While wrapping up a season of competition, Augustana’s men’s IM flag football champion team had the opportunity to participate in a regional intramural tournament at Stillwater, OK on Nov. 6. This is something that hasn’t been done since the pandemic started in 2020.

“For several years in the past, we would send teams to regionals. In fact, the banners that you see in PepsiCo. outline a history of sending teams off to regionals,” Don Umland, director of campus recreations, said. “We hadn’t done it for a few years because we didn’t have a quality team and then COVID hit. We really wanted to get back to giving extramural opportunities.” 

The tournament was sponsored by the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), which holds various regional meets across the country.

Augie students attended the regional meet hosted by Oklahoma State. 

Senior Trey Schmidt was the captain of the IM flag football team that got the opportunity to travel. 

His team was selected based on their winning of Augustana’s men’s 7×7 flag football league and the team consisted mostly of off-season varsity baseball players. 

“We established our team freshman year. We had a team that participated in the fall, and we loved it. Then last year, we couldn’t do it just because it was in the spring and that was during our season. So then this year, we decided to, you know, do it one more year and see what happens,” Schmidt said. 

The trip was sponsored by the campus recreation budget, which sets money aside for outside competition for various intramural sports. 

At the regional meet, the team went 1-2 in the main tournament. They were able to defeat a team from Oklahoma State in their opening game. 

They lost their next match-up against a team from Emporia State. 

After, the team was placed in an elimination tournament where they went up against another Oklahoma State team, who they then lost against. 

The flag football team’s opportunity to play at the NIRSA regional meet is one of the many things that campus recreation is able to offer to students.

Aside from regional tournaments, campus recreation is beneficial to students in terms of giving them a break from their academic workload. 

The facilities intended for campus recreation allow for students to exercise and have fun with friends. 

“There’s no doubt you know. You spend only a certain amount of time in the classroom during your four years as a student. You think about how your free time can be divided and some of it is going to be studying, some of it could be hanging out with your friends. The people who come into our facilities are able to recreate whether that be just hanging out or getting their bodies moving,” Umland said. 

Despite the results of the tournament, Schmidt was happy he was able to attend the regional meet. It was something he never imagined himself doing.

“I would have never expected to be able to compete in a regional for flag football in college. It’s pretty cool,” Schmidt said.