Swimming & Diving Host Conference Relays

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Posted: Wednesday, November 15, 2006

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's and women's swimming and diving teams face off against their conference foes this Saturday when they host the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Relays.

Both the men and women are 2-2 overall with records of 1-2 in dual meets and 1-1 in WIAC dual meets. Both teams won in the Midwest Coed Relays and at UW-River Falls. The two losses were to Mankato State University (MN) and UW-Stevens Point.

The Eau Claire diving teams have done well and expect to challenge for the top spots on the boards this weekend. For the men, Donnie Vollmer (So.-Superior) holds the best mark in the 1-meter at 274.20 while Kenny Ritt (Fr.-Racine/Horlick) has a team-best 245.90 in the 3-meter event. The women also have the top positions split. Sarah Myers (Jr.-Eau Claire/North) has a 229.20 in the 1-meter boards and Laurel Van Soest (Jr.-Mound, MN/Mound-Westonka) produced a 189.25 score in the 3-meter.

The women have many swimmers performing well as several own two or more team categories. On the men's side, top swimmers include Pat Finley (So.-Waunakee) and Cale Schmidt-Jackson (Sr.-Duluth, MN/East), who both own four categories.

A couple of events Eau Claire looks to excel in this weekend include the men's 3x100 butterfly relay and the women's 4x200 freestyle relay.

While both teams are swimming faster than at this point last season, it will be hard to top UW-La Crosse and Stevens Point, who are expected to compete for first this weekend. The Eagles have not had a meet with a team score as of yet while the Pointers are 1-1 in dual meets. They also took 1st of 3 at its border battle versus Minnesota State and South Dakota. La Crosse took the women's WIAC Relays last season while Stevens Point won the men's title. Eau Claire placed third in both.

This year's conference showdown starts at 10:00 a.m. Saturday in the McPhee Pool.