I’ve been extremely disappointed with the sports section of the Exponent lately. Every week when I open the sports section, I consistently see two sports covered: basketball and wrestling. You know what I don’t see? Track and field.

Don’t get me wrong, all athletes certainly are entitled to recognition, but how can you consistently leave out the largest sport on the UW-Platteville campus? There are 100 students on the roster for men and women’s track and field, and their accomplishments are consistently overlooked by the Exponent. We have 11 athletes who qualify provisionally or automatically to compete in nationals this year. We had our conference meet in Superior last weekend. We found out late in the season that one of our best female runners, Marcia Taddy, can compete at conference. But the Exponent did not acknowledge any of this.

Track and field athletes are everywhere. There are 100 of us in your classes and walking around campus. We put in two or more hours every single day of the week at practice, and we give up every single Saturday during the season to compete. We leave before sunup and do not arrive back on campus before sundown. We are engineering, criminal justice, business, agriculture, biology and education majors just like everyone else, and we work hard both in and out of the classroom.

I don’t ask that you bow at our feet or anything ridiculous like that, but I encourage you to support all your college sports in your newspaper.

Katie Tlusty
Senior
Criminal Justice Major