Though not as notorious as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, St. Louis is a sports city. With successful professional teams in three of the four major U.S. sports, St. Louis is a great city for the sport enthusiast to spend his or her college years. Here is what St. Louis has to offer aside from Washington University athletics.

Hockey

Though in the lower echelon of teams now, the St. Louis Blues have been around since 1967 and were competitors for the Stanley Cup throughout much of the eighties and nineties. Tickets are easily obtainable, even for games against Western Conference powerhouses.

Baseball

The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the original professional baseball teams, though they debuted as the St. Louis Stockings. The Cards are second only to the Yankees in World Series won with 10, the last coming in 2006.

Though the team has left the original Busch Stadium for a newer version of the namesake, the new stadium is still a sight to see.

More open than its predecessor, the new stadium offers all of the modern amenities and is still a great place to watch a baseball game.

The Cardinals also feature one of the best players in the game, Albert Pujols, a career .333 hitter who has hit as many as 49 home runs in a single season. Rick Ankiel, the pitcher turned outfielder and feel-good story of the past year and a half, also patrols center field for the Cardinals.

Though the fans are always loud, Cubs-Cardinals games carry added significance with the huge rivalry between the two teams.

Football

Though they only moved to St. Louis in 1995, the Rams are beloved by the city, though they are currently struggling to compete with the elite in the NFL. The team brought home its only Superbowl in 1999 with Kurt Warner as the quarterback.

Now the team is led by Marc Bulger, one of the best passers in the league. His main target, Tori Holt, is a sure-fire hall-of -famer whose speed makes every pass play exciting.

Even though the team is struggling, the Edwards Jones Dome is always packed since the Rams play only eight home games a year. They host the Superbowl Champion New York Giants in week two of the 2008 season, a game sure to be packed with excitement.

College Basketball

With the hiring to Rick Majerus to begin the 2007-2008 campaign, the Saint Louis University Billikens competed for the Atlantic 10 conference title for a good part of last season and promise to do the same this year. Majerus led Utah to the national championship game, as well as an Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen appearance. A coach willing to speak his mind, his presence is felt wherever he goes.

The 2009 Women’s Final Four will be held in St. Louis, so for all of those UConn, Tennessee, Rutgers, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina and LSU fans, you will have a good chance to see your team compete for the title.

On May 15, the Washington University men’s tennis team captured its first national championship after defeating Emory University 5-3 in Lewiston, Maine. The Golden Eagles suffered their second consecutive loss in the championship match while Wash. U. won the title in its first appearance in the title match. The Bears also avenged a loss to Emory in the UAA Championships final on April 27.

“We realized when last season was over that we would have a chance at the national championship this year. We had everyone returning from a team that made a run to the Elite Eight and recruits that we knew would help the team.We knew we’d be competing at the end of the year,” junior Chris Hoeland said.

Wash. U. jumped out to an early lead after doubles play, as the 18th ranked doubles team of juniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland won at first doubles 8-4, overcoming a 0-4 deficit. Sophomore John Watts and junior Nirmal Choradia win by the same margin at second doubles. The freshman duo of Isaac Stein and Max Woods fell 5-8 at third doubles to give Wash. U. a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Stein started singles play nicely for the Red and Green with a 6-3, 6-2 win at sixth singles to give the Bears a 3-1 lead in the race to five. Emory then evened the match with a 3-6, 4-6 win over Woods at fourth singles and a 6-4, 6-3 win by No. 20 Michael Goodwin over top-ranked Watts at first singles.

Wash. U. stormed back to take a 4-3 lead after Hoeland captured fifth singles with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 come from behind win while second and third singles were still early in the final set.

Sophomore Danny Levy clinched the win for Wash. U. with a come from behind win at third singles, taking the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

“After my match finished, before I could even shake my opponents hand, I got mobbed by all of my teammates who ran out onto the court into a huge pile, and we started the celebration. I don’t think any of us had ever been nearly that excited before for any reason, so it was one of the best experiences and feelings of our lives,” Levy said.

“I was just like ‘Oh my god, we won, we did it!’ I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I could, but it was just like finally, all of this hard work has paid off. It was amazing,” Hoeland added.

The march to the title match began on campus for the fifth ranked Bears, and the team easily defeated Grinnell College and DePauw University 5-1 and 6-0 to advance to the Elite Eight on the campus of Bates College. In the Elite Eight, the Red and Green defeated No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus College 5-0 before winning for the second time this season against second ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5-1.

