Women’s swimming and diving snags win, men’s team falls against Eau Claire

Ben O'Connell, Staff Reporter

On Saturday November 5th, the UW-La Crosse Swimming and diving teams faced off in a dual meet against the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds. The Eagles’ women’s team, able to pull off a narrow victory against the Blugolds, won 124 to 117 in their first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual of the season. On the men’s side, Eau Claire was able to get the victory over the Eagles, winning 128 to 112.

The women’s team claimed several individual victories on Saturday. The diving team’s Kayley Alioto swept the diving competition claiming two victories. In the swimming portion, Anna Landgraf won the 100-yard free and Katelyn Nadeau won the 200-yard Butterfly. The big victory for the Women’s team came in the 400-yard freestyle relay, comprised of Campbell, DeStarkey, Kloehn, and Landgraf, which won with a time of 3:42.64. This big win secured the win for the women’s swimming and diving team against the Blugolds of Eau Claire.

On the victorious women’s side, sophomore Sammy Seymour stated that “Eau Claire is one of our biggest rivals so everyone was swimming their hearts out. It came down to the very last race but we came out with the W.”

The men’s team captured three individual victories on the day, as well as wins in both relay events. Individual first place finishers included Ryan Jessen in the 50-yard free, Trevor Anderson in the 1000-yard free, and Jackson Uselman in the 200-yard free. Aside from those three, La Crosse also had Kyle Wolmutt capture an individual diving title on the day.

Speaking on the results of the day, junior Ryan Jessen, who split a blazing 46.8 to win the final relay for the men’s team, said “Despite the result on the men’s side, the team swam exceptionally well and has much to be proud of. The atmosphere on deck was great and says a lot about our team’s support for each other. It was a fun meet to be a part of and contribute to.”

Next, the Eagles Swimming and Diving teams compete on Saturday, November 19th at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Their meet will begin at 1 p.m.