WHITEWATER, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire men's swimming & diving team recorded six victories, but it wasn't enough to hold off UW-Whitewater as the Blugolds lost 135-104 today.
The Blugolds had a strong day in the relay and diving competitions. Nick Badilla (So.-Appleton, Wis./North) earned two wins for Eau Claire, scoring 241.65 in the one-meter and 306.40 in the three-meter competition for the wins. The Eau Claire A team swept the relay events. The Blugolds raced to first in 1:39.04 in the 200-yard medley relay and also picked up the win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. With a time of 1:29.81, Eau Claire just edged out the Warhawk team by about a tenth of a second.
Eau Claire earned the other two victories from Corey Groshens (So.-St. Louis Park, Minn./Hopkins) and Jonathan Poppele (Jr.-Maple Grove, Minn./Wayzata). Groshens led teammate Alex Card (Fr.-Prior Lake, Minn.) in the 100-yard breaststroke race with at time of 1:01.48. Poppele paced the field with a time of 2:01.50 in the 200-yard individual medley and also nabbed second in the 100-yard backstroke.
Though they didn't earn victories, Ben Epperly (Fr.-Schaumburg, Ill.), Tommy Dahl (Sr.-Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) and Alex Plaetzer (Jr.-Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) were also top Blugold performers. Epperly grabbed two third place finishes in the 500 and 1,000-yard freestyle races while Plaetzer wound up second in the 100-yard butterfly. Dahl recorded a second and a third in the respective 50 and 100-yard freestyle events.
While the whole team will compete at the WIAC Championships Feb. 17-19, only the Blugold divers will compete at the Minnesota Challenge next weekend. The two-day event begins this Friday at 6 p.m.