Despite the magnitude of the NCAA tournament, the team stayed relatively loose throughout.

“We all have a great time hanging out with each other, so staying loose wasn’t a problem in Maine. Yet, at the same time, we were all aware of the gravity of the moment, and come match time, everybody took their responsibilities very seriously, and we managed to compete with a great deal of focus every match,” co-captain Mark Partridge said.

Not only was the team ecstatic to win the title, but the entire Washington University community was thrilled to have taken down Emory, the school’s biggest rival, though tensions between the two universities have subsided in recent years.

“It truly does. And it goes beyond us [this team]. Emory has had our number since we joined the UAA Conference in the late 80s. They have won conference ever single year on the women’s side and all but once on the men. Countless WU affiliates have congratulated our team on not only winning NCAA’s but also taking down a program rich in tennis history. It has been awesome telling the non-fiction tale time and time again of our run to the NCAA tournament title to our WU tennis alumni that have called or e-mailed us,” Head Coach Roger Follmer said on defeating Emory.

“We wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. We have a strong rivalry with that team, and with our contentious history, it was great to win a national title over them,” Hoeland added.

The team concluded a dominant year by Washington University athletics, a year that saw the volleyball team win its ninth national title and the men’s basketball and tennis teams bring home their first national championships, also the first and second by a male team at Wash. U. These titles, as well as NCAA tournament berths by both soccer teams, the women’s basketball, softball, track and field and tennis teams and a strong showing by both swimming and diving teams at the NCAA Championships have thrust Wash. U. to the top of the Director’s Cup standings. Wash. U. scored 899 points to take second, which is the highest finish in school history.

Men’s soccer reached the Sectional Finals of the NCAA Division III Championship, ending the year as the sixth-ranked team nationally. The women advanced to the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship and also won the UAA title.

Women’s Cross Country won the UAA title and finished third in the NCAA Championships, placing six All-Americans in the process.

The basketball season brought high hopes, with both the men’s and women’s teams grabbing the top rankings in national polls. The men were forced to overcome the loss of junior point guard Sean Wallis for the season, but the team contended for the UAA title before falling to the University of Chicago. The team earned a bid to the NCAA tournament and defeated the College of Wooster and Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., downed Buena Vista University and Millsaps College at home and won the national title in Salem, Va. with wins against Hope College and defending-champion Amherst College. The win against Amherst brought Wash. U. its first men’s national title.

The women overcame the loss of junior All-American Jaimie McFarlin by contending for the UAA title until a loss to Chicago in the final game of the season, and the team lost in the NCAA Regional Finals to DePauw University.

Indoor track captured the third national title of the year, as senior All-American Morgen Leonard-Fleckman won the pole vault with a height cleared of 3.86 meters. The women finished third at the NCAA Indoor Championships out of 67 teams.

While most sports at Wash. U. are team sports, individual efforts have been recognized. Of these individuals, the seniors have competed for the last time and deserve special mention.

Troy Ruths of the men’s basketball team won the Jostens Trophy and has been the ESPN the Magazine College Division Academic All-American of the Year for the past two seasons. Ruths was first team all UAA his final three seasons at Wash. U. and was UAA Player of the Year two seasons ago.

From the cross country and track teams, Tricia Frisella garnered All-America citations the past three seasons, as did teammates Tyler Mulkin and Leonard-Fleckman. Angela Hartman and Kate Pentak have been named All-Americans.

Elie Zenner has been first team all UAA for the past two seasons and was named to the ESPN the Magazine College Division Academic All-America Third Team. He and Onyekachi Okoroafor were named to the 2007 NCAA Division III All South-Central Region First Team.

Caroline Sear was named to the 2007 NCAA Division III All South-Central Region First Team.

Swimmer Meredith Nordbrock has been named an All-America 21 times before this season began, and she added to that total this winter. Classmate and diver Priya Srikanth also added to her All-America tally this season. Srikanth was also named UAA Diver of the Year this season.

Spencer was named the UAA’s Most Valuable Player her junior year and third team All-America.

What is your best memory of Wash. U. sports?

Nordbrock: My best memory would have to be the friends that I have made over the years. Athletes tend to create special bonds. We see each other everyday, whether it’s in the pool, on the field or just in passing in the AC.

Sear: Two of the best games I have ever been part of: our 4-0 win over Emory my junior year and our 3-0 win over Denison in the second round of NCAAs. Both were great wins and great memories from Francis Field.

