Category: Athletics

MADISON, Wis. — A young girl with dreams of attending wrestling camp will get her wish.

The UW Athletics Wrestling Camp has accepted Kylie Jones into its summer overnight camp program.

The program had excluded her because she is a girl.

Hearing an adult say they want to get more exercise is common; hearing an elementary student say it sounds downright crazy. However, that reason and, of course, having fun are why 163 Madison-area elementary students are participating in Saturday’s Crazylegs Classic.

A group of more than 60 runners will be participating in the 27th annual Crazylegs Classic Saturday in memory of UW-Madison pharmacy school student Adam Nickel.

More than 15,000 will be working up a sweat Saturday morning as they make their way from Madisonâ??s Capitol Square to Camp Randall Stadium during the 27th annual Crazylegs Classic.

The goal, amid all the uncertainty, anxiety and excitement, has been to have as ordinary a week as possible leading up to one of the biggest weekends of their lives.

And for the most part, Taylor Mehlhaff, Paul Hubbard, Luke Swan and Nick Hayden have succeeded. Sure, the NFL draft is just a few days away, but the four former University of Wisconsin standouts have done their best not to get swept up in it.

Ron Dayne covered plenty of ground â?? 7,125 yards to be precise â?? over the course of his career as a running back with the University of Wisconsin football team from 1996 to ’99.

But the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner will find himself involved with a different kind of running endeavor Saturday when he will be grand marshal for the 27th annual Crazylegs Classic.

Former Wisconsin cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu will learn his football fate over the weekend and it might not be pretty.

The prevailing sentiment among National Football League personnel people is that Ikegwuonu, who suffered a devastating injury to his right knee Jan. 22 during a workout in Florida, would be a late-round draft choice or none at all.

The 27th annual Crazylegs Classic is this Saturday, starting at the Capitol.

In the last 6 years JoAnn Brink has provided medical treatment to two different men who have had heart attacks on the race course, saving their lives.

“It’s the most fun run of the year for me.” Brink says she’s looking forward to running the Crazylegs Classic on Saturday. “15,000 people, who is not going to have fun?”

Twice in the last six years the race has taken on a very serious tone for JoAnn.

You remember squinting at the modest press release, your eyes growing wide as you scanned the basic details of one man’s journey into our midst three years ago.

When you were finished, hundreds of questions popped into your head, starting with this one:

How in the world did Greg Van Emburgh come to be the men’s tennis coach at the University of Wisconsin?

Members of the Labor Licensing Policy Committee voted Friday to delay recommending the chancellor cut the universityâ??s contract with athletic apparel company Adidas.

UW men’s tennis team claims No. 2 seed in Big Ten tourney with sweep of Michigan State.

After completing its best Big Ten Conference campaign in 26 years, the University of Wisconsin men’s tennis team cruises into this week’s league tournament as the No. 2 seed.

As expected, the University of Wisconsin coaches won’t be certain of the identity of the team’s No. 1 quarterback until sometime in August.

Playing in the sand is nothing new for the University of Wisconsin volleyball team.

Doing so in April is a different story.

In preparation for the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in San Diego on Sunday, the Badgers filled a warehouse with 270 tons of sand and used it as a practice facility.

KALAMAZOO — Within minutes of being introduced as Western Michigan University’s fifth women’s basketball coach, Tasha McDowell put her team to work.

However, it didn’t involve running or practicing jump shots. They merely walked up and stood around McDowell while she delivered her first comments in the University Arena press room Saturday afternoon. That point illustrated one of the rookie coach’s philosophies — unity.

UW Varsity Band Concert

Mike Leckrone, the conductor for the University of Wisconsin Band, always has something up his sleeve to make the annual Varsity Band Concert a memorable experience. The 39th Annual Varsity Band Concert, featuring Mark Pender of Conan O ‘Brien’s Max Weinberg 7 and Nat McIntosh of the Dallas Brass, figures to be no different. The shows continue Friday and Saturday night at 7:30.

