Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Murray State intramurals offer students on campus a chance to participate in numerous competitive sports seasons throughout the school year.
The beginning of every spring semester starts with a month-long basketball season, and includes Greek Life teams, teams from residential colleges and independent teams.
Teams that participated in the season were awarded a chance to partake in a basketball postseason if their team managed to score a sportsmanship rating of seven or above. Sportsmanship is measured on a 1-10 scale and factors in player and coach behavior as well as fan support throughout the season.
From Monday, Feb. 18 to Thursday, Feb. 21, teams that met the sportsmanship rating requirement participated in a week-long tournament to see which men’s and women’s teams would be crowned IM champions.
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the men’s bracket held semifinal games at 8 p.m. as teams looked to secure a spot in the championship game in Racer Arena at 9 p.m.
In semifinal action, Pi Kappa Alpha defeated the Backpack Boyz in a narrow contest by a score of 51-45, while Far From Athletic took care of Sigma Phi Epsilon 49-38.
In the championship game, a back-and-forth battle resulted in a 51-47 Pi Kappa Alpha victory, allowing the team to finish the seaon with a perfect 11-0 record.
Junior Brock Costello, a team member on Pi Kappa Alpha, was proud of his team’s effort and results this season.
“I honestly didn’t expect to win the whole thing at the first of the season,” Costello said. “Winning the fraternity division was our main goal, and we knew that teams like Lambda Chi, Sig Ep and Sig Chi usually had stacked teams, so we prepared for that and we just continued to play hard until the season was over. I’ve never went undefeated before, so it was quite a sight, but the chapter was excited as well.”
On the women’s side, semifinal games were held on Wednesday, Feb. 20. White College took down the Soccer Gurlz 52-46 and the Regents Rhinos secured a spot in the championship game after a default from Springer-Franklin.
At 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, the Regents Rhinos took on White College in the north gym of Carr Health to determine the champion.
In a tight battle that came down to the wire, the Regents Rhinos defeated White College 33-28 to be crowned the women’s division champions.
Murray State intramurals will hold two more seasons this semester in volleyball and soccer. The intramural volleyball season is already in full swing.