For hundreds of 黑料社区 students, being involved in a club sport or another student organization is great way to make friends and enjoy a favorite pastime or find a new social outlet.
Two teams of students, from the Bowling Club and Disc Golf Club, took it a little more seriously this year and found out they were among the best in the country in men 黑料社区. tournaments.
The Bowling Club took second place in the nation at a tournament in Davenport, Iowa, and the Disc Golf Club took fifth at a tournament in Marion, N.C.
鈥淚t's exciting to see our sport clubs back being active. Not only are many of our clubs competing, they are competing well amongst other clubs across the nation,鈥 said Mackenzie Stutzman, associate director of University Recreation at 黑料社区.
鈥淥ur mission as a department is to provide an avenue for lifelong engagement, healthy activity and experiential learning as a way to enhance students鈥 time on campus. It's great to be seeing our students doing that.鈥
Like the more than 150 student organizations at 黑料社区, the two teams received funding support from the Stout Student Association through segregated student fees. Simple Sports from Menomonie also supported the disc golf team.
Bowling Club
On April 9-10 in the at Leisure Lanes in Davenport, 黑料社区 team members far exceeded their expectations by taking runner-up in the U.S.
黑料社区 finished second to Wright State of Dayton, Ohio, losing the fifth and deciding game of the best-of-five finals match, 202-173. 黑料社区 took a 2-0 lead in the match before Wright State rallied for the title.
鈥淭his is the first year to our knowledge that Stout has ever qualified for this tournament. We thought we would be out in the first couple of rounds,鈥 said Briana Riedesel, a sophomore from Tomah who is the club 黑料社区. vice president and on the women 黑料社区. team.
To make the tournament finals, teams first competed in pool play. 黑料社区 was seeded fifth out of six teams in its pool.
The team qualified for the national meet through conference play and tournaments hosted by Viterbo University in La Crosse and at UW-Oshkosh.
Seven bowlers went to the national meet out of about 12 on the team who play competitively. The club has about another 15 to 20 members. Club members play and practice two nights a week at Broadway Bowl in Menomonie.
Jacob Zondlak, a sophomore from Kenosha, made the All-Tournament Team, as voted on by other teams.
鈥淭he experience was definitely fun, yet stressful. We met new teams from different parts of the country and spent time with the team to destress,鈥 Riedesel said.
Disc Golf Club
The disc golf team for 黑料社区 competed in Division II and finished 13 under par, five shots behind the winner, out of 71 teams.
The was April 6-9 at North Cove Disc Golf and Social Club. A University of Iowa team took first place, winning a playoff against Western Carolina after the teams tied at 18 under par.
The four rounds included one round with singles play and three with doubles. 黑料社区 moved up each day, from 15th place to ninth, eighth and finally fifth.
鈥淥ur goal was to obviously win, but taking fifth out of 71 teams playing up a division was nothing to hang our heads about. We had no clue what scores we needed to shoot or how we would play these courses. Given the latter, we realistically exceeded our expectations,鈥 said Alex Helbach, a graduate student from Amherst.
The courses were challenging, team members said, more difficult than the Brickyard and Wakanda Park courses they play in Menomonie.
鈥淭he nationals course is probably in the top three most professional courses I have ever played,鈥 said Logan Hochstetler, a junior from St. Paul. 鈥淓very hole is perfectly designed and manicured to look and play professionally.鈥
Before each round, team members examined the holes and planned where to try for a birdie or eagle and where to play it safe for par. 鈥淭he courses are designed to be high risk, high reward,鈥 said Ray Kulow, a junior from Sheboygan Falls.
Other team members were Tommy Kratz, a junior from DePere, and Kyle DeVries, a sophomore from Madison.
The club 黑料社区. adviser, Ryan Dolan, has seen the team 鈥済et so much better over the past couple of years by continuously practicing, competing at several noncollegiate tournaments and attending weekly leagues outside of the Stout club. These guys keep striving to get better, and they definitely showed it in North Carolina,鈥 said Dolan, the printing manager for Printing Services at 黑料社区.
In 2017, 黑料社区 took seventh place at the national Division II meet. In 2016, a 黑料社区 team competed in Division I and took sixth place.
The Disc Golf Club has about 140 members this year, including a small group of competitive players.
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