Division III athletes weigh the trade-offs of moving up to Big Ten rosters

Every Big Ten roster now carries at least one transfer from Division III, a shift that reflects how athletes at the lower level weigh moving up.

McKena Ramos set a private test for himself before the indoor national meet. He decided that winning a title as a freshman at UW-Oshkosh would justify a move to Division I. He took the indoor 800-meter title, then the outdoor 1500-meter title, and transferred to UW-Madison.

Eamon McKenna, who coaches track and cross-country at UW-Oshkosh, said he did not see a freshman title coming. "When we were recruiting him, I didn't think he would be able to come in and win a national championship as a freshman," he said. "We knew he was good and we knew he was a little bit under the radar."

Ramos, a senior from Sheboygan, became a five-time All-American and a two-time national champion in one season at Oshkosh. He has since run for the Badgers in track and cross-country. He said the step up in competition has lowered his times. "The biggest difference athletically is the competition level; everyone is on your level and up," he said. He also cited travel and the chance to compete against the best as reasons to move.

Two Badgers football players made the same jump. Ricky Finco, a junior wide receiver who plays mainly on the scout team, transferred after one year at UW-Whitewater. Ryan Ramczyk played offensive line at UW-Stevens Point, then had an All-American season in Madison that raised his draft standing.

Not every athlete moves up. Emma Paulson spent her freshman season on the Wisconsin swim team, then transferred to the University of St. Thomas, a Division III school in Minnesota. "I realized that people are different and have different fits, it might work for them, but it wasn't the right fit for me," she said. At St. Thomas she won three individual national titles and earned nine individual All-American designations. Her times matched Division I standards, she said, but the culture did not fit. "Swimming DI, it kind of takes over your life in a sense, but DIII [is] just a part of your life," she said.

The levels differ in money and facilities. Division III schools do not grant athletic scholarships, and their buildings are smaller than those at Division I schools. Ramos said the running workouts at Madison and Oshkosh are largely the same, but Madison has ice baths and other training tools Oshkosh lacked. He also credited tutoring at the Fetzer Center and taking exams while traveling for his grades. Paulson said she is held to the same standards as non-athletes at St. Thomas and has no assigned academic staff.

Both said they would make the same choice again. "I am absolutely happy," Ramos said, and added that competing for Madison had been his dream since middle school. McKenna, his former coach, offered a condition for athletes weighing the same move: "If you stand out in DIII, you're going to have opportunities." The question, he said, is whether an athlete can replace whatever makes them dominant at their current school.

Ramos arrived at UW-Oshkosh as a recruited track athlete. His coaches did not expect a five-time All-American and two-time national champion in one season.