Student Life Archives

If you love the thrill of competition but are not quite ready for varsity action, check out Washington University’s club and intramural sports scene. With 40 IM events andÿover 30ÿclub teams, it is very easy to find an athletic niche.

There are several ways to become involved inÿIM sports. Freshmen floors often formÿco-ed teams-though make sure to sign up early for the more popular sports like ultimate Frisbee. Fraternities, which freshmen can join after a semester, participate in the hugely popular points league while sororities also have a league of their own. Friends also can easily establish their own teams.

IM sports have a very loyal following. Eliana Hurwich-Reiss, who graduated in 2008, participated in four different IM sports annually. “You get to meet new people and do something that you love with friends,” she said.

IM sports can be far more out of the box than soccer and flag football. They also feature unique events like innertube water polo, arm wrestling and euchre. Students can also be trained as officials for the various competitions, positions which generally either pay or contribute to points in the points league.

Club sports provide a different type of competitive atmosphere. Many teams compete on an intercollegiate level, against schools ranging from Division I to Division III. Some of the teams have particularly strong records. Men’s roller hockey makes regular appearances at nationals as does women’s volleyball.

The Sports Club Federation serves as the governing body for most of Wash. U.’s club sports. “One thing that I like about Wash. U. is that you do not have to be a varsity athlete to be an athlete,” SCF president Hannah Cowan said. “SCF is not only run of the mill sports likeÿbaseball, soccer and volleyball, but sports like rock climbing and sailing.”

Thereÿwill be an opportunity during orientation to learn all about the various club sports teams on campus. Sign up for as many as you think you might be interested in; many teams love toÿteach newcomers and the vast majorityÿdo not cut.

Recreational sports very much have their place at Wash. U. “IM sports are one of my fondest memories of Wash. U.,” Hurwich-Reiss said. “I wish I could play them out of college.”ÿÿÿ
ÿ

For more information about IM sports, go to http://intramuralsports.wustl.edu. For more information about club sports, go to http://scf.wustl.edu.

2004

Maggie Grabow (cross country) named UAA Player of the Year

Brad Duesing (football) named UAA Player of the Year

John Woock (football) named Academic All-American

Charlotte Felber (women’s soccer) named UAA Player of the Year and Academic All-American

Collen Winter (volleyball) named UAA Player of the Year

Winter, Kara Liefer and Megan Houck (volleyball) named All-Americans

2005

Kelly Manning (women’s basketball) named UAA Player of the Year

Manning and Hallie Hutchens (women’s basketball) named All-American

Alex Antilla, Michael Slavik, David Stein, Eric Triebe, Ross Virmir and Cory Zimmerman (men’s swimming) named All-Americans

Allie Boettger, Tina Deneweth, Katie Hodges, Brianna Krull, Meredith Nordbrock and Jenny Scott (women’s swimming) named All-Americans

Nordbrock named UAA Swimmer of the Year and Rookie of the Year

Natalie Badowski, Lauren Ehret, Grabow, Dorothy Gregg, Katelin Gruber,Beth Herdon, Hallie Hutchens, Michelle McCully and Danielle Wadlington (track and field) named All-Americans

Badowski named Academic All-American

Andy Shields (baseball) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Ryan Corning (baseball named Academic All-American

Laurel Sagartz (softball) named UAA Player of the Year

Sagartz, Liz Swary and Amy Vukovich named All-Americans

Swary named Academic All-American Player of the Year

Ari Rosenthal (men’s tennis) named All-American

Herndon (cross country) named UAA Player of the Year

Herdon and Tyler Mulkin (cross country) named All-Americans

Duesing named UAA Player of the Year

Duesing and Joe Rizzo named All-Americans

Houck, Whitney Smith, Haleigh Spencer and Emilie Walk named All-Americans

2006

Manning named UAA Player of the Year

Manning and Danielle Beehler (women’s basketball) named All-Americans

Shanna-Lei Dacanay (women’s basketball) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Tyler Nading (basketball) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Troy Ruths (basketball) named Academic All-American

Slavik and Triebe (men’s swimming) win national titles in the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle respectively

Antilla, Geoff Hart-Cooper, Kevin Lecky, Slavik, Triebe, Virmir and Zimmerman (men’s swimming) named All-Americans

Deneweth, Kim Jenkins, Kelly Kono, Kelly MacArthur, Nordbrock, Scott and Priya Srikanth (women’s swimming) named All-Americans