Dave Working: My sophomore year, my parents came to watch us play in the NCAA Regionals, which we were hosting. I had spent the previous nine months recovering from reconstructive surgery on my throwing shoulder after being told after my senior year of high school I might not ever throw a baseball again. My mom had spent the previous five months battling breast cancer, and her doctor let her come watch us in between chemo cycles. To our surprise, I got in our first game as a defensive replacement, so my parents got to watch me play. My mom tells me that watching me take the field again, after what I had been through, helped give her strength to continue her own treatment. To have helped my mom fight cancer, even by doing something as small as playing baseball, is something I will never forget.

Frisella: My best memory of Wash. U. sports was when our women’s team made it to nationals in cross country this year, and the guys came to cheer us on dressed in flannel shirts with mullets, blacked out teeth and extremely short jean cut offs.

Mike Elliot: My greatest sports memory would have to have been watching the men’s basketball team win the national championship on television. It was amazing to see those guys pull it together on the big stage.

What has been your greatest athletic accomplishment?

Spencer: Winning the national championship.

Zenner: My greatest accomplishment was succeeding as a three year captain in changing the culture of the team and pushing everyone to get the most out of themselves. To go from where we were when I first became captain to making the Elite Eight and coming within a goal of the Final Four means the world to me. Going to the All-American convention was pretty sick too.

Nordbrock: This year at nationals, two of my times were under the previous year’s national records. While I do not hold the title in either event, I swam faster than I ever thought possible.

Okoroafor: Being named Third Team All-American.

How have you changed as a player?

Spencer: I’d like to think over my four years that I developed into a smarter, more consistent hitter and passer.

Working: I am much stronger mentally than I was before I came here. I used to be worried about stats.

Sear: I became a more mature player but still a somewhat emotional and competitive player. I understand the position of goalkeeper and how it impacts the game and a team.

Nordbrock: I have become more confident in my abilities. Knowing that you can achieve your goals is half the battle.

Elliot: I appreciate the sport more. I appreciate the hard work and discipline it takes to play Division III. It’s been a blessing to pour so much into something I love deeply, and I’ve come to appreciate football that much more.

How will being a student athlete here help you in the future?

Nordbrock: Being a student athlete forces you to learn to prioritize and find balance in your life.Plus, employers love it on a résumé!

Zenner: I have developed my leadership skills to the point where I feel comfortable leading a group through positive, but forceful encouragement. I also had tight-knit relationships with an awesome group of guys who will be life-long friends.

Spencer: Time management skills an athlete develops are probably one of the most important skills to have for the future.

What will you miss the most?

Working: I will miss traveling with my teammates. There are few moments where teams bond more closely than when we’re exhausted, filthy, full of terrible food and laughing our minds out because someone just read off a hilarious answer to a loaded question.

Zenner: I will miss too much to say in one quote but mostly just working hard with a group of guys that loved soccer and wanted to win. Being unified by a single goal can be pretty inspiring.

Frisella: My teammates and the feeling of shared accomplishment after races. Our team dinners at Center Court, 100 minute long runs, theme run Friday, Oak Knoll park, post-race singing in the showers, playing mafia on bus rides, team break downs, cheering for Tim Meahl, water polo and camp week, summer newsletters, coach’s wisdom, UAA meets… I’ll even miss 5 a.m. shake out runs on race day.

What has Wash. U. meant to you?

Zenner: It’s not always easy to have a lot of school spirit here, but I was part of a team that was trying to put Wash. U. on the map for soccer and reach some of the heights other teams were reaching, and that makes me proud. Overall, Wash. U. has been a great place to spend four years, and my heart will always be behind the soccer team. I want nothing more than to see them continue to excel.

Working: I tell my friends that, as weird as it sounds, my freshman year of college seems longer ago than my senior year of high school. The changes that I’ve made as a student, an athlete and a person have been so vast that I would barely recognize the kid who stepped onto campus in 2004.

Sear: My time at Wash. U. has been four of the best years of my life. I have made friends through the soccer program that will be some of my best friends for life.

What advice would you give to incoming freshman?

Nordbrock: Enjoy your time here because it will fly by! Take any and every opportunity that is presented to you and run with it. Try not to sweat the little stuff because in the grand scheme of things, it probably won’t matter. It’s easy to get caught up in work and suddenly find yourself graduating, so slow down, take a look around you and enjoy every moment of it!

