2004 WIAC Championships • Friday Recap

Four-time defending league champion UW-Stevens Point has totaled 637 points in the men's division to stay in front of UW-La Crosse's second-place score of 615. The two teams are followed by third-place UW-Eau Claire with 243 points, fourth-place UW-Whitewater with 242, fifth-place UW-Oshkosh with 232 and sixth-place UW-River Falls with 214.

UW-Stevens Point, which owned three event champions on Thursday (Feb. 19), added two more titles to its collection on Friday (Feb. 20). Winning events for the Pointers were Peter Nowak in the 400 yard individual medley and Garth Newport in the 100 yard butterfly. Nowak took the 400 yard individual medley in a time of 4:21.02 and Newport the 100 yard butterfly in 50.75 seconds.

UW-La Crosse had three first-place efforts in the eight events held Friday, including Shane Ryan's second straight victory in the 200 yard freestyle. Ryan swam to a time of 1:42.30 in the finals after setting an Albee Hall record in the preliminaries with a mark of 1:42.25. The Eagles also finished first in two relay events, the 800 yard freestyle and the 200 yard medley. The 800 yard freestyle relay team of Ryan, Ethan Kaercher, Trevor Rowlands and Josh Mork swam to a time of 6:56.54, a WIAC and Albee Hall best, to successfully defend its title. Swimming on the Eagles' 200 yard medley relay team that posted a winning time of 1:33.64, an Albee Hall record, were Ryan, Rowlands, Matthew Spurr and David Dettmann.

Other champions crowned on Friday were UW-Oshkosh's Chris Hansman and Yusuke Iimori and UW-Whitewater's Craig Lashley. Both UW-Oshkosh athletes duplicated their titles of a year ago as Hansman won the three meter diving with a score of 508.45 and Iimori the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 57.05 seconds. Iimori set a WIAC record in the preliminaries of his event with a time of 56.69 seconds. Lashley captured UW-Whitewater's only event title in this yearns championship to date by winning the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 53.23 seconds.

In the women's division, two-time defending league champion UW-La Crosse won six of the eight events held Friday, but still remained in second place. UW-Stevens Point paces the six-team field with 656 points, while UW-La Crosse is in second place with 643.5 points, UW-Eau Claire third with 356, UW-Oshkosh fourth with 247, UW-Whitewater fifth with 181.5 and UW-River Falls sixth with 152.

Winning events for the Eagles were Anne Melvin in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 57.93 seconds, Krista Melvin in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.71 and Elizabeth Miles in the 400 yard individual medley with a time of 4:35.56, all WIAC records. Fallon Toomsen also won the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 59.68 seconds. Krista Melvin's title was her third in the 200 yard freestyle, while it was the second for her twin sister, Anne, in the 100 yard butterfly.

The Eagles also captured a pair of relay events in WIAC record time, the 800 yard freestyle in 7:47.96 and the 200 yard medley in 1:48.82. Members of the 800 yard freestyle relay team were Krista Melvin, Shara Geurts, Kelly Hackbarth and Carlene Empanger, while members of the 200 yard medley relay team were Toomsen, Anne Melvin, Steph Karis and Lexi Fink. UW-La Crosse was the defending champion in the 800 yard freestyle relay.

Other event winners were Jennie Roskopf of UW-Stevens Point in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.27 and Rachel Heitkamp of UW-Oshkosh in the one meter diving with a score of 428.25, an Albee Hall record. Heitkamp won the event in 2001 and 2003.