On April 16, the intramural season officially came to an end at Oklahoma Christian University when director Rick Judd and assistant directors Bret Hudelson and Brandon Jones announced this year’s winners. Rick Judd noted how competitive the races were this year compared to those in the past.
“Some years, it’s pretty boring at the end of the school year,” Judd said. “This year, it was down to the wire.”
This year, the men’s all sports champions were Delta Gamma Sigma. Delta’s highlight performances include winning A league soccer, B league basketball and football, C league basketball and dominating the free throw competition and the swim meet. This win marks the first time Delta has won the all sports title since 2011 and breaks their tie with Chi Lambda Phi for the most men’s all sports titles at 15.
On the women’s side, Gamma Rho took all sports after winning A league softball, football, and soccer and winning B league volleyball. It is their 30th total all sports title and their 14th title in a row, which ties their previous streak from 1985-1999.
This year’s runner ups were the men of Chi Lambda Phi and the women of Lambda Chi Zeta. Chi won softball and volleyball’s A leagues this year, and Lambda secured volleyball A league and basketball B league. Lambda fought with Gamma, but early A league losses had them out of contention by the soccer semifinals. On the men’s side, however, Chi and Delta were neck and neck until the A league soccer semifinal, where Delta took the win needed to secure all sports.
In addition to revealing the all sports winners, the male and and female intramural athletes of the year were announced alongside the inaugural winner of the Karla Ramirez award. This award celebrates an outstanding intramural referee from that year and commemorates Karla Ramirez, a star intramural athlete and referee who passed away in a tragic accident. The male and female intramural athletes of the year were Carter Neal and Maddie Harrison, and Caleb McLaughlin claimed the first ever referee of the year award.
Neal is a junior in Chi Lambda Phi, whose intramural accolades include 11 A league championship appearances, with five resulting in a victory. Former athletic director Cole Klaassen spoke on the impact Neal has made on the intramural field for Chi.
“Carter Neil is very talented. He does a good job putting in a lot of effort and encouraging the guys and really making it a great experience for all of us,” Klaassen said. “So not only is it fun to win games with him, it’s just fun to get to play with my friend, Carter Neal.”
Harrison is a senior from Theta Theta Theta and played a key role in the club’s basketball A league championship game. Upcoming athletic director Allie Neilson spoke on her performance this past year.
“Maddie H is like our captain in every sport, gets us going and hype. She shows up to every game and gives it her all,” Neilson said. “She’s a good athlete; she’s a good friend; and she’s always there in clutch moments of need.”
While it is unclear which upperclassmen athletes will be sticking around next year, a couple highlight freshmen will be looking to rush clubs and continue their intramural careers on new teams. Some names to look out for include Sydney Hampton (Basketball), Addie Neal (soccer), and Cianne Knowles (ping pong) for women. For names to keep an eye out for in the men’s division, check out Landon Parker (basketball), Teagen Henson (volleyball), and Brayden Jones (pool).
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