball, hockey, golf and tennis.
Of special interest to Kris is teaching her clients, including athletes, to use mental skills to help with their performance or simply to improve one’s quality of life. She has learned through years of practice that our mind is strong and we can build skills to help manage our focus and attitudes to help us cope with the many changes we all experience in life. Examples of coping skills she teaches clients include concentration, meditation, goal setting, self-talk or how to “coach” oneself through times of anxiety or stress. The end goal is for each person to listen to their own inner wisdom and set goals to make changes.
Kris was a six time high school state champion in the sprints and was inducted into the Wisconsin Track Coaches (WISTCA) Hall of Fame. She also set indoor and outdoor sprint records while competing for the Badgers and placed 6th in the Indoor 55m at the TAC/USA Indoor Championships and second in the 100m for Big 10s.
Angela Russell is the chief diversity officer at TruStage and the vice president of the TruStageTM Foundation. In these roles, she provides strategic enterprise-wide leadership to ensure that TruStage’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is reflected in the workplace, community partnerships and marketplace through our products, processes and services.
In 2021, Russell was the recipient of the inaugural DEI Trailblazer Award from the African American Credit Union Coalition. In 2018, she was named as one of the nation’s most powerful diversity executives by Black Enterprise magazine.
Russell has 20 years of professional experience. Prior to joining TruStageTM, she worked in various roles in public health, including serving as a health equity coordinator for Public Health Madison Dane County, and she was the community engagement lead for the National County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Population Health Institute.
Russell has also worked in a variety of roles in Wisconsin state government, including division administrator for the Division of Early Care and Education, assistant deputy secretary for the Department of Children and Families, and policy advisor to Governor Jim Doyle. She was formerly an epidemiologist with the Wisconsin AIDS/HIV and Hepatitis C Program at the Department of Health Services.
Russell serves on the Board of Directors for JustDane which is focused on providing programing for individuals returning to the Dane County community after incarceration. In 2023, she also joined Downtown Madison, Inc. board (DMI) that works through advocacy, research, planning, and community action to create and sustain a healthy and vibrant downtown Madison and Beloit College Board of Trustees. She also hosts a Wisconsin-based podcast called Black Oxygen, which was awarded the 2021 Wisconsin Innovation Award.
Russell holds a Master of Science in Population Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Beloit College. In 2021, Angela was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Beloit College.
Angela has two children that are the loves of her life and are a regular source of feedback (the good, bad and often very funny).
Michaela Trautman
A life-long athlete, Michaela completed her Bachelor’s in Exercise Science with minors in Biology and Nutrition at UW La Crosse, before completing her degree in Dietetics. After achieving her Registered Dietitian credential, she worked clinically in the Biochemical Genetics Clinic at the Waisman Center until starting her PhD at UW Madison in Nutrition and Metabolism. There, she works in the Lamming Lab studying dietary protein, branched chain amino acids, exercise, and metabolic health. She has published multiple papers, been featured on podcasts, and presented her work at multiple conferences. Outside of the lab, she works alongside her strength coach husband Dan at their family business, Trautman Fitness. Here, she helps student athletes and adults achieve their nutrition and performance goals.
Lexi Westley
I am a 5th year graduate student at the University of Wisconsin and compete for the cross country and track teams. I received my undergraduate degree from UW in Health Promotion and Health Equity and am currently in my last semester of graduate school, obtaining my degree in Sports Leadership. Both degrees aimed at enhancing the quality of life for all and adopting the foundations of health, and developing skills that will allow me to be the best coach. My passion for helping others as well as sports and fitness, has led me to pursuing my dream of becoming a collegiate cross country/track coach. Alongside being a student athlete, I am Junior Advisor for the Sarah Shulze Foundation- founded in memoriam of my friend/teammate Sarah who passed in April of 2022, with a purpose of advocating for mental health, women’s rights, and social injustices. I am a passionate leader, advocate of reducing the stigma around mental health, and creating a place where women can thrive and be supported in athletic settings.
