UW club rugby takes New Orleans by storm
The Wisconsin men's club rugby team began its spring season in convincing fashion last weekend as it won the Mardi Gras Tournament in New Orleans. Showing up in the Big Easy with only 15 players, just enough to field a team, UW went undefeated in the tournament.
\It's rare to play sports like rugby with only enough guys to field a team and still win like this,"" Wisconsin rugby senior Corey Eagerman said.
In the opening round match, Wisconsin routed Washington University-St. Louis, 34-0, and went on to finish the day with a victory over host school Tulane as well, 19-5. In the championship game Sunday, the UW rugby team edged out Delaware 7-5 to be the tournament victors.
""It was shocking that we did this well,"" Eagerman said. ""In our fall season, we started off really well, but it ended badly. So we were all surprised to begin the spring like this.""
Men's swimming preps for Big Ten Championship
The Wisconsin men's swimming team took somewhat of a break last Friday as they competed in a triangular against UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee. The Badgers rolled over the opposition as seven individuals and two relay squads won 10 of 13 events to give UW a 153.5-82.5 win over the Phoenix and a 159-79 victory over the Panthers last Friday night.
Wisconsin's platoon of senior leaders made an impressive showing during their final competition as Badgers in Madison. Senior Chris Anderson produced a first place performance in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.85) while senior Matt Marshall's first place in the 50-yard freestyle (20.65) added to the Badgers' slew of points.
Friday night's cake walk marked UW's last dual meet and home appearance of the 2003-'04 season. The Badgers finished 8-2 in duals this season while posting a 4-1 record in the Big Ten. Wisconsin's next big test will be in the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. The event will be held in West Lafayette, Ind., Feb. 26-28. The Badgers go into the contest No. 12 in the nation and will look to make quite a splash in the championship.
Men's track set to defend Big Ten Indoor Title
Three is good, four is better. The UW men's track team has a chance to attain the latter this weekend at the Big Ten Conference Indoor Championship meet in Ann Arbor, Mich. The team will look to defend its three-year reign as champions and Head Coach Ed Nuttycombe sees the team in a good position to compete.
""I think there are three teams that can win the championship. We feel we are one of those teams,"" Nuttycombe said.
Junior Alonzo Moore, senior Darren Niedermeyer and senior Matt Tegenkamp lead the conference in triple jump (51-6 ), pole vault (16-60) and the 5,000 meter run (13:56.65), respectively. Outside of these upperclassmen, the Badgers also have a number of freshmen and sophomores with the potential to crack into the scoring ranks.
Women's track Big Ten Indoor Tournament
The Badgers women's track team will look to keep up its momentum from last week into the weekend for the Big Ten Indoor Championship in Iowa City, Iowa. Recently the Badgers competed in the UNI Dome Open Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa where freshman sprinter Shuntia Lucas notched her season-best performance in the 60 meter dash (7.67) and nabbed first place.
The accolades continue with junior Erica Schoeller who ran the 400 in 59.61 and earned first place and senior captain Kym Hubing placed third in the 200 meter dash with a time of 26.15.
Freshman 'A Havahla Haynes claimed a second place finish in the mile with a time of 4:59.39, a personal best. To round out the success, sophomore Melissa Talbot placed second in the long jump with a personal best of 19-5 while sophomore Erica Schoeller finished third with a personal best of 19-1 .
-compiled by staff reports
