Women’s History Month Trivia: Wisconsin’s most Dominant Teams

Women’s history month happens during the month of March each year.  To commemorate and bring recognition to many successful women’s programs, I’ve created a 5 question trivia contest for you.  Test your knowledge of not only UW-Madison women’s athletics but also a few notable high school powerhouses as well.  Enjoy!

Question 1: How many Big Ten championships has the Badger Women’s Volleyball team won?

Answer: 9 (90, 97, 00, 01, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22)

The Badger women’s volleyball team has been dominant as of late winning 4 consecutive Big Ten championships.  Their first title came in 1990 in the final year of head coach Steve Lowe’s tenure.  A few years later, UW-Madison hired John Cook who would eventually lead the university to their second title in 1997.  The Badgers would eventually hire Pete Waite who coached from 1999-2012 and lead the Badgers to two more conference championships.  The final years under Waite were rough with Wisconsin never finishing higher than seventh in the conference.

Kelly Sheffield burst onto the scene in 2013.  In Sheffield’s first season, he lead the Badgers to be the NCAA Runners-up in the tournament.  Wisconsin was also a runner-up in 2019 with Sheffield at the helm. Coach Sheffield has consistently competed for the top of the conference.  The lowest finish of his tenure as head coach is sixth.  Ultimately, coach Sheffield got over the hump and brough Wisconsin its first NCAA championship in 2021.

Question 2: What is the total number of championship the Wisconsin women’s hockey team has won?

Answer: 6 (06, 07, 09, 11, 19, 21)

The Wisconsin women’s ice hockey team is still in its infancy.  Hockey became a sport at the university in the 1999-2000 season.  The women’s hockey team took off shortly after current head coach Mark Johnson was hired in the 2002-2003 season.  Johnson has been the man in charge at UW-Madison all except for one season. In 2010-2011, Johnson took a year off to coach the 2010 US Women’s Olympic team.  The US Women’s Olympic team had enormous success earning a silver medal, losing to host country Canada in the gold medal game.  It’s hard to see Johnson slowing down any time soon.

Question 3: Which high school girls program has won the most state basketball titles?

Answer: Cuba City – 11 (77, 80, 90, 91, 93, 05, 06, 07, 10, 14, 15)

Cuba City girls have dominated high school basketball winning 11 state titles.  The next closest team is Barneveld who’s won six titles.  Much of the Cuban’s success came under the direction of head coach Jeff Pustina.  Pustina held the varsity girls basketball position for 32 years.  Nine of the 11 championships Cuba City has earned came with Pustina in charge.  During Pustina’s 32 years at the helm, he was fortunate enough to coach all three of his daughters.  Jeff Pustina is currently an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin Platteville.

Question 4: How many girls have won individual State Cross Country championships all 4 years of high school?

Answer: 2 (Molly Seidel and Suzy Favor)

Molly Seidel attended University Lake School in Wisconsin from 2008-2011.  She’s possibly the most decorated distance runner in Wisconsin’s history.  Seidel won state championships all four years in cross country and the 1600 and 3200 at the track and field championships for 12 titles in total.  Seidel had a successful college career at the University of Notre Dame racking up more first place finishes. Molly’s biggest achievement, however, came when she earned bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Suzy Favor now Suzy Favor Hamilton attended Steven’s Point Area High School from 1982-1985.  Upon completion of high school, Favor Hamilton attended UW-Madison where she stacked up first places finishes on the track and field team.  Nine NCAA championships and 32 Big-Ten championships highlight her collegiate resume.

Question 5: Which high school boasts the most event champions at the State Track and Field meet?

Answer: Edgar (42)

Edgar girls track team had a stretch of phenomenal athletes.  In total, Edgar has achieved 42 first place finishes at the state track meet.  The next closest school is Madison Memorial at 34 first place finishes.  During one state meet, Edgar had two girls, Jena Heidmann and Tess Thurs each won four first place finishes.  This feat alone is an amazing statistic.

Much of the info used in writing this piece was gathered from the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association (WIAA) website.

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