18 Big Ten Rosters Now List Athletes Who Arrived From Division III

Every school in the Big Ten now lists at least one athlete on at least one roster who arrived from a Division III program. The pattern spans track, football and swimming rosters across the conference's 18 member institutions.

McKena Ramos moved in that direction after winning two national titles in one season at UW-Oshkosh. He took the indoor 800-meter championship and the outdoor 1500-meter championship, then transferred to UW-Madison. Eamon McKenna, who coaches track and cross-country at Oshkosh, said the program did not project that 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. "We knew he was good and we knew he was a little bit under the radar."

Ramos, a senior from Sheboygan, set his own condition before the indoor national meet. "I didn't think it was going to happen, I just made a little bet with myself," he said. He has since run for the Badgers in track and cross-country. "The biggest difference athletically is the competition level; everyone is on your level and up," he said. He also cited travel and access to top-level meets.

Two Wisconsin football players took similar routes. Ricky Finco, a junior wide receiver who appears mainly on the scout team, transferred after one year at UW-Whitewater. Ryan Ramczyk played offensive line at UW-Stevens Point before an All-American season in Madison that moved him up NFL Draft boards.

The transfer does not always hold. Emma Paulson spent one season on the Wisconsin swim team, then moved to the University of St. Thomas, a Division III program 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 collected three individual national titles and nine individual All-American citations. "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 spending and staffing. Division III schools hand out no athletic scholarships, and their facilities generally sit at a smaller scale than those at Division I programs. Ramos said the running work is much the same, but Madison carries resources Oshkosh did not, including ice baths, tutoring at the Fetzer Center and the option to sit exams while traveling. Paulson said she faces the same academic standards as students who do not compete and has no dedicated academic support.

Both athletes said they would repeat the choice. "I am absolutely happy," Ramos said, adding that competing for Madison had been his aim since middle school. McKenna offered a condition for athletes weighing a similar move: "If you stand out in DIII, you're going to have opportunities." He said the deciding factor is whether a competitor can keep the qualities that made them dominant at their current school.