Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s Campus Recreation hosted the regional basketball tournament featuring 12 total teams in both men’s and women’s competitions.
The National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association’s South Division had its Club Basketball Conference Tournament at the Student Recreation Center on Feb. 19 and 20. The event brought as many as 150 student-athletes to town.
Based on the “round robin” format, teams vie for as many wins as possible. They will compete in another tournament in March at Texas A&M University. The wins from both competitions will determine the conference champions and a free entry into the national tournament in April at Wichita State University in Kansas.
SFA teams played in both the men’s and women’s sides of the NIRSA tournament. The women finished the tournament with a 3-2 record. While the men finished the tournament with a 1-4 record.
This is the first ever NIRSA conference tournament hosted at SFA. Jasmine Randolph and Jacie Klose, the Competitive Sports and Camps Coordinators for SFA’s Campus organized the event.
Jasmine Randolph a former SFA graduate student stated, “Throughout my graduate studies here at SFA, I was provided an experiential education,” she said. “My goal is to reflect those same opportunities through our programs at Campus Rec. I look forward to working collaboratively with students, faculty and staff to create a holistic experience for all students.”
Jacie Klose stated, “I look forward to growing as a young professional and collaborating with other organizations and departments across campus to help make students’ college experience more memorable.”
On the men’s side, the six-team field included Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas. On the women’s side, the six-team field included Sam Houston State University and Texas Christian University.
While NIRSA contains the word intramural, the teams competing in the tournament are actually sport clubs, Randolph said. The key difference is that intramural teams compete on their given campuses, whereas sport clubs compete against teams from other universities.
Randolph is working on an upcoming women’s soccer tournament at SFA in April and is currently in the process of getting a racquetball club established. There are 17 sport clubs on campus, including rodeo, fishing, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, rugby, tennis and jiujitsu.