Women athletes make OSU proud; the men do, too

There are many reasons to celebrate March Madness. High among them is the striking demonstration of how far women’s athletics have come.

Prior to the 1999-2000 season, there was no such thing as an Ohio State University women’s ice hockey team. This season, the OSU women advanced to the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four for the first time in history.

Although the Buckeyes fell 1-0 in overtime to defending national champion Clarkson, the women took the program to new heights — in both athletic performance and admirable behavior.

While goalie Kassidy Sauvé set OSU records for shutouts, teammate and co-captain Lauren Spring became one of five finalists for the NCAA’s Hockey Humanitarian Award, honoring the sport’s “finest citizen” in community service. And Nadine Muzerall was named coach of the year by the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Meanwhile, OSU finished 13th in the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Lara Tarvit, a sophomore from Melbourne, Australia, won first-team AllAmerica honors in platform diving.

In women’s gymnastics, three Buckeyes — Alexis Mattern, Jamie Stone and Olivia Aepli — received AllBig Ten honors. In women’s volleyball, three OSU players — Hannah Gruensfelder, Lauren Witte and Jordan Fry — were invited to the U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In basketball, the OSU women won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Although suffering a disappointing second-round loss to Central Michigan, the women admirably represented their university.

Senior guard Kelsey Mitchell finished her collegiate career with 3,402 points, second highest in women’s college basketball history. As important, coach Kevin McGuff lauded Mitchell as “a great ambassador for our program and for this athletic department and even this university.”

When the women’s basketball Final Four is held March 30 and April 1 at Nationwide Arena, a national audience will witness a level of excellence hardly imaginable just two decades ago.

The impetus for this transformation, of course, was enactment of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972, requiring that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports in any educational institution receiving federal financial assistance.

Controversial at the time of enactment, it no longer is. Today, nearly everyone celebrates the opportunity to see daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters compete.

In the 2016-2017 season, more than 280,000 men took part in intercollegiate sports, while nearly 218,000 women did, according to the NCAA. Title IX also spurred the opening of doors in high school athletics. For the 20162017 season in Ohio, 197,741 boys and 142,405 girls took part in interscholastic sports.

As for the OSU men, a basketball team projected to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten fought its way to a 25-9 record, finishing second in the conference and winning one game in the NCAA tourney. First-year coach Chris Holtmann is one of four finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award.

And, oh, how about those OSU wrestlers? The Buckeyes finished as Big Ten champions for the second year in a row, and No. 2 in the nation behind Penn State. A record eight OSU wrestlers earned AllAmerica status.

Heavyweight Kyle Snyder, already an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion, won his third consecutive NCAA championship. With class and humility. Not a guy who would mind seeing the women at the top of this editorial. Enjoy cartoons by Nate Beeler at Dispatch.com/opinion/beeler