Okoroafor: Keep an open mind.

Sear: Enjoy you time, and always be grateful for the time you have. Leave everything on the field, trust your teammates and coaches on and off the field, procrastinate and leave papers to the last minute because it builds character and friendships in the library, beat up on Emory and not just in the box score.

Working: Despite what people say, the world after college is not “The Real World.” It’s all the real world. It’s your life, you’re in control of it, and don’t ever let anyone else convince you otherwise.

Elliot: Don’t quit. Put in the time, and the rewards will pay off. You don’t have to be the biggest or the fastest or the strongest, but if you have the will to succeed, you absolutely can.

Zenner: Don’t get down if things don’t go perfectly right from the start. It is a long four years, and if you work hard, it will all be worth it. But you have to earn your success.

Frisella: Don’t forget to have fun and soak it up; it’ll be over before you know it.

Spencer: It’s going to be hard and you’re going to feel like you can’t possibly do both school and sports, but stick with it. It gets easier, I promise.

Washington University men’s tennis captured the school’s fourth national championship of the season today with a 5-3 win over rival Emory University at the NCAA Division Three Championship in Lewiston, Maine. The fifth ranked Bears avenged a loss to the third ranked Eagles in the finals of the UAA Championship on April 27 en route to the team’s first national title.

Wash. U. jumped out to an early lead during doubles play when the 18th ranked doubles team of juniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland won at first doubles 8-4, overcoming a 0-4 deficit. Sophomore John Watts and junior Nirmal Choradia won by the same margin at second doubles. The freshmen duo of Isaac Stein and Max Woods fell 5-8 at third doubles to give Wash. U. a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Stein started singles play nicely for the Red and Green with a 6-3, 6-2 win at sixth singles to give the Bears a 3-1 lead in the race to five.

Emory then evened the match with a 3-6, 4-6 win over Woods at fourth singles and a 6-4, 6-3 win by No. 20 Michael Goodwin over top ranked Watts at first singles.

Wash. U. stormed back to take a 4-3 lead after Hoeland captured fifth singles with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 come from behind win while second and third singles were still early in the final set.

Sophomore Danny Levy clinched the win for Wash. U. with a come from behind win at third singles, taking the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Emory was relegated to second for the second straight season after the Eagles fell to University of California-Santa Cruz.

Washington University, which never boasted a male national champion team until this season, now has two such champions in this year’s tennis and basketball teams. The volleyball team also captured a national title in the fall and senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman took the pole vaulting title over the winter. All four national championships currently put Wash. U. atop the Director’s Cup Standings with only a few sports still competing. The final cup rankings will be released on June 11.

The Bears had a long road to this year’s title starting at the Tao Tennis Center, where they served as hosts for regional tournament play on May 2 and 3. Wash. U. easily dispatched Grinnell College and No. 16 DePauw University 5-1 and 6-0 to advance to the final eight in Maine.

Against Grinnell, Cutler and Hoeland held on to win first doubles 8-6 win while Stein and Woods rolled 8-4 at third doubles. Sophomore Danny Levy, Woods and Stein clinched the match with wins at third, fourth and sixth singles respectively.

In the regional final, the Red and Green improved to 2-0 against DePauw this season with a 6-0 thrashing of the Tigers. All three doubles teams recorded wins, followed by dominating wins at fourth, fifth and sixth singles by Woods, Hoeland and Stein to clinch the match.

Elite Eight play began in Lewiston at Bates College on May 13 with a 5-0 victory over No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus College. After sweeping doubles, Hoeland and Stein won at fifth and sixth singles 6-0, 7-5 and 6-0, 6-1 to clinch the match. Doubles play featured two close matches, with Cutler and Hoeland defeating the fourth ranked doubles team of Andy Bryan and Charlie Paukert 8-5 while Watts and Choradia defeated the 14th ranked team of Mike Burdakin and John Kauss 8-6. The matchup between Watts and Bryan, the top ranked singles players in Division III went unfinished, but Bryan won the first set 7-5.

Wash. U. then improved to 2-0 against second ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a 5-1 win in the national semifinal; both wins came at neutral sites. A sweep of doubles and wins by Hoeland and Stein clinched the match while Levy dropped the only match 5-7, 3-6.

Softball

The senior recorded the win on the mound and had three homers including a grand slam against Webster University on Saturday. The Bears overcame an 8-3 deficit to win 16-8.

