Women’s History Month, Jennifer (Pekulik) Petricek (’13)
OSHKOSH, Wis.- This Women's History Month, UW-Oshkosh Athletics is proud to honor our female Hall of Famers in a series of eight stories throughout March. This campaign creates the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our female Hall of Famers. Our fifth story will look at what Hall of Fame class of 2013 member Jennifer (Pekulik) Petricek did with the Titans and her life after Oshkosh.
Jennifer (Pekulik) Petricek ('13) owns two of the only three 20-win seasons in the history of the UW-Oshkosh women's tennis program. The Sheboygan Falls native came to Oshkosh in 1997 to study Secondary Education and English and play tennis for head coach Steve Francour. With the tennis team, she won at least 16 matches each year and became the first Titan individual to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship.
Petricek went 20-1 and won the WIAC No. 5 singles in her freshman year, earning All-WIAC First Team-Singles honors, later winning the 1997 Midwest Fall Invitational. Her freshman year finish still sits atop the record book in program history.
In her sophomore year, Petricek owned a final record of 16-3 and won the No. 2 flight WIAC Singles title for her second All-WIAC First Team-Singles nod. She was also 15-1 in doubles with Brittany Moser. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranked her 25th in the nation for her efforts.
The 1999 season was more of the same for Petricek. She went 17-7 in singles competition and 11-1 in doubles with Debra Ashenbrenner on their way to the WIAC No. 1 doubles title. Their title is just one of five in program history. She was ranked 12th in the Midwest Region and 42nd in the nation by the ITA.
Petricek set the program record with a 22-6 singles finish on the season, placing second in the WIAC Tournament for her fourth All-WIAC honor and first Second Team nod. She and Ashenbrenner compiled a 19-9 record in doubles play. For fall competition, the ITA ranked her fourth in the Midwest Region, she was named the WIAC Co-Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete and an ITA Scholar-Athlete All-American. She was one of 32 competitors selected for the 2001 NCAA Division III Championship and the first Titan to reach the tournament. During the annual senior awards banquet, she was honored with the John Taylor Scholar-Athlete and Phyllis Roney Coaches Awards. When she was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the 2013 Athletics Hall of Fame and Senior Awards Banquet, she said a trip to the tournament was the perfect way to end her career and represent the University. "Twelve years ago after my senior year, I was sitting at this banquet and couldn't imagine ever being one of the candidates. (The people in my life) always inspired me to do my best as a player and as a person."
She finished her athletic career with the program record in wins (75), four All-WIAC nods, three WIAC titles and two years served on the Student Athletic Advisory Board (the current Student Athletic Advisory Committee's predecessor).
She finished her academic career with a 3.932 cumulative GPA, an ITA Scholar-Athlete All-America nod, a WIAC Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete honor, four WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll mentions and placement on the UW-Oshkosh Deans List from 1998-2001. She also was a member of Kappa Delta Pi and Sigma Tau Delta (English Honor Societies), Phi Alpha Theta (a History Honor Society), the University Symphonic Band and served as an after-hours tutor in the Oshkosh School District.
Francour, who recently returned to Oshkosh after leaving to coach at Lawrence University (Wis.) for the 2013-14 season, coached Petricek all four years at Oshkosh. He says he first met her during one of the program's summer camps for young athletes and recognized her love of the game. "I stayed in contact with her and was able to convince her UW-Oshkosh would be a great place for her to continue her academic and athletic career." On her athletic career with the Titans, "She got better each year at UW-Oshkosh and capped it off with the best season any UW-Oshkosh woman ever had. The year Jenny made it to nationals was extremely unique. Three players from the WIAC also made it in 2001. Jenny beat the player from UW-La Crosse but couldn't find a win against Molly Cope from UW-Eau Claire (she played her 3 times). The UW-La Crosse player beat Molly during the season. Jenny made it to the semi-finals for the Midwest ITA Tournament. This set her up for the opportunity to go to the nationals. Only 32 players in the nation make it to the singles individual championship."
Petricek has been teaching middle school English since 2002 and graduated from UW-La Crosse with her master's degree in 2007. She currently teaches middle school English in the Racine Unified School District. She and her husband, Tim have a son named Connor.
Stay tuned to uwoshkoshtitans.com and our social media accounts for the next story on our Hall of Famers. Friday, we will be highlighting Rachel (Heitkamp) Chaney ('22).