Sports have a unique ability to bring groups of people together for a common goal, that being to win. When your team earns a big, hard-fought win, there is nothing like the rush of adrenaline you experience, even if you’re just watching. The biggest game on any Ouachita team’s schedule is the Battle of the Ravine. It’s surrounded by a week of festivities, and when our Tigers crush the Reddies, there is nothing sweeter.
In 2014, the Ouachita Tigers won the Great American Conference, going 10-0 after being picked to finish third in the conference. The Tigers welcomed the Bulldogs of the University of Minnesota-Duluth to The Cliff and played them hard into overtime, losing in heartbreaking fashion. Since then, the Tigers’ overall records have not been as impressive, but each Battle of the Ravine has been packed.
The hitch is that the Battle of the Ravine is only one game in a 10-game season, a season in which roughly half of the games will take place on Ouachita’s campus. The games that are not Battle of the Ravine, but instead pit the Ouachita Tigers against the Tigers of East Central, the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene or the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State, may be just as entertaining, with less than a capacity crowd. This is true for more sports than just football.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have become synonymous in the Great American Conference for hard work and, if not a guaranteed win, then at least a tough matchup worthy of vigilance and specific attention. The wrestling team is well on its way to rebuilding into a national power in NCAA Division II Wrestling. Swimming and Diving are on the same road as the wrestling team, working their way back, with swimmers making national waves. Softball has recently experienced some success, representing a stout competition and a threat for the GAC postseason tournament. Ouachita baseball may not have had the record over the past few seasons to catch one’s eye, but Connor Eller was drafted into professional baseball last year, and the incoming freshmen have become some of the brightest players in the conference. Sadly, many Ouachitonians have not seen these important parts of the Ouachita experience in action.
The baseball team plays virtually every other weekend at Rab Rodgers Field, the softball team calls Sully Anderson Field home and the tennis team (a national powerhouse for decades) calls the Ward Tennis Center home turf, not mentioning both soccer teams, the wrestling team, both basketball teams and all the swimmers. Sadly, these athletes seem to have less support than others. Most of the matches undertaken by these teams are before stadiums that suffer from a severe lack of current Ouachitonians.
Each team works hard to make the student body proud, and oftentimes are quite successful. Sadly, their success is brought with little acclaim and not enough fans considering how successful their teams are.
Ouachita is full of many talented students, that much is certainly true. Alumni work in all respects of life, from the arts to business to church work. Student athletes take what everyone must do (study hard to be successful) and add the burden of playing a NCAA Division II sport. They have to learn to balance a full academic schedule and changing practice schedules, along with trips to away games and series. These athletes spend many hours honing their craft to put on a Ouachita jersey and represent the diverse community that makes up Ouachita. They literally put their blood, sweat and tears into both academics and their respective sports.
It seems appropriate that those of us who are not athletes (the author included) ought to support our fellow students as they represent our university. Ouachitonians are proud of the diversity of sports present on campus, and attendance at games will likely add to that diversity and support of it.
– By Chris Digiovanni, sports editor