Keith England

Track and Field

The sophomore recorded the highest individual finish at the SIUE Cougar Open for the men’s team with a third place finish in the javelin toss.

Matt Skinner

Baseball

The freshman had a good weekend and a dominant Saturday against the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve University. Over four games, Skinner went 6-16 with five RBIs and three runs scored. Skinner went 5-8 on Saturday.

Morgen Leonard-Fleckman

Track and Field

The senior smashed the school record of 3.72 meters in her first place finish in the outdoor pole vault with a provisional qualifying height of 3.75 meters.

Chris Hoeland

Men’s Tennis

The junior went 2-1 in doubles play and 3-0 in singles play at the 2008 UAA Championship, as Wash. U. fell to rival Emory University 2-6 in the title match.

Washington University baseball concluded UAA play this weekend with three resounding victories and one close loss against the University of Chicago and host Case Western Reserve University. The team is now 14-11 (6-4 UAA).

The Bears opened both Saturday and Sunday with games against the Maroons, who were not at the University Athletic Association Championship over spring break. Junior ace Brian Williams improved to 4-6 after another complete game, as he surrendered one run on five hits. Williams struck out five and did not allow a walk.

Wash. U. scored one in the first, one in the fifth, four in the seventh and one in the eighth in the 7-1 victory. Juniors Gregg Kennedy and Zander Lehmann each got one hit and knocked in two runs, while freshman Matt Skinner went 3-4 with two runs scored. Skinner was knocked in both times by junior Andy Webb, who also went 3-4 and scored a run.

The Red and Green recorded their second win against the Spartans this season later Saturday afternoon behind a dominating performance by sophomore Jeremy Rogoff. Rogoff pitched six shutout innings while scattering four hits and four walks; he struck out fourteen. He improved to 3-2 on the season.

The offense also exploded for 12 runs, and with the score 12-1 after seven innings, the game was called due to the mercy rule. The Bears scored three runs or fewer each inning but scored in all but the third inning.

Freshman Matt Bayer led the team with four RBIs and two runs scored, and he went 3-5 with a two-run home run, his second this season. Skinner also went 2-4 with four RBIs. Junior Scott Kennedy and senior Dave Working also recorded multi-hit games.

Webb improved to 2-0 on the season after he pitched a complete game on Sunday against the Maroons. Webb surrendered two runs on five hits and struck out eight in the 8-2 win.

The offense struck early with four runs in the first off of Chicago’s Alex Gallan. Gallan then settled down until the fourth, when he surrendered two more runs; Wash. U. also scored two in the sixth.

Working, Gregg Kennedy and Lehmann scored six of eight runs and recorded nine of 13 hits in the top three slots in the batting order. All three recorded three hits, and Kennedy plated three while Lehmann plated two.

The Bears lost their weekend finale on Sunday to the Spartans 8-7. Four pitchers were needed to piece together eight innings.

Wash. U. scored the first runs of the game in the third, plating two on sacrifice flies by Gregg Kennedy and Lehmann, which scored Webb and Working.

The lead stretched to 4-0 the next inning on a double by sophomore Remy Midkiff and a few walks and Spartan errors.

Case took the lead in the bottom of the frame, scoring five times on just three hits and three walks. The Red and Green would tie and then retake the lead after runs in the sixth and seventh. Sophomore Nick Vom Brack hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Scott Kennedy singled in Lehmann in the seventh.

Case rallied with another big inning, plating three runs on three hits and two walks, all with two outs. Each hit was also a single.

Vom Brack answered with his second home run of the year, but the Bears could not score the equalizer off of Case’s Kale Aron.

The season comes to an end this weekend with games Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Wash. U. travels to Maryville University on Thursday before ending the season at home with a doubleheader against California State East Bay on Friday at noon and a 3 p.m. contest with Greenville College on Saturday.

Members of the baseball team could not be reached for comment because they were in transit at press time.

Washington University men’s tennis, ranked second in the nation, cruised to the UAA title match only to fall to seventh-ranked Emory University 2-6 in the championship match. The team ends the season at 16-4 while Emory is now 15-6. Emory recorded its 29th consecutive title, last falling to Brandeis University in 1989.

“I thought we fought hard all weekend long. There was maybe a bit of a let-down in doubles today versus Emory. We were broken in all first service games, and we never fully recovered from that at number two and three doubles,” Head Coach Roger Follmer said.

