MADISON, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Four UW-Eau Claire student-athletes have been named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Athletes of the Week, WIAC Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations Matt Stanek announced today.

Recognized this week were women's tennis players Katie Gillman (Sr.-Red Wing, Minn.) and Maddie Johnson (Jr.-Lakeville, Minn./South), women's soccer player Caroline Henderson (So.-Duluth, Minn./East) and football player Clint Larsen (So.-Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial).

Gillman won two No. 1 singles matches during the week against conference opponents, helping the Blugolds to two victories.  Against UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 4, she picked up a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rachel Brown.  On Oct. 5, Gillman won 6-1, 6-0 against UW-Oshkosh's Morgan Counts to improve to 9-2 overall this season, including 4-1 in conference play.

Gillman and Johnson won both No. 1 doubles matches during the week, defeating their UW-Stevens Point opponents 8-6 on Oct. 4, while securing an 8-1 win over UW-Oshkosh on Oct. 5. The pair is now 10-3 overall this year and has won seven straight matches.

In a 3-2 overtime victory over UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 5, Henderson scored just 2:02 into overtime with a header to give the Blugolds the victory.  She also scored the team's first goal of the game, unassisted at 21:44.  Henderson was credited with a game-leading six shots, four of which were on goal.  The win was the first WIAC victory of the season for the Blugolds.

Larsen returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the third quarter against UW-Platteville on Oct. 5, to help put the Blugolds up 27-21.  He took the kick 98 yards, the Blugolds' first kick return for a touchdown since Nov. 11, 1987, the longest in school history (previous long was 97 yards by Mike Zeihen in 1980), the third-longest in the NCAA Division III this season, and the sixth- longest in conference history.  Larsen also recorded three tackles on the special teams.

-KM-