UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Jason Slaikeu was a two-time national champion and four-time conference champion in the high jump. At the time of his induction, he still held the school outdoor record of 7-1 ½ set in 1996.
A five-time All-American in the high jump, Slaikeu won the 1996 NCAA indoor title with a leap of 6-11 and the NCAA outdoor title the same year at 6-10 ¾. Besides his four conference gold medals, he also had three runner-up finishes in conference competition including one year in which he jumped 7-0 ¼ but lost to Ben Douglas of Stevens Point who cleared the same height but with fewer misses. Slaikeu was a teammate of Jase Graber, who was also a national champion and holds the UWEC indoor high jump mark. Because of his jumping ability, Slaikeu spent two seasons on Ken Anderson’s basketball teams but then dropped out to concentrate on high jumping. Slaikeu, who was from Cushing and Grantsburg High School, was the WSUC Field Athlete of the Meet in 1996 and the Max Sparger WIAC Scholar-Athlete for track in 1998. He is the only three-time Academic All-American in school history, making one First Team and two Second Teams during his career. In 2012, he was named to the conference’s All-Centennial team.
Slaikeu earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from UWEC in 1998. He went on to earn his medical degree at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison. He completed his residency in general surgery and his fellowship in vascular surgery at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He began his practice in vascular surgery at Wichita Clinic Vascular Surgery Department in Kansas, but returned to Grand Rapids to join the Spectrum Health Medical Group Vascular Surgery practice where he worked at the time of his induction.