Kohl Center, 263-5645; $20; www.badgerband.com

ESPN sent its GameDay crew to Florida last weekend to televise the Gators’ spring game, which drew a crowd of 61,000.

Alabama had 78,200 fans for its game last week, on the heels of a record crowd of 92,138 a year ago.

And at Nebraska, scalpers are doing brisk business, reportedly getting $95 for a $10 ticket for Saturday’s sold-out spring game, the debut of coach Bo Pelini.

Spring fever appears to be busting out all over college football, but not at the University of Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin Badgers football team is scheduled to play two evening home games next season on two consecutive Saturdays in October, creating an extra challenge for university officials.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Brian Butch has long dreamed of playing in the NBA. But what does it say for his chances when, as one of 64 college senior players in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament last week, he wasn’t impressing a man like Thierry Chevrier?

Chevrier, director of the Cholet Basket team in France’s top pro league, spread the fingers on one hand and tilted it from side to side when asked what he thought of Butch, who recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin.

“He’s a very good 3-point shooter but he must play harder underneath,” Chevrier said in accented English while adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. “He runs well and he is big but he plays a little small.”

Camp Randall Stadium. At night.

Back-to-back games. Ohio State and Penn State.

Does anything more need to be said?

The University of Wisconsin football team will be featured in a pair of prime-time games at home during the 2008 season, the Big Ten Conference announced today.

Wisconsin is scheduled to host Ohio State on Oct. 4 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison in a game to be seen on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

After facing Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in last season’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will find itself on the road for a second straight season in the event.

According to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge schedule released Tuesday, the Badgers will face Virginia Tech on Dec. 1 in Blacksburg, Va., in a game scheduled to be televised on one of the ESPN networks.

The University of Wisconsin football team will play consecutive home games at night this fall — against Ohio State and Penn State — on national television.

The Big Ten Conference made it official Wednesday in announcing the conference’s prime-time television lineup for the 2008 football season.

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will face Virginia Tech in the 10th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Monday, Dec. 1, in Blacksburg, Va.

….The Capital Times has learned that the Badgers will play the Challenge opener Dec. 1 against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. It will be the Badgers’ third Challenge road game over the past four seasons and their sixth overall, compared to just three home games and one neutral-site game.

No other Big Ten or ACC team has faced a more rigorous schedule in what will be the 10th year of the Challenge.

University of Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone will head into a pivotal season without her top aide, good friend and confidante.

Donna Freitag, who has served as an assistant to Stone for the last eight years, has decided to retire from coaching when her contract ends in May, Stone announced in a statement Monday.

MILWAUKEE â?? Success in the business of pro basketball is all about adapting.

From the start of his career, point guard Devin Harris has understood that.

The former University of Wisconsin star was traded by Washington to Dallas immediately after being selected fifth overall in the 2004 NBA draft.

They’ve shared so many moments on the basketball court together.

Lisa Stone, the energetic point guard and Donna Freitag, the mellow post player.

They grew up together, played together at Oregon High School and then collegiately at Iowa.

They’ve shared so many moments on the basketball court together.

Lisa Stone, the energetic point guard and Donna Freitag, the mellow post player.

They grew up together, played together at Oregon High School and then collegiately at Iowa.

When Stone took over as the coach at Drake in 2000, she hired Freitag as an assistant, just as she did when she arrived at the University of Wisconsin in 2003.

Donna Freitag, an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball staff since Lisa Stone took over the program in 2003, has decided to retire, UW officials announced Monday.

Freitag’s contract expires on May 31. She has coached basketball for more than two decades, including eight under Stone, her childhood friend from Oregon, Wis.

Beginning next academic year, all first-year athletes at the UW-Madison will be required to attend â??life-skillsâ? training. Brian Bull reports. (Audio.)

Dear Editor: As University of Wisconsin alumni, my wife and I have a Red Room dedicated to all things Badger.

Appropriately decorated, with a modicum of kitsch, it leaves little doubt as to our loyalties. It’s equipped to double as our guest room, and we hosted family this past weekend, including a 7-year-old niece and 5-year-old nephew.

