The month of March is Women’s History Month. As unfortunate as it sounds, the world of sports is often a male-dominated one. The achievements of women in the sporting world, more often than not, are swept under the rug and not appreciated nearly enough as they should. I believe the achievements of women in sports are just as important as those by men and should be celebrated equally as much.

When I started as the sports editor of The Daily Eastern News in August of 2011, I wanted to bring more attention to one of the best teams at Eastern that no one seems to know about: the women’s rugby team. Whether the team is made up of male or females, it shouldn’t matter. What does matter is that there is a team that plays right here in Charleston and wears Eastern colors that has only lost a handful of games in the past few years. Just because it was women’s athletics, it didn’t matter to us. We here at The News wanted to let our readers know about one of the best rugby teams in the country.

When women’s basketball season rolled around, the idea was no different. The team is great. People need to, and want to, read about them, so we’ll cover them. The women’s basketball team doesn’t get nearly enough respect as it should. The games are just as competitive as the men’s games and feature just as much athleticism and excitement. Don’t believe me? Watch the team’s last game against Tennessee Tech. Anybody who loves the sport of basketball will be on the edge of their seat, holding their breathe, waiting for the next play. How many times does a tornado affect the outcome of a basketball game? The game featured components that have probably only happened in the sport of basketball, men’s or women’s, a handful of times.

Right now, red-shirt sophomore Jade Riebold is heading to Oregon to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and she’s already made history. Riebold became the first Eastern woman to ever qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championship. Riebold has had an amazing first year, and only being in her red-shirt sophomore season, there’s more to come.

Riebold isn’t the only woman from the Ohio Valley Conference champion women’s track and field team. Earlier in the year, we ran a story on senior Bridget Sanchez, a sprinter who is balancing her athletic career while also being a 4.0 GPA psychology major. The softball team won the OVC championship last season and this season. We’ll do our best to provide the best coverage possible for such a great team.

These are just a few of the many great female athletes we have here at Eastern. Their accomplishments matter, and they should get recognized for it.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or at dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.