Nursing student-athletes share unique classification

Fadel and Tremelling were a big part of why the Badgers finished first. Fadel recorded personal bests in six of seven events to win the heptathlon, while Ryan beat out all Big Ten competitors in the 60-meter high hurdles. The combined efforts of the two, their teammates and their coaches delivered the Badgers a Big Ten conference win.

By definition, decathlons comprise a combined 10 events: 100 meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meter dash, 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault and javelin throw. Heptathlons comprise a combined 7 events: 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 meter high hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meter run.

As seniors, both Fadel and Tremelling have been voted co-captains for their team. It comes as no surprise to Mark Napier, UW assistant coach and men’s field event decathlon coach, that the team would choose the duo for this role. They were chosen for their leadership qualities, Napier states. “They are two of the most respected athletes we have on the team … and are two of the elite decathletes in the country.”

How did Fadel, from Oconomowoc, Wisc., and Tremelling, from Arena, Wisc., come to partner track with nursing? It was not by happenstance.

For Fadel—the 2004 Big Ten Indoor champion in the heptathlon, clinching a qualifying score for the NCAA Div. I Outdoor championships in June—the decision to focus on nursing was directly related to his mother, Ellen, who had worked as an operating room technician at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital.

“She told me many stories; I was hooked right away,” Fadel says. As a freshman at UW, and with Tremelling as his roommate, he made a confident decision to major in nursing.

For Tremelling—2003 Big Ten Indoor champion in the heptathlon and eighth-place finisher in the decathlon at the 2003 NCAA outdoor championships—majoring in nursing was directly linked to his grandfather, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer during Ryan’s senior year in high school.

Assisting with his grandfather’s care gave Ryan his direction: “I knew … that I wanted to get into nursing … something with an intrinsic reward,” Ryan says.

Both athletes agree that the rigors of being athlete and nursing student are, at times, inordinately tough. On an Olympic stage, the decathlon boasts the “world’s greatest athlete,” testing the mettle of such past winners as Jim Thorpe, Bruce Jenner, and Dan O’Brien. With standards this high, it’s no wonder that preparation and competition for the decathlon or heptathlon events are grueling. Combining training and competition with the scholastic demands of the nursing program is quite a balancing act.

Fadel explains, “being a decathlete means you must train for all three of the basic sections of the sport—sprinting, distance and field events—not to mention the strength training that goes along with it. … We begin practice at 1:00 or 1:30 pm and continue to train in two or three events followed by a running workout and weight training. … This of course is five days a week when we are not traveling for meets.”

What helps, Tremelling says, is that “athletes get early registration and set the schedule a year in advance so that the training and preparation will be from 1-6 [pm].” He adds that the nursing faculty are quite understanding in allowing for modified schedules.

“It hasn’t been easy being an athlete and a student. It’s kind of expected that you will be taxed, says Tremelling, but pros outweigh the cons.”

Upon graduation this May—after the last hurdle has been cleared and the last discus thrown—Fadel and Tremelling intend to pursue professions in health care. Ryan says he will look for a nursing position at a Madison hospital, preferably as an ICU nurse. Fadel admits that sports orthopedics holds “a special place in his heart”; therefore, he may veer this direction.

Visit the following Web sites to learn more about their athletic achievements:

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/mtrk/bios/bio.aspx?id=Fadel_Ashraf_mtrk&sport=mtrk

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=tct:2004:02:27:354816:SPORTS

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/mtrk/bios/bio.aspx?id=Tremelling_Ryan_mtrk&sport=mtrk