Men's Swimming and Diving | 2/21/2026 9:36:00 PM
Brown Deer, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's swimming & diving team captured the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's) Saturday night at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center.
The Eagles secured their fifth conference title in school history and first since 1971 with 891.0 team points. UW-Eau Claire placed second with 781.0 points while UW-Stevens Point was third with 677.0, UW-Whitewater fourth with 488.0 and UW-Oshkosh fifth with 288.0.
It is the first WIAC Championship under head coach
Steve Mohs, who was named the WIAC Men's Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the championships.
UWL's
Jacob Ketterling and
Preston Nygaard each won individual titles on Saturday with Ketterling winning the 200 backstroke (1:51.25) and Nygaard the 200 breaststroke (1:58.85). Ketterling is the first UWL swimmer to captured the 200 backstroke since Hans Hover in 2019 while Nygaard is the first to take the 200 breaststroke since Michael Hruska in 2008. Nygaard broke his own school record in the preliminaries on Saturday (1:58.65). Ketterling was voted the WIAC Co-Swimmer of the Meet and Nygaard selected the WIAC Newcomer of the Year at the conclusion of the championships.
Along with Ketterling's win in the 200 backstroke,
Coby Zander finished fourth (1:54.38),
Owen Acker sixth (1:56.28) and
Sean Gillett 10th (1:56.96).
Ben Collins was third (2:03.26) and
Gabe DeWald sixth (2:06.89) in the 200 breaststroke along with Nygaard's first-place finish.
The Eagles captured the 400 freestyle relay Saturday with
Tyler Hartmann, Ketterling, Nygaard and
Jesse Hammes (3:01.58). UWL set a school record, breaking the previous record (3:02.47) set by Jacob Burchfield, Alec Carlson, Hover and Jack Rohlinger in 2019.
It is UWL's fourth straight title in the 400 freestyle relay. Hammes and Hartmann were both members of last year's first-place relay while Ketterling was on the winning relay in 2024.
UWL had four of the top five finishers in the 200 butterfly Saturday as
Caleb Jondle placed second (1:55.74),
Isaac Mozena third (1:56.33),
Jonah Elfers fourth (1:59.07) and Nick Ellerd fifth (1:59.40).
Nolan Sannito was 11th (2:03.13).
The Eagles' Hartmann placed third (46.79) and Hammes fourth (46.81) in the 100 freestyle while
Luca Nociti was ninth (47.05) and
Gavin LaBeau 14th (48.89).
In Saturday's 1,650 freestyle, Acker finished fifth (16:33.16),
Davin Evans sixth (16:46.10), Ellerd 11th (17:20.41), Sannito 12th (17:26.71) and Mozena 15th (19:11.32).
UWL returns to action Friday, February 27 with the NCAA Division III Central Diving Regional in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
