McKenna Ramos moves from Division III to Big Ten after double national title

McKena Ramos transferred from UW-Oshkosh to UW-Madison this year. The move followed a season in which he won both the indoor 800-meter and outdoor 1500-meter national titles. Ramos, a senior from Sheboygan, now competes for the Badgers in both track and cross-country.

Ramos set a personal condition before the indoor nationals. He decided that a freshman championship would justify a step up to Division I. "I didn't think it was going to happen, I just made a little bet with myself," Ramos said. He won the indoor title, then the outdoor 1500, and completed the transfer.

His coach at UW-Oshkosh, Eamon McKenna, was surprised by the outcome. "When we were recruiting him, I didn't think he would be able to come in and win a national championship as a freshman," McKenna said. He described Ramos as talented but under the radar.

Ramos is part of a larger trend. Every school in the Big Ten conference currently has at least one athlete on a roster who transferred from a Division III program. Two Badger football players have made similar moves. Ricky Finco, a junior wide receiver, transferred from UW-Whitewater. Ryan Ramczyk moved from UW-Stevens Point and posted an All-American season in Madison.

The switch is not universally successful. Emma Paulson left UW-Madison after her freshman year of swimming. She 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," Paulson said.

At St. Thomas, Paulson finished her career with three individual national championships and nine individual All-American designations. She noted that Division I swimming consumes a large part of a student's life, while Division III competition is a part of it. "Swimming DI, it kind of takes over your life in a sense, but DIII [is] just a part of your life," she said.

Resource gaps between the divisions are distinct. Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships and generally maintain smaller facilities. Ramos credited UW-Madison for providing ice baths, athletic training facilities, and tutoring at the Fetzer Center that Oshkosh lacked. Paulson said she receives no designated academic services at St. Thomas and is held to the same standards as non-athletes.