The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s and women’s swim and dive team won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship Feb. 21 at Walter Schroder Aquatic Center. The women are on their second consecutive win, and the men won their first WIAC Championship since 1971.
This is the first WIAC Championship win for the men under Head Coach Steve Mohs, who was named the WIAC Men’s Coach of the Year at the end of the championships. Coach Mohs stated, “As we got closer to conference, we talked about the word imperfect…we are an imperfect team in an imperfect sport, but we worked really hard.”
He described the team’s environment as full of support and excitement and stressed the importance of making sure his team enjoyed their time in the sport and not feel pressured to win. “Our goal is to make an impact on the student athletes and have them excited about the sport have them work really hard to get better year after year.”
The men’s team secured their conference title with 891.0 team points. UW-Eau Claire placed second with 781.0 points, UW-Steven’s point came in third at 677.0, UW-Whitewater in fourth with 488.0 and UW-Oshkosh in fifth place with 288.0 points.
Two Eagles were awarded individual titles on Saturday, Jacob Ketterling and Preston Nygaard. Jacob Ketterling won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:51.25 and Preston Nygaard joined him in the 200 breaststroke win with a time of 1:58.85.
Jacob Ketterling was the first UWL swimmer to capture the 200-backstroke title since 2019. When asked about how he felt about his performance and the support he received from his teammates, Ketterling stated, “I couldn’t be more happy with how this went…I love these guys and I love the team.”
Preston Nygaard captured his title for the first time since 2008. Jacob Ketterling was voted the WIAC Co-Swimmer of the Meet and Preston Nygaard was selected to be the WIAC Newcomer of the year.
In addition to Ketterling winning the 200-backstroke, Coby Zander finished in fourth place with a time of 1:54.38, Owen Acker in sixth (1:56.28) and in tenth Sean Gillett (1:56.96). Placing third in the breaststroke was (2:03.26) and Gabe DeWald in sixth (2:06.89).
In the 200-butterfly event UWL held four of the top five finishing spots; Caleb Jondle in second (1:55.74), third was Isaac Mozena (1:56.33), Jonah Elfers in fourth (1:59.07) and lastly Dominick Ellerd in fifth (1:59.40).
On the UWL women’s side of the meet they won their fourth (2020, 2022, 2025, 2026) WIAC Championship under head coach Steve Mohs. Zoey Rank took first in the 200 breaststrokes with a time of 2:24.19 and was the first UWL swimmer to take first since 2020. UWL had six of the top eleven finishers in the 200 breaststrokes in addition to Zoey Rank. Emily Hauke finished second (2:26.63), Makenzie Wallace in fourth place (2:26.86), Lily Rosenau in sixth place (2:30.24), Alyssa Wallander (2:31.19) in ninth and Ella Stadler in eleventh (2:32.96).
Stadler was interviewed about the meet and her experiences throughout her season. “Every single person played a role in bringing that title home — it truly took everyone buying in and putting in the work all season and during the final push at conference.” She spoke highly of her teammates and their support for one another throughout the season and especially going into the WIAC Championship.
Hannah Martini captured the three-meter diving title with 444.00 points. Martini was named the WIAC Diver of the Meet at the conclusion of the championships. The Eagles captured the 400-freestyle relay (3:29.17) with Ava Pulvermacher, Zoey Rank, Greta Wiskus and Libby Cleveland. This marked UWL’s first title since 2023.
Both men and women’s swim and dive will dive headfirst into the NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis, IN on March 18th through the 21st.
