STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire women's swimming & diving team raced its way to a third place finish out of the six teams competing in the two-day UW-Stevens Point Invitational.
The Blugolds earned 677 points throughout the 41-event competition, trailing winner UW-La Cross with 1,016 points and host Stevens Point with 845 points. En route to the third place team finish, Eau Claire recorded four individual victories and 11 finishes of third or better.
Nicole Dorvinen (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port) had a tremendous performance, grabbing three victories over the two days of competition. Dorvinen recorded leading times of 5:17.11 in the 500-yard freestyle race and 2:10.70 in the 200-yard butterfly event. She also raced her way to the win in the marathon 1,650-yard freestyle competition with a time of 17:54.44.
Julia Olson (Jr.-Faribault, Minn.) earned the fourth victory for Eau Claire, laying down a time of 24.50 in the 50-yard freestyle. Olson also picked up respective fourth and fifth place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle race and the 100-yard butterfly event.
Other top Blugold performances came from Megan Finley (Sr.-Waunakee, Wis.), Kirsten Lickel (Jr.-Madison, Wis./East) and Casey Preissel (Sr.-Wisconsin Dells, Wis.). Finley earned second in the 200-yard freestyle event with a 1:59.59 and also snatched a third in the 100-yard backstroke competition with a result of 1:01.97. Lickel swam the 1,650-yard freestyle in 18:30.66 for second place and Preissel's time of 2:13.44 in the 100-yard backstroke was good enough for third.
The Blugold relay teams also found success in Stevens Point. The Eau Claire A Teams recorded second place finishes in the 400 and 800-yard freestyle relays with respective times of 3:39.39 and 8:00.65. The Blugolds also picked up a third place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:54.29.
Next Saturday, the Blugolds will hit the road for a dual meet hosted by UW-Whitewater. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
