As the 2017-18 school year reaches the halfway point of the fall semester, the intramural sports season is in full effect. Delta Upsilon is one of the fraternities on Bradley’s campus that competes in intramural sports. Delta Upsilon, or DU, has won the IFC All-Sports Championship the past three years. The Inter Fraternity Council All-Sports Championship pits all the fraternities on campus against each other through a variety of sports like basketball and football and even lesser known sports like spike ball and racquetball. All the sports range in competitiveness and skill level and are broken up into A, B and C leagues.
Although IFC and intramurals are not directly connected, IFC uses the intramural regular season in the various sports for seeding of their tournaments. Whoever receives the most points, from placing first, second, or third in the various sports tournaments, wins the All-Sports Championship. Senior Alex Erbs plays on the volleyball squad and knows the importance of placing in each sport.
“We look to place in every sport we can. Most of the guys in our house have played sports in high school and this is a good way for them to continue playing to give them something to take their mind off school,” said Erbs. “Guys have played sports ranging from football to lacrosse to hockey. We are very confident we will do well this year in each sport.”
Delta Upsilon has made it a point to compete hard and to succeed in all the sports they participate in, regardless if it is in intramurals or IFC. This has been apparent for the past three years with DU placing top three in all the major sports like basketball, football, and softball. Delta Upsilon also does not let the notoriety of the sport change their level of intensity, placing in lesser known sports such as floor hockey, swimming, and wrestling.
Senior Mark LaHood plays on the soccer, softball and football teams for Delta Upsilon. When asked about DU’s mindset when it comes to intramurals, he replied with a strong, defiant answer. “In our house, we stress that we cannot take any sport lightly. We obviously want to compete and do well in sports like basketball and football, because those sports hold the most points. But we can’t just rely on winning only two sports to win All-Sports. We must play hard and place in all the sports we compete in, and we have athletes in this house to do just that in each sport. We want to not only place, but to win each sport we participate in.”
Because of this mindset, Delta Upsilon has become a perennial powerhouse in football, basketball, and softball. With continuous success, DU knows that every other team is after their title. But with great leadership, they have taken this added pressure in stride using it to fuel their quest to repeat for a fourth time as All-Sports Champions. Senior Zach Carnes noted that there is pressure not only on this year’s team but teams in the future to build off this success his class has been a part of.
“We’ve had great success not just in football, but other sports. Teams see that we compete hard and want to knock us out of seeding. Each game feels like a playoff game because each team we play is giving us their best. We take it as a challenge to push ourselves to reach the top again this year and for years to come,” Carnes said.
Coming into this season, Delta Upsilon looks to build off their success last year and so far, they are on the right path. DU won the intramural softball championship recently and now turn their attention to football, winning their first three games. They look to build off their hot start and reach the intramural championship with the tournament starting November 1st.
Looking towards the end of the semester, Delta Upsilon will begin the basketball season after intramural football is done. Last year, DU fell to Phi Kappa Tau in the championship game. The loss left a bitter taste in the mouths of the returning players and they will look for a rematch this year. DU will get their first taste of action during the pre-holiday basketball tournament.