ROCK SPRINGS — Former Western Wyoming College athletic director Lu Sweet is hosting Women 360, a new National Junior College Athletic Association show. 

The show examines women’s junior college athletics through conversations with student-athletes, coaches, administrators and other leaders and features a Rock Springs native as the first guest. 

Sweet said this started as an idea after retirement. Shortly after retiring in May, she received a text from the NJCAA President wishing her well. The two got to talking and learned the association had been planning a show celebrating women in sports.

Women 360 was shaped over the following months through meetings with NJCAA administrators, members of the board of regents and the association’s marketing team. 

“We are using Women360 as a 15 to 20 minute platform to bring some education, tell some wonderful stories and have a little fun,” Sweet said. “We’re telling women’s stories from every angle, not just what you see on the court or the field or the mat.” 

Each episode has three parts, herstory, the podium and the Sweet spot. Sweet opens with herstory, a look at a woman who shaped women’s sports. Sweet then conducts the interview, the podium, and closes with the Sweet spot, a roughly one-minute reflection of sports.

Sweet said guests will not be limited to current NJCAA coaches, administrators or athletes. Future episodes could feature former players who are now broadcasters, photographers, business leaders or parents.

A full-circle first guest

For the inaugural episode of the show, Sweet chose to interview Maggie Justinak, a Rock Springs High School graduate and Casper College alum. 

Justinak graduated from Rock Springs High School in 2017 and played basketball at Casper College. She then played three more seasons at Metropolitan State University of Denver before playing professionally in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and Tirana, Albania.

She returned to Rock Springs and spent two seasons coaching boys basketball. This year she joined Casper College as an assistant women’s basketball coach, returning to the program where her college career began.

“Her biggest thing was the 360,” Justinak said of the show. “I gave back to Rock Springs and now I’m trying to give back to Casper in that same way.”

She said women’s leagues abroad face some of the same attendance challenges seen in the United States. In England, she said, her team gave away tickets to draw a crowd of more than 1,000, while packed arenas were usually reserved for men’s games.

“I just think the biggest way to get support is by actually going out and supporting the leagues,” Justinak said, urging fans to attend games and buy tickets. She said Casper College draws large crowds for women’s basketball as long as the team is winning.

The show is available on the NJCAA Network YouTube channel and will premiere a new episode every month.