Brown Deer, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's swimming & diving team remained in first-place after the third day of competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's) Friday night at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center.
The Eagles have 744 team points while UW-Eau Claire is in second-place with 577. UW-Stevens Point is third (368) followed by UW-Oshkosh (281) and UW-Whitewater (232).
Jordy Hahlen,
Callie Klepp and
Joanne Banaszak captured individual titles on Friday with Hahlen winning the 100 backstroke (55.82) and Klepp the 100 breaststroke (1:04.64) while Banaszak took the one-meter diving title (466.70).
Banaszak set a WIAC Championship record with her 466.70 points, breaking the record of 461.00 set by UWL's
Kayley Alioto in 2018.
UWL won the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.57) on Friday for the second straight year with Klepp, Mikayla Knaffla,
Ava Pulvermacher and
Libby Cleveland. Cleveland was also on the first-place 200 freestyle relay last year with
Kylee Sommer,
Brooke Laube and
Paige Rundahl.
It is Hahlen's third league title in the 100 backstroke, also winning in 2022 and 2024. She is the fourth swimmer in school history to win at least three crowns in the 100 backstroke, joining Anna Meyer (1999-2000, 2022), Chelsea Hoff (2008-10) and Brooke Reynolds (2012-15).
Banaszak is the seventh diver in school history to sweep the one and three-meter diving titles after she won the three-meter on Wednesday. She joins
Mary Blamer (1978),
Sarah Thayer (2005),
Amanda Medendorp (2006-08),
Rachel LaValley (2010), Alioto (2017-18) and
Sydney Vian (2020).
Banaszak set a WIAC Championship record on Friday with her score of 466.70. She breaks the record of 461.00 in 2018 set by UWL's Kayley Alioto. Banaszak is the first diver for UWL to win the one-meter since Vian in 2020.
Klepp is the first swimmer for UWL to win the 100 breaststroke since Maria Vaudreuil in 2020.
Along with Hahlen's win in the 100 backstroke on Friday, UWL's
Autumn Seebach was second (56.94), Cleveland fifth (58.83) and Mikayla Knaffla eighth (59.18).
Zoey Rank was second (1:04.90) and
Natalie Austin sixth (1:05.99) in the 100 breaststroke.
UWL had five of the top-seven finishers in the one-meter diving.
Hannah Martini placed second (427.60 points) with Madison DeBarnardo third (413.75),
Madeline Weber fourth (405.90) and
Abbey Thornton seventh (388.20).
The Eagles had four of the top-seven finishers in the 100 butterfly. Austin placed third (57.88),
Emily Schoenbrodt fourth (57.89),
Maddy Albert-Nelson sixth (58.59) and
Shefali Ramakrishnan seventh (59.00).
Reilly Eiynck placed third (1:54.77) and
Amelia Olson eighth (1:57.79) in the 200 freestyle Friday.
Ava Pulvermacher finished second (4:35.43) in the 400 I.M. while
Lily Rosenau was fourth (4:43.86),
Makenzie Wallace fifth (4:44.30) and
Abi Schauske sixth (4:46.73).
Action continues Saturday, February 22 with preliminaries at 10 a.m.