The Bears began the tournament Friday against the eight seed University of Rochester and did not lose a set. Doubles play concluded with 8-0 shutouts at second and third doubles by junior Trevis Bowman and sophomore John Watts at second doubles and the freshman tandem of Isaac Stein and Max Woods at third doubles.

Junior Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland won at first doubles 8-5. The pair is ranked third in Division III.

Watts, sophomore Danny Levy, Woods, Hoeland, Stein, and sophomore Corey Yealy all cruised to straight set singles wins to end the match.

The Saturday semifinal match put Wash. U. against No. 21 University of Chicago, a match that the Bears won 5-0. Cutler/Hoeland, Watts/Bowman and Stein/Woods won 8-4, 8-2 and 8-0, respectively, to give Wash. U. an early lead. Wins by Cutler and Woods at second and fourth singles clinched the match and ended play for the day.

In the other semifinal, Emory dispatched No. 16 Carnegie Mellon University 5-0.

In the championship match, Levy and Hoeland earned the only victories for the Red and Green, winning at third and fifth singles 6-3, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-2, respectively.

Watts, ranked the best player in Division III, forced a third set after winning a second set tiebreaker but lost the final set by one service break.

Cutler and Woods also forced third sets, with Woods losing the third 5-7 and Culter losing 2-6.

In doubles, Cutler and Hoeland lost 9-7 in the only close doubles match.

“[Emory] will be a contender again no doubt for a national title next month, being a runner-up or champion each of the past five years. We too can play at such a standard to be in the hunt with further work and support,” Follmer said.

The NCAA Division III men’s tennis championship is set to begin on May 2 with early round play. Wash. U. will learn its location and first round opponent Monday night.

Washington University Crew still has two more regattas before the season ends, but both the men’s and women’s teams have raced successfully over the 2007-2008 school year.

On March 30, the team traveled to Butler, Pa. for the 2008 University Rowing Association (URA) Championship Regatta, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. Wash. U. and the University of Rochester finished first and second in both the male and female competition, with the Bears winning the men’s competition and the Yellowjackets winning the women’s regatta. The second-place finish snapped the women’s two-year winning streak while the men pushed their streak to three years.

“The past two years, we dominated most events and came in first place as a team, but this year has been tough because of a loss in the number of rowers and increase in rowers with injuries,” Cally Donahue, a senior and co-captain, said about the women’s team.

“URAs are a unique event for us because we race against other teams from the UAA conference. This gives us the best perspective on our performance measured against schools of our caliber. The other schools that compete in the URAs are all club teams in which the athletes manage similar, academically-rigorous programs. Our performance at URAs this year demonstrate our abilities as a team, winning, I believe, four gold medals and three cups, including the overall points trophy,” Ryan Whelpley, a senior and co-captain, said.

This past weekend, the team competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship Regatta against 28 other teams, 17 of which were also club teams. The men won two gold medals in the Men’s Lightweight Four and Men’s Novice Lightweight Four events.

“Our team has surpassed all expectations and goals I had set for the men’s team at the start of the year. The vast majority of athletes scored personal records this winter on rowing machines. Winning URAs for the third year in a row accomplished a large goal, and winning two gold medals at SIRAs this year is unprecedented. Additionally to this point, the men’s team has won five different cups, something that has never been done in my time here,” Whelpley added.

The women reached one final, capturing fifth in the Varsity Eight.

“We have overcome a lot of difficulties and injuries… We are performing very well against our competition. We have a strong team this year that works very hard and has been very successful,” senior co-captain Ashley Lozito said.

Overall, Purdue University captured the most points in the regatta, followed by Jacksonville Tech and Georgia Tech.

Crew returns to action May 11 at the Dad Vails Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa., a regatta for which many athletes are practicing twice a day, according to Whelpley. Whelpley expects the team to compete with the rest of the field but does not expect to medal at Dad Vails, noting that the team cannot and should not be able to contend with powerhouses like Purdue. These larger teams can compete in many more events since each rower is only allowed to participate in one event.

Whelpley added, “Even though we do not have the amount of numbers, we still can compete on the same level.”

Following Dad Vails, the team will finish the season at the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships in Oklahoma City on May 24 and 25.

On April 9, the Washington University club roller hockey team traveled to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the 2008 National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships. The team competed in the Division II tournament.

“Coming into the season, we did not know what to expect since we lost a lot of seniors to graduation. We went beyond expectations across the board. We received a bid to the Nationals that we weren’t expecting,” junior Craig Markovitz, the team’s goalie and president, said.