Morgen Leonard-Fleckman, Delaina Martin, Greg Reindl, Dave Skiba, Cameron Williams and Karl Zelik (track and field) named All-Americans

Sagartz named UAA Player of the Year and All-American

Laura D’Andrea (softball) named Academic All-American

Charlier Cutler and Rosenthal (men’s tennis) named All-Americans

Rosenthal named UAA Player of the Year

Carrie Preston (women’s tennis) named All-American

Herdon (cross country) named UAA Player of the Year

Herdon and Tricia Frisella (cross country) named All-Americans

Drew Wethington (football) named UAA Player of the Year and All-American

MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn (women’s soccer) named UAA Player of the Year, National Player of the Year and Academic All-American

Spencer (volleyball) named UAA Player of the Year

Smith, Walk, Audra Janak and Nikki Morrison (volleyball) named All-Americans

2007

Aaron Thompson (basketball) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Ruths named UAA Player of the Year, Academic All-American Player of the Year, and All-American

Men’s basketball makes first ever Final Four appearance

Alex Beyer, Perry Bullock, Brian Kushner, Lecky and Virmir (men’s swimming) named All-Americans

Beyer (men’s swimming) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Marin Hawk, Hodges, Kono, Jessie Lodewyk, Nordbrock and Srikanth (women’s swimming) named All-Americans
Srikanth named UAA Diver of the Year

Alli Alberts and Martin (track and field) named All-Americans

Badowski named Academic All-American

Shields named All-American

Softball qualifies for first-ever College World Series, finishing second overall

Sagartz named UAA Player of the year and Academic All-American

Sagartz and Carter Malouf named All-Americans

Cutler named UAA Player of the Year

John Watts (men’s tennis) wins national singles title, UAA Rookie of the Year and national Rookie of the Year

Cutler, Watts and Chris Hoeland (men’s tennis) named All-Americans

Frisella, Mulkin and Kate Pentak (cross country) named All-Americans

Men’s soccer advances to the Elite Eight

Onyi Okoroafor (men’s soccer) named All-American

Caryn Rosoff (women’s soccer) named UAA Player of the Year and All-American

Morrison, Janak and Erin Albers (volleyball) named All-Americans

Volleyball head coach Rich Luenemann named National Coach of the Year

2008

Ruths named Academic All-American Player of the Year, National Player of the Year and Jostens Trophy recipient

Mark Edwards (basketball) named National Coach of the Year

Alex Hoover (basketball) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Michael Flanagan, Beyer, David Chao, Kushner, Leckey and Bullock (men’s swimming) named All-Americans

Kono, Lodewyk, Hodges, Srikanth, Nordbrock, Liz Caravati, Kristen Mann and Claire Henderson (women’s swimming) named All-Americans

Srikanth named UAA Diver of the Year

Leonard-Fleckman wins national championship in the pole vault

Leonard-Fleckman, Wadlington, Sangeeta Hardy, Kelli Blake, Erika Wade and Taryn Surtees (track and field) named All-Americans

Leonard-Fleckman and Wadlington (track and field) named UAA Players of the Year

Ben Harmon (track and field) named UAA Rookie of the Year

Women’s golf becomes an official varsity sport

Washington University’s track and field teams had another highly successful meet this weekend. Following its first-place finish at last weekend’s UAA championships, the women’s team finished fourth out of 20 at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Twilight Open.

The men finished 10th out of 16 at the same meet, which featured teams from all three NCAA divisions.

“It gives you a chance to get the experience of actually competing, being one of the few Division III teams and actually hanging in there,” junior Danielle Wadlington said.

“It’s hard to get into the fast heat, but if you can, it is easier to qualify for the NCAAs,” junior Alli Alberts added.

Senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman provided one of the highlights of the day, winning the pole vault with a leap of 3.75 meters, breaking a school record and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA outdoor championships.

Wadlington also broke a school record Saturday, running the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.52 to eclipse Hallie Hutchens’ 5-year-old school mark of 1:02.75. This time also provisionally qualified Wadlington for the NCAA championship meet and was just 0.52 seconds away from automatically qualifying.

Two other Bears also won races Saturday. Senior Abbey Hartmann won the 1,500-meter run. Freshman Taryn Surtees and senior Tricia Frisella finished second and fourth in the same race.

