This article originally appeared in a print edition of the Monitor published 27 February 2026.

Toryn Podschwit (#1) is a senior Communications major who plays attack for the Jewell women’s lacrosse squad. The Hilltop Monitor interviewed Podschwit as part of a series featuring senior athletes at Jewell.

THM: What got you into lacrosse?

Podschwit: I played volleyball for my whole life, and was out of that phase [by] my sophomore year of high school. And so I had one of my older friends say, “Well, you should join the lacrosse club!” I just randomly joined, and it became my favorite thing ever, very fast.

What brought you to WJC?

I was with Kallie Muck [former head lacrosse coach]. I was the first ever recruit for Jewell lacrosse and the first commit, and was the first ever to score a goal in Jewell lacrosse history. I followed [Muck] to St. Mary’s, and then she got the job here and created the program. So I ended up coming here my freshman year.

Tell me more about your team culture.

Our culture is really, really amazing. It’s like a family. And even if we do bicker, it’s definitely sister vibes. There’s no hard feelings ever. The culture we’ve developed is very unique and one of a kind!

As one of the first on, how has it been bringing up that team culture?

In the beginning, we were really nervous; it was very easy to have the twelve girls you knew and no outsider stuff. When that first class [of recruits] came in, we were really nervous to see the new blood, but they turned out to be my best friends ever. Each person we’ve added has brought their own uniqueness to the culture, and it’s been amazing. Now it’s just excitement to see what everyone can add.

How do you prepare for a game?

I wake up, I have to go get my coffee and my breakfast burrito or an energy drink… (And your go-to coffee?) Hammerhand, so either an iced caramel macchiato or a vanilla iced latte—lover Hammerhand, and a breakfast burrito from La Puerta [?] on the corner, with extra hot sauce. Then I come to the training room, get my shins wrapped & knees done, hit some wall ball, do some shots on the field. [The team goes] to the locker room and we dance and we sing and we get all hyped up in there. It’s awesome.

Who on your team has it been good to see grow?

Faith Bowles (#2), she’s my little baby. She came in and I was nervous because we both wanted to be each other’s friend, but we slowly became best friends; we’re very similar. She used to be shy, and now she knows what she wants, she’s outspoken and she’s very confident in herself. So it’s very fun to see her on and off the field as my best friend.

What’s next after Jewell?

My plans after Jewell are to begin my career as a clinical navigator for a rehabilitation center. 

What else do you want the Monitor to know?

I would like the Hilltop to know that WJ LAX does not deserve the Yik Yak hate, and that we’re actually fun and awesome. I love being at Jewell and have been for four years. It’s a great spot because it’s small, but I can also be myself and have people who love me for me.

Toryn, thanks for your time.
This interview underwent minor edits for brevity and flow. If you know a student athlete the Monitor should interview, talk to us at hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/contact-us.

Connor Morehouse, senior data science and math major, began his career at William Jewell College as a physics and math major.  He began as a pitcher on the Jewell baseball team but quickly changed to catcher – a position he did before he came to college.  

Morehouse has been playing baseball since he was 6-years-old, mostly as a catcher. For him, baseball has not just acted as a sport in his life. 

“Baseball is incredibly important because it’s foundational on aspects like scheduling, it also provides an opportunity to learn about yourself and grow in a significantly safer environment than you would in the real world,” said Morehouse.

That growth continued when Morehouse came to Jewell – not only as an athlete but as a student and person. Morehouse credits the baseball team and the relationships he’s made with those on the team for helping him throughout his journey.

“Unsurprisingly, it’s a tight-knit group of people and anytime you have that it can be incredibly fun,” Morehouse said. “The amount of support and time you spent with people and the relationships that you build are incredibly valuable. That’s by far my favorite part.”

It was the chance to play baseball while also gaining a high-caliber academic education that originally drew Morehouse to the College. Beyond those aspects of his time here, Morehouse appreciates Jewell for how it has helped him become a well-rounded person. He says he’s been able to explore more parts of his personality and interests at Jewell than he would have elsewhere. 

“My favorite part of Jewell has definitely been it’s been an environment that allowed me to evolve and pushed me to do things that I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise,” said Morehouse. “The ability, opportunity and the facilitating of me evolving as a person is what I appreciate most.”

After graduation, Morehouse plans to pursue a master’s in data science and statistics. He has two more years of eligibility to play baseball and wants to use that to continue the sport as he pursues his post-grad degree. 

Being a first-year student in college comes with plenty of challenges of its own, but balancing academics with athletics brings extra challenges for student-athletes. Morais cited time management as being the biggest struggle.

“The hardest thing in being a student-athlete is for sure the time and how you organize it,” he said. “It is hard to be well-humored and have energy for classes after practice.”

These challenges haven’t lowered Morais’ expectations for himself. He commented on his academic and athletic goals for this year.

“I want to finish my athletic season with a 3.0 win ratio and finish the year with a GPA higher than 3.4,” said Morais.

Morais also has high expectations for the tennis team this year, despite the youth of the team.

“We have a great roster and a good chance to make it into the conference,” he said. “We have no seniors, so it’s a young team, but at the same time we have good chemistry; that makes us strong.”

Strong perfectly describes the men’s tennis teams start to the season. After dominating the Missouri Valley College Invitational to start the fall season, they beat Baker University 6-1.

Morais then went on to discuss the differences between the U.S. and Brazil, as well as the challenges involved with going to school in a different country.

“Language, culture and especially the customs of living are the biggest differences. It is not totally different,” Morais said.

He laughed when talking about what about life in the U.S. surprised him the most.

“It is really shocking how you guys from North America treat people well; I’m not used to it,” he said.

For Morais, the hardest part has been being away from his family. Despite this, he is glad he decided to play tennis at Jewell and is excited to see what the future holds.

Photo courtesy of William Jewell Marketing.

Kaylie Kappelmann, first-year psychology and nonprofit leadership major, has played soccer since the age of three. The Olathe, Kansas, native sat down with the Monitor to discuss her first taste of college athletics.

Kappelman is a goalkeeper on the womens’ soccer team. She commented on how the season has been going so far.

“Our first game we lost, but since then we’ve been so much better; like, we haven’t lost since. We’ve really been coming together. We’ve been scoring a lot, and I finally got my first shut-out recently so that was nice,” Kappelman said.

Kappelmann’s main goal for the season is to make it to – and win – the league tournament. Her competitive nature is a big reason why the decision to play college sports was an easy one.

“I love the game, and I love to be challenged, and I am very competitive,” she said. “ I couldn’t imagine not playing a sport in college.”

Playing college sports comes with plenty of challenges, both on and off the field. Kappelmann laughed when speaking about the amount of laundry that piles up as an athlete. She notes time management and motivation to be the biggest obstacles.

“Motivating yourself when you are at the tiredest, sorest point in your life, and you’re like ‘I still have an essay due tomorrow but I want to sleep,’ and you still do your essay – that’s pretty difficult,” she said.

She finds exercise, hanging out with friends and painting to be great ways of dealing with the stress of college life. Soccer practice is a way that she can forget about the difficulties of school and have fun.

The challenging academics of William Jewell College are a big reason why Kappelmann chose the school.

“It just felt different than any other school. I wanted a smaller school and they definitely have very high academics here so that was definitely a selling point,” she said. “The small classes, that’s cool, because we’re more, like, 1 on 1, in a sense.”

Another reason Kappelmann chose Jewell was her positive interactions with the coach and the other players. She says that she is very happy with her choice to play soccer at Jewell.