LA CROSSE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire women's swimming & diving team followed up its dominating meet yesterday with a third place team effort at the all-relay competition hosted by UW-La Crosse.
The women's point total of 104, combined with the men's score of 62 placed the Blugolds fourth in the final school standings. UW-Stevens Point outscored the competition with a grand total of 292 points for first place of six teams.
The Blugolds claimed two wins and a total of nine third-place finishes in the events. The quartet of Nicole Dorvinen (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port), Casey Preissel (Sr.-Wisconsin Dells, Wis.), Julia Olson (Jr.-Faribault, Minn.) and Megan Finley (Sr.-Waunakee, Wis.) picked up both of Eau Claire's victories. The quartet first out-swam the field by recording a finish of 7:58.18 in the 800-yard freestyle relay then snatched the win in the 850-yard freestyle relay. Divided in segments of 50, 100, 200 and 500 yards, the team beat the competition by over three seconds with a time of 8:38.49 minutes.
The same four swimmers were key players in the Blugolds' other top finishes. Dorvinen teamed up with Kirsten Lickel (Jr.-Madison, Wis./East) and Kia Kraft (Jr.-Menomonie, Wis.) for third in the 300-yard medley individual-medley and later joined Maggie Reilly (Fr.-Saint Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) and Megan Lindner (Sr.-Muskego, Wis.) for a third-best time of 3:08.07 in the 300-yard fly relay.
Olson, Preissel, Finley and Grace Fair (So.-Monticello, Minn.) nabbed another third place finish the 200-yard relay with a time of 1:40.55 while the quartet of Olson, Preissel, Lickel and Kristin Peters (Fr.-Farmington, Minn.) snagged third in the 400-yard freestyle event. Finley also joined forces with Alyssa Trainor (Sr.-Winona, Minn./Cotter) and Abby Hinz (So.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) to take the third spot in the 300-yard backstroke competition by completing the race in just 3:06.75.
The swimming & diving teams will have a brief break but return for a full weekend of action beginning Dec. 3. The team will compete at the Falcon Invite at 10 a.m. both Dec. 3 and 4 in Minneapolis, Minn. Blugolds will also take part in the St. Thomas Diving Invite at 1 p.m. on Dec. 4 in St. Paul, Minn.