Senior Angela Hartman won the 800-meter run in 2:15.71, just missing the NCAA provisional standard. Senior Lisa Sudmeier and freshman Kelli Blake finished seventh and eighth in the same event.

“There were a lot of really strong performances up front, which gave us a lot of competition,” Sudmeier said.

Alberts also had a big day, finishing fourth in the javelin throw and sixth in the high jump. Classmate Jessica Lane was the only other Bear to place in the field, finishing seventh in the pole vault.

On the track, senior Tyler Mulkin finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run and the 4×400-meter relay team also finished fourth.

Even with the solid competition, this meet was not one of the most important ones of the season. “It was kind of like a work-out meet,” Alberts said. “The only ones that matter if we win are conference and the NCAAs. Here it is all about time.”

The men’s team also had a solid meet. Sophomore Keith England had the team’s highest finish of the day, taking third in the javelin throw. Freshman Ben Harmon was the only other Bear to score on the field, taking eighth in the pole vault.

Sophomore Tanner Coghill took fourth in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×100-meter relay team took fifth in their race.

Freshman Chris Brennan took seventh in the 800-meter race while classmate Skyler Moots took eighth in the same race. Seniors Michael Nasuta and Doug Beattie took eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 100-meter dash, respectively. Freshman Peter Bush took eighth in the 5,000-meter run.

The Red and Green will return to action next Saturday. They will race at the Butler Invitational in Indianapolis, where more great performances can be expected.

“We are looking to better our marks and qualify more people for nationals,” Sudmeier said.

“Our training is designed to end in May,” Wadlington added. “We don’t train for conference, we train for nationals.”

Washington University’s 24th-ranked women’s tennis team (13-3) picked up two quality wins this weekend, defeating both Coe College and Rhodes College 6-3 Saturday.

“We played two tough matches and improved on doubles,” sophomore Allison Dender said. “It was a great effort, and we have gotten stronger over the course of the year.”

“Everyone is doing their job, and no one is letting their guard down,” junior Erin Swaller said.

The team began the dreary day by moving indoors for their 6-3 victory over Coe (19-30), currently ranked 29th in the country.

The Bears won two out of three doubles matches, with Dender and freshman Kristin Fleming picking up an 8-4 win at second doubles, while freshmen Karina Kocemba and Jaclyn Bild won 8-2 at third doubles. Freshman Kalee Cassady and Swaller fell 8-3 at first doubles.

The Bears also picked up four singles wins. Swaller picked up an exciting 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at first singles while Bild, Cassady and freshman Elise Sambol picked up straight set wins. Bild won 6-0, 6-2 at third singles while Cassady won 6-0, 6-0 at fifth singles and Sambol 6-3, 6-1 at sixth. Kocemba lost a 1-6, 6-2, 10-5 heartbreaker at second singles, and Dender fell 6-2, 6-1 at fourth.

The Bears were back in action Saturday afternoon against Rhodes (5-4), picking up another 6-3 victory. This time, the Red and Green swept doubles play. The same teams picked up 8-3, 8-3 and 8-2 wins, giving them a 3-0 edge heading into singles play.

Wash. U. went on to win three singles matches to clinch the match. Bild picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win at third singles for her fourth win of the weekend. Sambol also won 6-2, 6-1 at fifth singles, and Fleming won 6-1, 6-1 at sixth. Swaller and Kocemba suffered tough matches at the top two spots, with Swaller falling 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 at the top spot and Kocemba falling 7-5, 6-7, 10-8. Dender also lost 6-0, 6-0 at the number four spot.

Overall, the team was very happy with its performance.

“We played wonderfully,” Swaller said. “The team is jelling, and we will only get better. We played two strong teams and beat them convincingly.”

The Bears have two local matches this week against Principia College on Monday and St. Louis University on Tuesday before playing in the UAA championships this weekend. Play begins on Friday.

“The team’s ready,” Dender said. “We are prepared to do a great job and show everyone what we are capable of.”

Danielle Wadlington

Track and Field

The junior provisionally qualified for nationals in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.78 seconds at the Washington University Quad meet. Wadlington also took fifth in the 200-meter dash.

Jaclyn Bild

Women’s Tennis

The freshman won both doubles and third singles matches that she played against Coe College and Rhodes College this weekend.

Isaac Stein

Men’s Tennis

The freshman won both singles and doubles matches in straight sets against Coe College and Rhodes College this weekend.

Ben Harmon

Track and Field

The freshman won the long jump with a leap of 6.68 meters. Harmon also finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and the pole vault at the Washington University Quad meet.

