Ramos hit the links early and excels regularly for UCO

Ramos continued playing competitively until she began school at Bishop Kelley High School, where she joined the school’s women’s golf team. Her experience at Bishop Kelley was different from her competitive golf experience. Before high school, she never played on a golf team, she only played individually. Playing with a whole team in high school sparked a competitive fire in Ramos.

Brooke Niver

Contributing Writer

Mika Ramos is a junior on the University of Central Oklahoma’s women’s golf team, and she completed the 2021-2022 season with four Top 20 finishes and six inside the Top 22. Also during last season, Ramos averaged 78.88 playing through 25 rounds, and her lowest score was 2 over 73 during the fall season.

From a young age growing up in Tulsa, she was always interested in golf. Ramos started playing when she was 6 years old, but did not start competing competitively until she was 10. She went on three different tours during her competitive golf career: U.S. Kids Golf, Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour, and the American Junior Golf Association.

“Most of the girls on my team chose this sport for fun rather than trying to be recruited for college,” Ramos said. “But regardless of why they chose to play golf, they made me remember why I love the sport so much. I won the Oklahoma 5A state tournament my freshman year, and this is when I realized I wanted to pursue college golf.”

Depending on the athlete, getting recruited to play at the collegiate level can be intimidating and scary. For Ramos, her process was simple: she knew that she wanted to stay close to home and her family.

Ramos got in contact with Michael Bond, the UCO women’s golf coach, in January 2019, her junior year of high school. Ramos visited campus and immediately fell in love with UCO and everyone on the team.

She said that playing golf at UCO was one of the best decisions she has ever made.

“I have always loved golf, but that love has grown so much since being in college,” Ramos said. “My teammates feel like family, and we all help push each other to become better every day. Like I said before, golf is typically an individual sport, but my teammates and I want to do well to benefit the team rather than ourselves. Each and every one of them have taught me so much. I have learned how to be a better golfer, teammate, and friend.”

Ramos and her fellow teammates on the UCO golf team kick off their 2023 season on Feb. 20 in Spring, Texas at the Southern Invite. The team has a total of five meets before the MIAA Championships in April.

Supporters of UCO’s golf program are encouraged to make a monthly gift to the Swinging Buddy program, which benefits both the men’s and women’s golf teams. To support, visit centralconnection. org/swingingbuddy.

Pyramid scheme: how cheer and dance teams prepare for the competition

Kelanie Robertson

Contributing Writer

UCO’s annual Cheer and Dance competition, held March 3-4 in the Hamilton Field House, has emerged as one of UCO’s biggest student organization competitions. Over the course of two days, most sororities, fraternities, and student organizations compete against each other with prepared routines.

Most of the student body is aware of the competition, which raises money for Bronchothon through T-shirt and ticket sales, and it attracts large crowds each year. What most people do not see are the careful preparations that go into competing.

Briley Wilson, head coach for the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, said that many teams hire outside individuals to create music and choreograph routines. But this year, Wilson took on those responsibilities.

“First I had to cut the music, I cut it myself, and then I found a space for us to rehearse, which is actually the dance studio I work at,” Wilson said. “We practice three to four days a week for two to three hours. They’ve all been working really hard, because I’ve been coming with stuff prepared for us to work on.”

The teams are allowed to practice 12 hours per week, which expands to 15 hours closer to the competition date. Most teams practice late at night, often until almost midnight during the week. However, when school is canceled they are not allowed to practice, which can shorten their practice time drastically.

“We had an ice storm earlier this week that was pretty irritating, because we lost two days of practice,” Wilson said. “It’s upsetting for me having a competitive background, because it feels like not enough time to work on stuff. I’m just thankful we were able to practice at least one day this week so we weren’t losing a whole week of practicing.”

Alpha Delta Pi were the winners of the medium category back in 2021. It is Wilson’s goal to come out with another victory this year.

“I’m just pushing everyone to their full potential and I am coming to practices with prepared choreography, that way we can get in, learn it, and get out,” she said. “Nevertheless though, we are pumped. I have loved it the past two years I’ve done it and this year I’m in charge of it, which is a little more nerve wracking, but I’m still just as excited.”