April 18, 2006
Wildcat Women in Sports Weekend
We will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Week this weekend with our nationally ranked softball, lacrosse and tennis teams all playing home games. The success that our women's teams, particularly the spring teams, have enjoyed in recent years is really remarkable. I encourage all of our fans to come out to the home games this weekend (and throughout the rest of the regular season and postseason). We have a number of special events planned and hope to draw attention to all the positive benefits that athletic participation provides to young women. As the father of three daughters who have been actively involved in athletics, I have seen first-hand how athletic participation has helped them learn valuable life lessons.
Congratulations are in order once again to Claire Pollard and the women's tennis team for winning another Big Ten regular-season title.
Spring Game
Our annual spring football game will be held this Saturday, April 22, at noon in Ryan Field (weather permitting). The team has had a very productive spring. The warm weather has helped and the new FieldTurf practice field has allowed the team to conduct all of their practices outside. Although we return many starters, we graduated several strong leaders including Brett Basanez, Tim McGarigle, Barry Cofield and Zach Strief, and the spring game will provide an opportunity to see how the team has developed and what players will emerge as team leaders.
Big Ten Men's Golf Championships
On April 28-30, we will host the Big Ten Men's Golf Championships at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill. It will be the first time the tournament has been held in the Chicago area in 50 years. Both Associate Athletic Director Brad Hurlbut and Head Coach Pat Goss have done an excellent job in planning and organizing the tournament. The tournament will provide a great opportunity to showcase the strength of the men's golf in the Big Ten. Our team appears to be peaking at the right time, wining the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate Tournament this weekend at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, home of the PGA's Memorial Tournament. Junior Kyle Moore won the individual championship in a playoff. It was a storybook ending for Kyle, who grew up in Dublin.
Great Turnaround
Our baseball opened this season with a 3-13 record, including 12 losses in a row. We played a very challenging schedule and were in many games, but just couldn't find a way to win games. After three weeks of Big Ten play, though, we are 9-3 in the conference, and stand in sole possession of first place. Our pitching has improved greatly over the last three weeks, and our bats have also started to come to life, as evidenced by Friday night's 19-18 win over Illinois. Congratulations to Head Coach Paul Stevens and his team for this great turnaround.