Washington University’s (11-3) 24th-ranked women’s tennis team pulled off a stunning upset Saturday, defeating 13th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College (13-8) in the Midwest Regional Invite third-place match, culminating a weekend of solid play at the important midseason tournament.

“We came together and fought really hard,” Jaclyn Bild, a freshman, said. “This weekend gave us a lot of confidence and showed other teams that we were right there with them.”

In the 5-4 upset of Gustavus, freshman Karina Kocemba pulled out two close wins to lead the team to victory. She defeated Sierra Krebsbach 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 at second singles and then teamed with Bild to clinch the match with a 9-8 (7-4) victory at third doubles. Over the weekend, Kocemba compiled a 5-2 record.

“The match was very exciting. It all came down to the tiebreaker with Karina Kocemba,” sophomore Allison Dender said.

Bild, who had a 6-1 record this weekend, and classmates Kalee Cassady and Kristin Fleming notched the other wins in the Gustavus upset, winning at third, fifth and sixth singles, respectively.

The Bears began the weekend with an easy win over St. Mary’s University (11-4). Junior Erin Swaller, Dender and Fleming brought home wins at first, fourth and sixth singles, respectively, while Swaller and Cassady, Bild and Kocemba, and freshman Elise Sambol and junior Ania Tchergueiko swept doubles competition. Kocemba, Bild and Cassady were leading their singles matches, though the matches remained unfinished because the team had already clinched victory.

To close play Friday, the Red and Green upset No. 23 University of Chicago (9-5) 5-3, a UAA rival to whom the Bears lost 5-4 earlier in the season. Kocemba, Bild, Cassady and Sambol all notched fairly easy wins at second, third, fifth and sixth singles while Bild and Kocemba brought home the lone doubles victory at number three. Swaller suffered a close 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 loss to Chicago’s Marissa Lin, one of the top players in the Midwest, at number one singles.

“It was the most exciting moment of the tournament,” Bild said. “Just beating them was great. They are our biggest rival.”

Wash. U. suffered its only loss of the tournament in the semifinal match against No. 5 DePauw University (13-2). The team fell 5-3 after several close matches. Bild and Dender won in straight sets at third and fourth singles while Sambol pulled out a 3-6, 6-0, 10-4 win against Kristine Lewry at sixth singles. Cassady suffered a heartbreaking 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 10-5 loss at fifth singles. The Bears failed to pick up a single doubles win, though Swaller and Cassady were leading 6-5 in an unfinished match.

Wash. U. has little downtime, as they play Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Tuesday afternoon in Edwardsville, Ill., before returning home Saturday to play Coe College and Rhodes College. Play begins at 9 a.m. at the Tao Tennis Center against Coe and resumes at 3 p.m. versus Rhodes.

This weekend, 108 loyal fans watched the men’s basketball team win a national championship.

“The students who went seemed to have a great time and were part of something historic,” said Dean of Students Justin Carroll, who helped plan the event. “The team played extremely well, but if you ask them, the team will say that they were motivated by fan support.”

Despite a breakdown and traffic in West Virginia, the buses made the ideally 11-hour trek to Salem with plenty of time to spare. Fans bombarded the Salem Civic Center clad in red. Though the Washington University contingent was smaller than Hope College’s in the semifinal match, the Red and Green decibel level was far more dominating.

“[The fans] really set the tone and made the gym loud for us,” said basketball player Moss Schermerhorn, a senior. “That’s just what gets us going more than anything else. It really gets a great atmosphere for us so we love it.”

Trevor MacDonald of the Athletic Department and Carroll were in charge of much of the initial planning for the bus project. They had talked about having a fan bus before sectional games and spent much of the early part of last week planning logistics. “We started with one bus and 20 rooms and expanded to three buses and over 50 rooms,” said MacDonald.

Earlier this year, MacDonald planned a fan bus to the volleyball national championship. Unfortunately, there was not enough interest and plans fell through. This was not the case with basketball.

“Basketball had great support and we heard others wanted to go,” said MacDonald. “We were going to go through with one bus no matter what.”

Mary Elliot, the residential college director for Liggett-Koenig Residential College, took over planning the trip after MacDonald and Carroll left for Virginia on Wednesday and served as the head chaperone for the trip.

“Justin Carroll said that we had a bus after last Saturday’s game and a bunch of them said let us know if you need chaperones,” said Elliot.

