Badger2004-05 Athletics Diary THE 2004-05 BADGERS August, 2004—Several hun- dred staff moved into new e’ve come to expect the best in athletic performance from our Badger offices at Kellner Hall, a five- women and men student-athletes, and 2004-05 was a year full of exemplary story building at Camp Randall. Wperformances on the playing field. The department’s overall excellence is September—ESPN’s football probably best demonstrated by its 19th place finish in the Directors’ Cup (national all- road show, Game Day, made its sports ranking). The finish was the UW’s best in six years and was just the second third appearance in Madison. time in nine seasons that Wisconsin was in the Top 20. October—Robert Brooks u Two men’s runners—Simon Bairu (cross country) and Chris Solinsky (indoor and Scott Starks teamed up for 3,000 meters)—claimed individual NCAA titles. They were the first Badgers in four the game-winning fumble- years to win a national crown. turned-TD at Purdue. The play u On the team front, the men’s cross country unit was the NCAA runner-up for was chosen the Pontiac Game- the third season in a row and indoor track placed third nationally, Changing Play of the Year. UW equalling the school’s best finish (1971). received $100,000 and used it u Three teams—men’s cross country (their sixth in a row), to endow a scholarship in their men’s indoor track (fifth consecutively) and men’s outdoor track names. (second in a row)—earned Big Ten team titles. Capturing the triple November—Simon Bairu crown used to be considered rare and seldom accomplished. became the first Badger in 20 That’s before the UW men’s cross country and track teams set years to win the NCAA cross their sights on it. For the fourth time in six years, UW won Big Ten country meet. team titles in all three sports. December—Olympic hero u In conference competition, the Badgers won 15 event Mark Johnson earned an NCAA titles. Swimmer Carly Piper (500 and 1,650 freestyles) and track Silver Anniversary award. star Matt Tegenkamp (5,000 January, 2005—More than indoors and 1,500 outdoors) 300 athletes celebrated the 30th were multiple time Big Ten Simon Bairu anniversary of women’s sports champs. The other league The Year At A Glance on the UW campus. titlists were Simon Bairu February—UW won its fifth (cross country), Susan SPORT (‘04-05 record, Big Ten/WCHA) Special notations straight Big Ten Indoor Men’s Johnson (200 backstroke), Track title, led by its 1-2-5-8 fin- Paul Check (110 hurdles), M-BASKETBALL (25-9 overall, 3rd) ish in the 5,000 meters. Matt Demi Omole (100), Darren Tied UW win record, Elite Eight berth Tegenkamp was the Badgers’ Niedermeyer (pole vault), Alando lone champion. W-BASKETBALL (12-16 overall, 8th) Tucker Tim Nelson (10,000), March—The indoor track Melissa Talbot (heptathlon), Anderson Big Ten Frosh of the Year team equalled its best-ever fin- Katrina Rundhaug (10,000) ish (third) at the NCAA Meet and the second Varsity 4 M-CROSS COUNTRY (1st) 2nd at NCAAs, Bairu national champ and Chris Solinsky (3,000 and second Novice 8 meters) won a national title. women’s rowing boats. The W-CROSS COUNTRY (8th) April—Pat Klingelhoets, who 400-meter relay for men’s Four sophomores in lineup won 291 duals as head men’s track rounds out the list. tennis coach over 23 years, CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 FOOTBALL (9-3 overall, 3rd) resigned his position after the Outback Bowl, 17th in poll, 9-0 start Big Ten Championships. May—University Ridge host- M-GOLF (7th) Won two meets; set UW scoring mark ed the Big Ten Men’s Golf Meet for the first time since 1995. W-GOLF (8th) June—For the second McMillan—low avg & academic honors straight year, the women’s light- weight rowing team (Eva Payne, M-HOCKEY (23-14-4 overall, T3rd) Lindsey Rongstad, Katie Sweet, 8 wins vs. ranked teams, Final Five Sarah Liefke, Erin Specht, Mary Higgins, Andrea Ryan, Anaya W-HOCKEY (28-9-1 overall, 3rd) Winningest season in school history Drew and Suzie Sagues) won its national championship. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 July—Wisconsin placed 30th Anniversary of Women’s Athletics 19th in the Directors’ Cup, its best finish in six years. From the Director July, 2005 Dear Friends of Badger Athletics, On behalf of the staff and student-athletes in the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department, I want to offer a personal thank you for all that you do on behalf of the Badgers. Whether it’s purchasing tickets to one game or several sports on a sea- son basis, leasing a suite, attending a kids’ event, donating to athletics, send- ing your child to a sports camp, endowing a scholarship, or simply watching games on TV ... we thank you for your support! The 2004-05 season was full of magical moments and special memories. Rather than offering a long list of such events, I’ll mention three of them that were particularly gratifying: • 30th anniversary of women’s athletics. As the grandfather of two young girls, who will have the opportunity to play sports, it was inspiring to meet and shake the hands of the women sports pioneers on this campus. Their January celebration was one for the ages. • Camp Randall renovation. I was bursting with excitement in early September when we opened the 2004 season vs. UCF in our fabulously remodeled facility. For all of the folks who made it happen, thank you! Badger teams and fans will benefit for years to come. • Kids’ days. Whether it is Badger Family Fun Day or Kids Day at the Kohl, seeing the smiles on little boys and girls when they meet Bucky or get a player’s autograph can’t help but make you feel good. I hope that the 2004-05 season saw many of your best dreams for Badger Athletics come true. Thank you for helping give our student-athletes an inter- collegiate experience they’ll treasure for a lifetime. On, Wisconsin! Sincerely, Barry Alvarez Head Football Coach and Director of Athletics University of Wisconsin • Intercollegiate Athletics Kellner Hall • 1440 Monroe Street • Madison, Wisconsin 53711 (608) 262-1866 • www.uwbadgers.com Facility upgrades in 2004-05 included the Camp Randall Stadium renovation, the Porter Boathouse and the video board at the Kohl Center. 2 2004-05 ACADEMIC Academic Report ALL-AMERICANS First Team The UW’s annual Jim Leonhard, senior, football Student-Athlete 2004-05 Grade-point Averages Leah Gordon, senior, women’s rowing Recognition Banquet Nathan Brown, junior, men’s track honored nearly 300 # Athletes 4.0 3.5-3.99 3.0-3.49 2.5-2.99 <2.49 Badgers in April. w/ fall GPA 4% 20% 26% 29% 21% Third Team Three student- Joe Detmer, junior, men’s track # Athletes 4.0 3.5-3.99 3.0-3.49 2.5-2.99 <2.49 Yael Peled, senior, women’s track athletes received the top w/ spring GPA 5% 21% 31% 24% 19% Jessica Ring, senior, women’s soccer honor—4.0 Leadership Awards— based upon Teams with GPAs higher than 3.0 in the 2005 spring their perfect grade-point semester—women’s tennis (3.32), women’s swimming averages. The trio was (3.31), men’s soccer (3.30), women’s soccer (3.25), volley- Leah Gordon (women’s ball (3.24), women’s rowing (3.24), women’s cross country rowing), Yael Peled (3.22), women’s golf (3.13), women’s hockey (3.12), 2004-05 BIG TEN women’s track (3.12), men’s swimming (3.11), men’s golf (women’s track) and (3.08), men’s track (3.05), men’s rowing (3.05), men’s cross MEDAL OF HONOR Jessica Ring (women’s country (3.03) soccer). Academic recog- The Big Ten Conference presents the nition for registering a grade-point aver- (women’s rowing), Garrett Jones (men’s Medal of Honor annually to the male and age of better than 3.50 was given to 186 golf), Clayton Hansen (men’s basketball), female senior student-athlete at each institu- Badger student-athletes. Lachezar Kasarov (men’s tennis), Luke tion who has the best combination of aca- Kohtala (men’s hockey), Katie Lorenzen demic and athletic achievement. Wisconsin’s Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of (volleyball), Lindsay McMillan (women’s honorees were Jim Leonhard, a senior foot- Badger student-athletes were Academic ball player from Tony, Wis. and Carla All-Big Ten honorees in 2004-05. golf), Teddy O’Reilly (men’s cross coun- MacLeod, a senior women’s hockey player Two national academic honor try), Eva Payne (women’s rowing), Yael from Calgary. societies—Chi Alpha Sigma (22 Badger Peled (women’s track), Natalie Phillips Leonhard completed his football career honorees) and Phi Beta Kappa (two hon- (softball), Jason Pociask (football), Brady as the Big Ten’s all-time leader orees)—selected Badger athletes in 2005. Reinke (wrestling), Jessica Ring in punt return yardage and tied (women’s soccer), Mike Triebwasser as the UW’s career leading Twelve student-athletes were interceptor. He earned First- recipients of Academic Improvement (men’s rowing) and Andrea Wiesner team Academic All-America Awards and 23 Badgers were noted as (women’s swimming). honors and was awarded an Athletic Board Scholars (given to the ath- Football player Matt Gajda and $18,000 post-graduate scholar- lete with the top GPA in every sport).