Familiar Faces Named Conference Athletes of the Week

     Three UW-Stevens Point athletes who are used to earning Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week honors continued their outstanding careers with another award this week.

     Junior Alex Anderson was named the men�s swimming Athlete of the Week for the third time this season and seventh time in his career. Senior Cody Koenig earned his second wrestling Athlete of the Week honor of the season and fifth of his career, while senior Amanda Nechuta was named the women�s basketball Athlete of the Week for the first time this year and fourth time in her career.

     Anderson was a triple winner as the Pointers claimed the championship of the Get to the Point Invitational. He won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:10.89, the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.00 seconds and the 50-yard freestyle in 21.43. He also swam on the winning 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.23 and the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:25.61.

    Koenig went 6-1 as the Pointers wrestled five top 10 ranked teams in one week. He won all five of his matches at the National Wrestling Coaches Association Duals in Cleveland, Ohio over the weekend, including a 4-1 win over fourth-ranked Mark Hawald of John Carroll (Ohio).

    Nechuta scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Pointers� 63-56 victory over fifth-ranked UW-Oshkosh and totaled 25 points in a win over UW-La Crosse. Nechuta has 1,647 career points and is now just six points short of becoming UW-Stevens Point�s all-time leading scorer, entering the Pointers� game at UW-Platteville on Jan. 25.

Women�s Basketball Joins Other Pointer Sports in National Rankings

     Riding a nine-game winning streak, the UW-Stevens Point women�s basketball team is back in the NCAA Division III rankings at No. 22 in this week�s D3hoops.com national poll. The Pointers were ranked in the first four polls, but fell out for five straight weeks before returning after its defeat of fifth-ranked UW-Oshkosh.

     The UW-Stevens Point men�s basketball team remained No. 1 and received all 25 first place votes. The Pointers have been the nation�s top-ranked team in all but one poll this season.

     The women�s hockey team moved up one spot to fifth in this week�s rankings after a weekend sweep of UW-Eau Claire. The Pointers host second-ranked Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Ice Hawks Arena.

     The wrestling team was ranked 14th in the latest Division III rankings entering last week when it competed against six ranked foes, including five top 10 teams. The Pointers host UW-Parkside, which is ranked 13th in Division II, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Berg Gym.