For most students at UW-Platteville, Spring Break is a time to be stress free and unwind. It is time that can be seen as needed to make it through the remaining weeks and fast approaching final exams. For the student athletes at UW-P it’s a time to knock off the remaining rust and show the nation their skills.

The tournaments that take place during the Spring Break period are used by Pioneer coaches to build team chemistry. For baseball and softball, the spring tournaments will be the first time the teams play with their new players. The tournaments also give players a chance to get re-acquainted with the speed and situations that come with a real games.

The tournaments also offer a chance for UW-P to play teams that they have never seen before.

“It’s a chance to get away from all the snow,” Eric Frese, UW-P baseball head coach, said.

The UW-P baseball and softball teams played in Spring Break tournaments. Softball played in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and baseball traveled across the midwest and south playing games in Ill., Mo., Ala. and Ga.

The baseball team finished it’s Spring Break with a record of 5-6.

The softball team finished it’s tournament with a record of 4-3.

A drawback to the tournaments is players are more likely to be injured in game play than in practice. Another negative to playing in these Spring Break tournaments is the distance that family members have to travel to see their son or daughter play.

“There’s nothing a baseball player would rather be doing than playing baseball,” Frese said.

“I’ve been playing softball for Spring Break for as long as I can remember. I don’t know anything else to do on Spring Break,” Jennifer Zipfel, a freshman outfielder, said.

The UW-P indoor track and field team got to show off its talent at the Division III National Indoor Track and Field Championships at Ohio Northern University on March 14-15.

The men’s distance medley relay team won the national championship and Pioneer junior Jessica Scott won the national championship in the 800-meter run.

The medley relay team won the championship with a time of 9 minutes, 59 seconds and was made up of Tyler Sigl, Cam Klein, Adam Buss and Tony Kilburg. Scott won her championship with a time of 2 minutes, 11 seconds.

The UW-P men finished the season third in the nation. They were led by second place finishes from Sigl in the 5000-meter run and Scott Howard who finished in sixth place in the pole vault.

Though circumstances are different for UW-P track and field team and the softball and baseball teams, all are competing over a time where other students are relaxing and taking time off from school and classes. Student athletes understand the commitments it takes to achieve success and spring break is just another example of the hard work it takes to be a student athlete at UW-P.