Bill Zorn’s 1955-56 basketball team will celebrate its 60th anniversary as one of 31 UW-Eau Claire teams with anniversaries of conference or national championships during the 2015-16 academic year.
Thirteen of the Blugolds’ 20 sports are represented with this year’s anniversary teams and 19 teams are celebrating a silver anniversary or greater. Hall of Fame coaches Tom Prior and Ken Anderson directed 13 of the anniversary squads. Hall of Fame coaches Bill Zorn, Robert Scott, Marilyn Skrivseth, Frank Wrigglesworth and Todd Oehrlein coached seven additional squads.
Oehrlein coached the one national championship team among the 31 and that was the 2001 men’s golf team which won the NCAA Division III title. Golf was no longer a conference championship sport at that time.
Zorn’s 1955-56 team recorded 20 victories for the second year in a row, finishing at 20-5 overall and sharing the conference title with Platteville. The Blugolds beat Beloit College in the district championship game to advance to the NAIA nationals in Kansas City. They became the first Blugold team to win a game at the national tournament, beating Portland State of Oregon in the first round before losing a 1-point decision to Dick Barnett-led Tennessee A&I in the second round.
It is not surprising that five men’s swimming and diving teams and four women’s swimming and diving teams are represented. During his 30 years as the men’s coach, Prior’s teams won 25 conference titles including 19 consecutive from 1978 through 1996. During his 21 years as the women’s coach, Prior’s teams won 19 conference championships including 18 straight from 1980 through 1997. Thus his men’s 1975-76, 1980-81, 1985-86, 1990-91 and 1995-96 teams are celebrating as are his women’s 1980-81, 1985-86, 1990-91 and 1995-96 squads. The 1975-76 and 1980-81 men’s teams both finished fourth in the NAIA while the 1985-86 women’s team placed third in the NAIA nationals and the 1980-81 and 1990-91 teams were fourth.
Hall of Famers represented on those men’s teams include Riff Yeager, Andy Antonetz, Steve Forrer and Todd Laverty from 75-76; Jim Brennan, Doug Brown, Mark Green and Al Opsahl from 80-81; Steve Hollman and Pat Anderson from 85-86; and Bill Underwood from 90-91. Hall of Famers represented on those women’s teams include Karen Luterbach, Carolyn Sheild, Holly Hanson, Laura Ladwig, Sharon King and Lisa Roettger from 80-81; Ellen Holterman, Kim Hubbard, Sara Smith, Whitney Southerst, Stephanie Strzalka, Chris Seyser and Mary Robertson from 85-86; Kari Albers and Sara Laun from 90-91 and Sara Shimanski and Sara Mulatz from 95-96.
Anderson directed the Blugolds to 14 conference titles during his 27-year tenure from 1968 through 1995. His 1970-71 squad, which went undefeated in 16 conference games as part of an unprecedented and since unmatched 49-game conference win streak, finished 26-2 for the season and advanced to the third round of the NAIA tournament in Kansas City. That team, which included All-Americans Mike Ratliff and Frank Schade, is celebrating its 45th anniversary. His other three anniversary teams are the 1975-76 squad, which finished 25-3 and was led by conference MVP Ken Kaiser; his 1980-81 squad, which finished 29-5 and was led by All-American Tony Carr; and his 1990-91 club, which finished 29-3 and was led by conference MVP Mike Johnson.
Joining the men’s basketball and men’s swim teams as a 40-year anniversary team is Robert Scott’s men’s tennis squad which was led by Pete Hartwich and Scott Nesbit and included conference singles champs Mark Hillestad and Mark Turner.
The Blugolds’ athletics program enjoyed considerable success 35 years ago as six teams won conference titles. Besides the two swim teams and men’s basketball, the champions included men’s cross country, men’s tennis and women’s tennis. The men’s cross country crown was the Blugolds’ only one in that sport until the men won again last fall. That team was led by All-American Dan Stack who won the first of his two conference individual titles. The men’s tennis team had three singles champs that year in Ken Cychosz, Jay Lewis and Tom Allwardt. The women’s tennis championship represented the first of 12 won by the Blugolds in that sport. Singles champs that year were Nancy Jansen, Joan Pedersen, Lori Olsen and Patty Stengel.
In addition to winning the conference championship in 1985, the women’s cross country team finished runner-up in the NAIA nationals, a year after claiming the national championship. That group is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Five teams are celebrating silver anniversaries this year. Besides the two swimming and men’s basketball teams, they include the men’s golf team and the softball team. The men’s golf team was led by All-American Kent Higley and the championship represented the seventh of eight won by the Blugolds between 1976 and discontinuation of men’s golf as a championship sport in 1993. The conference softball championship was determined by a weekend, double-elimination tournament at that time. Under the direction of Bruce Finke, the Blugolds went 4-1 to claim the school’s first conference trophy in that sport. Hall of Famers Andrea Bussler and Beth Brochhausen led that squad.
There are three teams each celebrating their 20th, 15th, 10th and 5th anniversaries. Ten years ago, coach Sean Yengo’s soccer team won the school’s first conference title and would go on to claim two more in succession and make four straight NCAA tournament appearances. The 2006 softball team is the only Blugold team to go undefeated (14-0) during the regular conference schedule and finished 37-6 overall, falling one win short of the NCAA national championship tournament.
When the men’s golf team, under the guidance of Todd Oehrlein, won the national championship in 2001, it was only the third team north of the Mason-Dixon line to win an NCAA Division III national golf title in the 27-year history of that event. The Blugolds’ five-man national tournament team included All-American Ryan Quinn, Ryan Kuhl, Andy Smith, Todd Samarzia and Brian Thompson.
2015-16 UW-Eau Claire Blugold Conference & National Championship Anniversary Teams with head coaches
60th anniversary
1955-56 Men’s basketball (Bill Zorn)
45th anniversary
1970-71 Men’s basketball (Ken Anderson)
40th anniversary
1975-76 Men’s basketball (Ken Anderson)
Men’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Men’s tennis (Robert Scott)
35th anniversary
1980-81 Men’s basketball (Ken Anderson)
Men’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Men’s tennis (Robert Scott)
Women’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Men’s cross country (Keith Daniels)
Women’s tennis (Marilyn Skrivseth)
30th anniversary
1985-86 Women’s cross country (Tom York)
Men’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Women’s swimming (Tom Prior)
25th anniversary
1990-91 Men’s basketball (Ken Anderson)
Men’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Women’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Men’s golf (Frank Wrigglesworth)
Softball (Bruce Finke)
20th anniversary
1995-96 Men’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Women’s swimming (Tom Prior)
Women’s tennis (Marilyn Skrivseth)
15th anniversary
2000-01 Women’s basketball (Tonja Englund)
Women’s tennis (Tracy Saloka)
Men’s golf (Todd Oehrlein) – no conference but NCAA National Championship
10th anniversary
2005-06 Softball (Leslie Huntington)
Women’s golf (Scott Kilgallon/Jeremy Johnson/Eric Anderson/Robin Baker)
Women’s soccer (Sean Yengo)
5th anniversary
2010-11 Women’s cross country (Dan Schwamberger)
Volleyball (Kim Wudi)
Women’s golf (Meghan Sobotta)