My nephew woke his mother, at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, to proclaim “Mom, I love Bucky Badger!” Refreshingly innocent, yet precocious enough for me to think it’s time for more advanced concepts. To wit: “Louis, you have to control both sides of the line of scrimmage to establish the running game.”

Better these than video games or cartoons.

Paul W. Schlecht, Madison

The toughest ticket in town?

It’s probably one to see the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team play at the Kohl Center, where every game has been sold out in advance for the past five years.

The toughest ticket in town?

It’s probably one to see the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team play at the Kohl Center, where every game has been sold out in advance for the past five years.

No doubt mindful of that lucrative reality â?? 89 consecutive sellouts of 17,190 â?? UW Athletic Department officials are looking to create a bit more seating in time for next season.

Jolene Anderson was selected by the Connecticut Sun Wednesday afternoon with the 23rd overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft.

Anderson, who went in the second round and recently wrapped up her collegiate career with the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, was the first Big Ten Conference player picked in the event that was held in Tampa, Fla.

The 5-foot-8 guard, named the co-Big Ten player of the year this past season, led the league in scoring for two straight seasons and averaged 18.8 points per game during 2007-08.

Although Janese Banks participated in the league’s pre-draft camp last week, the ex-UW guard was not picked with one of the 43 selections in the draft.

There are a lot of underpaid, unsung employees in the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department, but if you ask me, one group stands out for a variety of reasons.

They’re almost always the first ones in the locker room before every practice. They’re almost always the last ones out.

They make every trip and attend every workout with every UW team whether it’s an in-season scrimmage or a voluntary conditioning session during the summer.

Surrounded by family and friends in her parents’ home in Port Wing, Jolene Anderson was in her comfort zone. No pressure. No nerves.

Only a sense of excitement as all gathered around the TV to watch the 2008 Women’s National Basketball Association player draft Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. When the University of Wisconsin senior heard her name called in the second round of the three-round draft, Anderson didn’t jump to her feet and scream, leaving that to her aunt Betty.

As is her way, Jolene Anderson didn’t get emotional Wednesday afternoon when quite possibly the biggest moment of her life arrived.

The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball program’s all-time leading scorer didn’t shed any tears when her name was called as the Connecticut Sun’s selection in the second round of the WNBA draft, capping an incredible rise from her small town beginnings.

Lisa Stone will return for a sixth season as University of Wisconsin women’s basketball coach, but it appears her margin for error has never been smaller.

“I’m going to support Lisa, but our results have got to get better,” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said Tuesday.

For those of you hoping to someday see a University of Wisconsin baseball team return, donâ??t hold your breath.

At least that is what former UW Athletic Director Pat Richter believes.

Richter was the guest speaker at the Salvation Armyâ??s Tin Cup Luncheon at the Rotary Gardens on Tuesday afternoon.

Weather and financial considerations are the reasons baseball likely wonâ??t make a return.

It’s not easy following a legend like Barry Alvarez. But Bret Bielema is doing his boss proud, going 21-5 in his first two years. And he’s a decisive coach who isn’t afraid to alter his staff or personnel if he thinks it will improve his team.

Wisconsin football fans who have access to the Big Ten Network should have the opportunity to get an early preview of the 2008 Big Ten football season later this month. The “Spring Football Showcase” is scheduled to run on the network April 19, from noon to 3:30 p.m. (Milwaukee time).

UW’s spring game, coincidentally, is scheduled for 1 p.m. that day.

A new season football ticket plan for University of Wisconsin students was driven by multiple factors, not the least of which were safety issues outside Camp Randall Stadium.

The policy, outlined on the UW Athletic Department Web site at www.uwbadgers.com and set to take effect for the 2008 season, institutes a lottery weighted by class standing, the elimination of assigned seats and an individual voucher pick-up system.

Lisa Stone will return for a sixth season as University of Wisconsin women’s basketball coach, but it appears her margin for error has never been smaller.

“I’m going to support Lisa, but our results have got to get better,” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said Tuesday.