Brown Deer, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's and men's swimming & diving team opened competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's) Wednesday night in the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center. The Eagles' women's squad is in first-place with 133.0 team points while the men's team is in third-place with 66.0.
UW-Eau Claire is in second-place on the women's side with 124.0 points followed by UW-Oshkosh (86.0), UW-Stevens Point (84.0) and UW-Whitewater (56.0).
In the men's standings, UW-Eau Claire leads with 74.0 points and UW-Stevens Point is second with 72.0. UW-Whitewater is in fourth-place (60.0) and UW-Oshkosh fifth (56.0).
On the women's side, UWL's
Jordy Hahlen,
Lauren Steien,
Maddy Albert-Nelson and
Kylee Sommer won the 200 medley relay (1:44.82) while
Autumn Seebach,
Reilly Eiynck,
Makenzie Wallace and
Brooke Presny placed third (7:48.74) in the 800 freestyle relay.
It is UWL's fourth straight title in the 200 medley relay. Hahlen, Steien and Albert-Nelson were members of last year's championship relay.
UWL had four of the top-eight finishers in the three-meter diving competition.
Madeline Weber placed third (409.75 points) while
Laci Gottschalk was sixth (393.45),
Hannah Martini seventh (383.70) and
Joanne Banaszak eighth (380.70).
The men's squad had a pair of top-three relays on Wednesday.
Nicholas Litterer,
Connor Cleveland,
Andrew Perrin and
Will Quackenbush were second (6:49.87) in the 800 freestyle relay while
Jesse Hammes,
Mitchell Johnson,
Jonah Elfers and
Jackson Plautz placed third (1:32.67) in the 200 medley relay.
UWL returns to action Thursday, February 16 with the second day of action at the WIAC Championships. Preliminaries start at 10 a.m. with finals at 6:30 p.m.
