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Pointers Sweep Men's and
Women's WIAC Titles
For the third time in school history,
UW-Stevens Point captured both the men�s and women�s Wisconsin
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference swimming and diving titles on
Saturday in Minneapolis.
The Pointer men cruised to their seventh
straight title, while the women�s team avenged four straight close
losses to UW-La Crosse with a narrow win of its own, outscoring the
Eagles by 46.5 points to earn the championship.
All 15 of UW-Stevens Point�s women�s
swimmers in Saturday�s prelims qualified for the finals and the team�s
distance squad put the Pointers in position to win as Alissa Colbert,
Steph Boehme and Lindsey Googins opened the night by finishing second
through fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
Abby Strobel followed with her second
victory of the meet, winning the 200-yard backstroke in 2:09.06 and
Jennie Roskopf added her second title with her third straight 200-yard
breaststroke title in 2:24.69. Meghan Walsh also won her second event,
taking the 200-yard butterfly crown in 2:11.70.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Caitlin
Hake, Beth Bard, Jerica Crook and Kelsey Crunstedt finished off the
victory with a winning time of 3:33.04. It marked the women�s team�s
third title, having also won in 2000 and 2001. The Pointers totaled 985
points in the win after finishing second by less than 51 points in each
of the past four years.
Senior Alex Anderson was named the
outstanding swimmer of the men�s meet for the first time in his career,
helping the 400-yard freestyle relay team with Matt Grunwald, Tyler
Eloranta and Chase Gross to a conference record time of 3:04.98. It was
the 12th career winning relay for Anderson, who also completed his
career with eight individual titles.
The Pointers added two other conference
records as Gross posted a time of 45.98 seconds in the 100-yard
freestyle and Ben Gensler won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:03.97,
nudging Anderson by a half-second. Rob Donisch posted a win in the
200-yard butterfly in 1:53.41.
The men�s team amassed 1,017.5 points with
UW-La Crosse placing second with 781.5 points. It was the Pointers� 10th
men�s title, having also won in 1977, 1997, 1998 and the previous six
years. |
