A university committee of students, faculty and administrators was choosing in late spring between lacrosse and crew as the third and final sport to be added to the Ohio University women's varsity lineup, in accordance with the campus' plan to achieve gender equity in athletics by the year 2000.
A 1995 university report on efforts to comply with Title IX requirements recommended the adoption of women's tennis, golf and soccer. A women's golf team began play last fall, and a new women's soccer team has been added to the roster and opens its season Aug. 31 at Xavier in Cincinnati. Tennis has a low participation rate and is cost prohibitive because an indoor tennis facility would need to be built, said Peggy Pruitt, senior associate athletics director and chair of the committee.
After a third sport is added -- probably in the 1998-99 season -- women will field 11 varsity teams at Ohio University, vs. nine for men. And, according to Pruitt, women's scholarships will increase from 70 in 1992-93 to about 104 in 1998-99, and overall female participation on team rosters is expected to jump from 138 in 1992-93 to 232 when the third sport joins the ranks.
Pruitt said that the total number of women's scholarships at the end of 1998-99 will be five higher than projected in the 1995 report, and compare with 122 athletic scholarships for men.
In January, Ohio University hired Wendy Logan as its head women's soccer coach. Logan's first team will immediately compete in the Mid-American Conference. Women's soccer will begin with four full scholarships, which will be split among several players. Logan is a former assistant soccer coach at the University of Connecticut, which finished 22-3 and competed in the NCAA Tournament last season. She played at UConn from 1988 to 1991.
Women's Golf Coach Nicole Hollingsworth already knows what it's like to start from scratch. Hollingsworth and nine golfers completed their first season last fall, and the team won three dual matches and played in three tournaments this spring, finishing sixth out of 12 teams in one competition.
Of the eight golfers who competed in the spring, three are on scholarship, one is a transfer and four are walk-ons. Hollingsworth said starting a program from Ground Zero has been difficult.
"This was very hard, but we felt as though the year was a success," said Hollingsworth, a 1995 graduate of Indiana University, where she was a three-year golfer. "The best part is I get to see it grow and get better. We should be very competitive for the MAC championships, which may be held for the first time next year."
Expanding and upgrading women's athletic facilities was a major part of the 1995 gender equity plan. The university's Board of Trustees in April approved plans and specifications for the first phase of developing an athletic mall west of the Convocation Center, which will include a new 1,500-seat baseball stadium and an adjustment of the women's softball field location. Construction of the baseball stadium and relocation of both facilities is expected to cost $2.1 million in state, university and private funding.
Work on both facilities was expected to begin in July, and each is expected to be ready for the 1999 season, said Director of Facilities Planning John Kotowski.
Trustees also approved naming the new baseball facility Bob Wren Stadium in honor of the Bobcats' former student-athlete and baseball coach of 23 years. Wren, BSED '43, EMERT '82, compiled a career coaching record of 464-160-4 and later worked in the Office of Admissions for 17 years. Trautwein Field will retain its name and be moved to the athletic mall as part of Bob Wren Stadium.
The baseball facility, currently located at the northeast corner of Richland Avenue and South Green Drive, is being moved to make room for the upcoming renovation and expansion of Grover Center to house the College of Health and Human Services.
About $100,000 in renovations to women's locker room facilities are nearly complete, Pruitt said. The softball locker room in the Convocation Center was renovated and expanded, and a locker room in the Convo was refurbished for the women's soccer team. The field hockey team will move into renovated locker room quarters in Peden Stadium late this summer.