The school paid for the buses, hotel rooms and game tickets, providing students with a unique opportunity.

“I was really glad the school got that together for us,” said freshman Ryan Henderson, who decided to travel to Virginia after attending most of the home basketball games this year.

Though the fan bus was overall a success, one student, according to Athletic Director John Schael, was arrested Saturday for excessive use of alcohol. The student was able to return to St. Louis with the rest of the group.

Overall, students enjoyed the experience.

“It was more like a 14-hour bus ride,” said sophomore Will Javellana, a member of the Phi Delta Theta Bomb Squad. “It was brutal but it was worth it.”

Washington University’s women’s track and field team finished third last weekend at the NCAA indoor championships meet while all six athletes competing received All-American citations, highlighted by senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman winning the pole vault.

“[Nationals] was something I’ll remember for a long time,” said Sangeeta Hardy. “It was an incredible experience to compete with the best Division III runners in the nation.”

The third place finish was the highest ever in school history, topping the previous record of ninth place. Illinois Wesleyan University won the meet with 30 points while Wartburg College had 27 and Wash. U. had 23.

Leonard-Fleckman’s crowing jump was 3.86 meters, the greatest height cleared in Division III competition this season. Though she tied North Central College’s Rachel Secrest in terms of height, she needed fewer attempts.

“I have been focusing on the process, not the outcome,” said Leonard-Fleckman. “Track is a lot about momentum. When the distance medley got fourth, Dani [Wadlington] and I got pumped. When she came in second, I thought I could win.”

This was Leonard-Fleckman’s third All-American citation after finishing eighth in the indoor pole vault competition in 2006 and fifth in the outdoor meet. She was also named the field athlete of this year’s meet.

Junior Danielle Wadlington also received her third All-American award, finishing second in the triple jump with a leap of 11.68 meters, just 0.02 meters behind winner Shannon O’Keeffe of State University of New York-Brockport.

The distance medley relay team completed the Red and Green’s successful meet. The team of freshmen Kelli Blake, Hardy and Taryn Surtees and junior Erika Wade came in fourth with a time of 12:04.95.

“Our goal was to have six All-Americans,” said Wadlington. “To have performances that went above and beyond and to win a team award was great.”

The previous weekend, the Bears had a successful UAA Championship meet. The women came in second, just three points behind winner University of Chicago, while the men finished fourth.

“It was really disappointing to come in second because we had such a long streak at first, but everyone competed well and had a great meet. The conference has gotten a lot better,” said Leonard-Fleckman.

Wash. U. brought home eight titles over the course of the meet.

Freshman Ben Harmon was a star on the men’s side, winning both the high jump and long jump. He also tied for third in the pole vault with classmate Scott Pettit and was a member, along with sophomore Iby Umana, junior Nate Koslof and senior Marcus Woods of the second place 4×400-meter relay team. For his efforts, he was named UAA Indoor Rookie of the Year.

Freshman Zhefu Xiao won the pole vault to bring home another men’s title. Senior Jesse McDaniel took second in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs while Koslof was third in the 400-meter dash.

On the women’s side, Leonard-Fleckman and Wadlington also brought home UAA titles in the pole vault and triple jump, respectively. Leonard-Fleckman was also named the Field Athlete of the Year. Junior Jessica Lane finished third in the pole vault.

Senior Tricia Frisella won the 5,000-meter run while classmate Tyler Mulkin was a close second. Senior Angela Hartman brought home another title, winning the 800-meter run, an event in which Hardy also came in third. The 4×400-meter relay, consisting of Wade, Hartman, Hardy and sophomore Allison Lee won Wash. U.’s final title of the meet.

Wadlington also finished second in the 55-meter hurdles while Blake and Surtees took second and third in the mile run. Wade and Wadlington also took second and third in the 400-meter dash.

To round out the action, junior Aubrey Edwards finished third in the weight throw while the distance medley relay team of seniors Kate Pentak and Abbey Hartmann, Lee and freshman Vie Duncan also finished third.

Thoughts now turn toward the outdoor season, which begins Friday with the Washington University Twilight meet.

“Our training is for the outdoors season, so we haven’t peaked yet,” said Wadlington.

“Everyone is a lot more excited now,” said Leonard-Fleckman. “We all really want to win outdoor nationals now. We know it will take a lot of work and coming so close in conference makes us want to cream University of Chicago.”