While the team went 0-4 in the tournament, losing to eventual champion Neumann College, Sam Houston State University and twice to Elon University (Phoenix), the team finished off a strong season with a combined regular and postseason record of 11-11-1.

“The fact that we made it [to Nationals] with such a young team was really great. The guys will continue to improve and grow more confident.The talent is there,” senior Andrew Stern, the captain of the team, stated.

“A lot of the teams played more of a run-and-gun style. We have more of a slow-it-down, defensive style of play. It’s a matter of experience. Now that we know these things, we can practice for that next year,” Markovitz added.

This year’s trip marks the fourth straight to nationals for Wash. U. The team finished third in the nation in 2005.

The 11-6-1 regular season put the Red and Green in fourth in the Great Plains region, 10 points behind regular season champion Missouri State University. The team opened the year on a five-game winning streak but ended the season with seven consecutive losses.

Though the team never beat Missouri State, it tied a Feb. 10 contest with the No. 2 team in the nation, which proved to be one of the highlights of the season. “With 47 seconds left, we tied the game. It was really a win for us since we showed we could compete with anyone,” Stern said.

Stern led the team in points with 37, followed by sophomore John Harvey with 31 and junior Alex Tint with 30. Tint led the team in scoring with 22 goals while Stern led in assists with 19.

Freshmen Jonathan Wald, Daniel D’Amico, Joe Tutro and junior Doug Hyde recorded double-digit points this season, finishing the year with 17, 14, 13 and 13 points respectively.

Markovitz averaged 3.73 goals-against over the regular and postseason, and he recorded two shutouts in the regular season against Western Illinois University and Southeast Missouri State University.

With the team virtually intact next season, Markovitz thinks that they will, “possibly compete for a national championship.”

Washington University baseball rebounded from two losses against the nationally-ranked DePauw Tigers with a 12-4 road win against Westminster College on Wednesday. However, the Bears then faced Illinois Wesleyan for the second time this season and lost to the No. 16 Titans 13-2. The team is now 11-10 (3-3 UAA).

The Bears blew open the Westminster game in the top of the first, scoring four runs on five hits, including a three-run homerun by junior right fielder Zander Lehman. After back-to-back singles to lead off the game by senior Dave Working and freshman Miguel Davis, junior Jerry Price scored Working with a one-out single. Lehman then drove a curveball over the right-center fence and over the 30-foot wall of an adjacent building to cap off the four run inning.

“I have faced Westminster’s starting pitcher a few times in the previous years, so I was ready to see slow fastballs and curveballs. With the wind blowing as it was, any line drive in the air would have probably gone out,” Lehman, a co-captain, said.

“It almost was a little dangerous because after the first inning, we lost some fire and got a little complacent. It was nice to hang some more runs on them in the later innings,” Working, a co-captain, added.

Lehman finished the game 3-5, as did sophomore shortstop Remy Midkiff. Andy Webb, Gregg Kennedy, Mark Rodli and Davis also all had multi-hit games to contribute to the 18-hit total. Rodli extended the lead to 6-1 with a two-RBI double in the third, and Lehman added two more RBIs on a triple in the eighth inning. Midkiff also had two RBIs in the contest.

“After being shut out by DePauw, it was imperative to get off to a quick start. We’ve been struggling as a team this year to get things going early. It’s a huge boost to be playing up and extremely fatiguing to be playing catch up, so we needed to make a statement,” Midkiff said.

On the mound, sophomore southpaw Jeremy Rogoff improved to 2-2 for the year. Rogoff tossed seven innings of four run ball, surrendering six hits and walking five in the process. He also struck out 10.

“Jeremy has nasty stuff. He issues a walk or two too many, but his fastball sets up his biting curveball that other teams swing right through for strikeouts. His strikeouts were really up today,” Midkiff said.

“To only give up four runs to a good hitting team with a strong tailwind in a small field is a feat,” Lehman said.

Against the Titans, junior co-captain Brian Williams fell to 3-6 on the season after allowing 11 runs in four innings.

The Red and Green took an early lead in the top of the seond after junior Scott Kennedy singled home sophomore Nick Vom Brack. However, the Titans responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame and wound up winning the game in seven innings due to the 10 run mercy rule.

The Bears are off until traveling to Greenville College for a doubleheader on Tuesday. Following Tuesday’s games, the team will travel to Cleveland, Ohio for the conclusion of UAA play against the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve University that weekend.