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Senior Randy Boelk became the most
decorated male swimmer in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference history Friday night to help the University of Wisconsin-Stevens
Point men's swimming and diving team strengthen its lead on
first place after two days of competition at the conference
championships in Oshkosh.
The Pointers now have 680 points
to easily outdistance second-place UW-La Crosse's 460 points
as UW-Stevens Point aims for its fourth title in five years.
The UW-Stevens Point women's team also remains in first place
with 560.5 points, while UW-Eau Claire is in second place with
525.5.
Friday's competition featured four
WIAC records as UW-Eau Claire junior Matt Oglesby had an NCAA
Division III "A" cut time of 50.11 in the 100 yard
butterfly for the only men's record. UW-Eau Claire senior Brianna
Crowley set a record in the 400 yard individual medley with
a time of 4:41.07, while UW-Stevens Point junior Christine Sammons
set the 100 yard breaststroke record in the preliminaries at
1:07.88. Sammons also was a member of the Pointers' record-setting
200 yard medley relay team that was clocked in 1:48.47. She
was joined by freshman Alissa Bartz, junior Mary Thone and sophomore
Jennifer Randall.
Boelk became the first WIAC participant
to ever win four career 400 yard individual medley titles. He
had a time of 4:08.9 for his ninth career individual title,
tying him with three other swimmers for the most career individual
titles. He also was a member of his 12th conference championship
relay title, winning both the 200 yard medley relay in 1:33.81
and the 800 yard freestyle relay in 7:00.00. His 21 overall
league titles surpass the previous WIAC career record of 18
held by UW-Eau Claire's Steve Hollman from 1984-87. Boelk was
joined on the 200 yard medley by senior Tim Benjamin, junior
Anthony Harris and junior Nate Eddingsaas. The 800 yard relay
featured Boelk, sophomore Thad Gunther, Benjamin and Harris.
In addition to the 100 yard butterfly
title, Oglesby also claimed the 100 yard backstroke crown on
Friday with a time of 51.78 seconds. UW-La Crosse junior Chad
Morrow won the 100 yard breaststroke in 59.36 seconds. UW-Stevens
Point also received titles from Benjamin in the 200 yard freestyle
in 1:44.56 and freshman Chris Hansman in the three meter diving
event with 463.0 points.
UW-Oshkosh freshman Renee Porter
won the 100 yard backstroke for her second title of the meet.
Porter, who also won the 50 yard freestyle on Thursday, posted
a time of 59.06 seconds in her backstroke win. UW-Oshkosh freshman
diver Rachel Heitkamp won the one meter event with a score of
416.35 points, giving UW-Oshkosh three of the four diving titles.
Teammate Erin LeRoy, a junior, won the three meter event Thursday
and was third in the one meter with a score of 402.75.
UW-La Crosse freshman Shara Guerts
won the 200 yard freestyle in 1:56.98 for the Eagles' second
women's individual title of the meet. After setting the WIAC
record in preliminaries, Sammons captured the 100 yard breaststroke
title for the third straight year, posting a finals time of
1:08.17.
In addition to its 200 yard medley
relay win, UW-Stevens Point also won the 800 yard freestyle
relay in 7:55.90. Randall, freshman Erica Janssen, Thone and
junior Amy Rockwell swam the 800 yard freestyle relay.
Other highlights for the UW-Oshkosh
women were a pair of top-five finishes by sophomore Elizabeth
Tierney, who placed fourth in the 100 yard breaststroke and
fifth in 100 yard butterfly. The Titans also received a fifth-place
finish from junior Jennifer Broadley in the 100 yard backstroke
and a sixth-place finish from senior Stacy Bradley in the 400
yard individual medley. The UW-Oshkosh men also received a second-place
finish from junior Mike Moran in the 100 yard breaststroke,
a second-place finish from junior Chris Kessler in the 3 meter
diving, a third-place finish from junior Dave Bahr in the 3
meter diving, a fourth-place finish from freshman Ben Tompkins
in the 3 meter diving and a fifth-place finish from sophomore
Nick Duffy in the 400 yard individual medley.
Three teams are within just 30
points on the women's side as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens
Point holds the first day lead at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Oshkosh.
UW-Stevens Point is also off to a successful start in defending
its men's team title after the first day.
UW-Stevens Point's women's team
has 245.5 points, compared to 233.5 for UW-Eau Claire and 216
for UW-La Crosse. The UW-Stevens Point men's team has 318 points
to lead second place UW-La Crosse, which has 201 points.
The Pointer men's team won all
five swimming events Thursday, capturing relay titles in the
200 yard freestyle at 1:24.30 and the 400 yard medley at 3:27.65.
Pointers' senior Randy Boelk won
the 200 yard individual medley for the third time in his career
with a time of 1:54.66. The win, combined with the relay victory,
gives him eight individual titles and 10 relay titles in his
four-year career. Nick Hansen captured the title in the 50 yard
freestyle with a time of 21.65 and Tim Benjamin claimed the
500 yard freestyle in 4:46.31. It was the first career individual
titles for both UW-Stevens Point seniors.
Junior Dave Bahr of UW-Oshkosh
won the one-meter diving event while teammate Chris Kessler,
a junior, finished second. The Titans also had the top two finishers
in the women's three-meter diving in junior Erin LeRoy and freshman
Rachel Heitkamp. It marked the first time in school history
that the Titans had the top two finishers in any diving event.
UW-Stevens Point's women's team
set the only WIAC record on the first day of competition in
the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:37.14, winning
the event for the first time since 1987. The Pointers also won
the 400 yard medley relay in 3:58.09.
UW-Oshkosh freshman Renee Porter
qualified for next month's NCAA Division III Championship by
winning the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 24.02 seconds. Freshman
Karrin Lick of UW-La Crosse won the 500 yard freestyle in 5:12.84
and sophomore Kristjana Marston of UW-Eau Claire claimed the
200 yard individual medley in 2:13.12, edging teammate Brianna
Crowley, senior, by one-hundredth of a second.
The Titans also received a fifth-place
finish from junior Mike Moran in the 500 yard freestyle, a sixth-place
finish from freshman Ben Tompkins in the 1 meter diving and
an eighth-place finish from senior Stacy Bradley in the 200
yard individual medley. |