On the weekend of Feb. 27-28 the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse dominated the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). UWL claimed an impressive four WIAC titles over a two-day span of conference championship level play. In this stretch these four Eagles teams were able to make program history.
The UWL women’s and men’s basketball team claimed their first WIAC basketball tournament titles in both of their team’s histories. UWL track and field upheld their dominance over the WIAC with the men’s and women’s team also taking home WIAC championship titles.
The UWL women’s track and field team claimed their sixth consecutive WIAC title while the men’s team secured their 23rd conference title in a 24-year span.
The streak of conference championship level play began on Feb. 27 with the UWL women’s basketball team. The Eagles were able to overcome the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Titans in a close battle, winning 52-49. UWL came through in the end, despite being down 36-44 entering the third quarter.
The Eagles outscored the Titans 16-5 to close out the game and secure their first conference title. In the final minute of the game a clutch three pointer by Malia Nelson assisted by Grace Knupp and a free throw by Knupp helped the Eagles prevail.
The team was able to pull off this historic performance with a brand-new Eagle in attendance. Women’s basketball Head Coach Moran Lonning gave birth to Maxine Lonning on Feb. 22 only three days before the WIAC tournament. Baby Maxine proved to be a lucky charm as the team went 2-0 in tournament after her birth.
Apart from some new Eagles in attendance, a new team mantra of “pound the rock” this year helped the women’s basketball team keep their focuses on the process.
“A mantra we focused on this year was ‘pound the rock’. It’s from a quote that is all about focusing on the process rather than an outcome. Every single day showing up and pounding the rock, controlling the controllables energy, effort, attitude, putting in extra work every single day knowing that the consistency of stacking these days is what will create the breakthrough,” said Coach Lonning.
Moving forward into the post-season, Coach Lonning hopes they can continue to “pound the rock” in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III tournament.
“We want to take our intensity to another level as we head into the NCAA tournament. We want to continue pounding the rock but with even more intensity urgency and discipline,” said Coach Lonning.
The team has leveled up their intensity in the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament with a 26-point win over LaGrange College on March 6 and a 20-point win over Carroll University in the second round. The women’s basketball team will continue their tournament play on March 13, against the university of Southern Maine.
The UWL women’s basketball team wasn’t the only Eagles team making history during the weekend of WIAC matchups. UWL women’s track and field was able to break the record for points at a conference with 328.0 points beating their old record of 324.0 set back in 2023. The team accomplished this historic performance with a well-rounded team as UWL athletes scored points in every single event.
“It just shows how much depth we have, we are such a competitive team but to show up in conference putting those kinds of marks up just shows how we can dominate in each event,” commented fourth-year runner Makenna Zak.
The team managed to take home a total of eight titles from the conference meet. Anika Reiland took the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.94 seconds in the process setting the facility record at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Williams Fieldhouse. Anna Plautz claimed the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.68 seconds. The 5000-meter run title was captured by Molly Novotny with a time of 17 minutes 10.71 seconds. Regan Scott took home the 60-meter hurdles putting up a time of 8.81 seconds.
The women’s 4 x400 meter relay team consisting of Plautz, Macy Reybrock, Zoe Lain, and Andie Otto broke the conference record set by UWL with a time of 3 minutes 49.13 seconds. Scott also claimed long jump with a jump of 5.72 meters. Maya Evans was able to take triple jump with 12.15 meters. The Pentathlon was claimed by Amber Grosse, who set the season record with a total of 3,535 points.
Going forward the team is maintaining the “confidence” in the work they’ve been putting into the season. Through being confident the team hopes to continue this season with strong performances.
“Just being confident and trusting ourselves that we can achieve big things and accomplish big goals and that were totally ready for this,” said Zak.
The UWL men’s track and field team won right alongside the women putting up a total of 206 points to claim the 23rd WIAC title in the last 24 years. This title also marked men’s track and field Head Coach Josh Buchholtz’s 16th conference title since arriving to coach the program in the Fall of 2008.
Coach Buchholtz attributes consistent success with an unchanging message of aspiring to be champions. This mentality is not limited to just competing on the track but carrying this championship mentality into school and life.
“The championship meaning is we expect our guys and the team to train at a championship level, to be student athletes on this campus at a championship level, to be good people in life at a championship level so the expectation is we want you to do everything as good as you possibly can and be better than everybody else,” said Coach Buchholtz.
Strong performances from the entire team contributed to the Eagle’s win as the Eagles qualified someone from every event to move on to nationals. The team also took home conference event titles with Luke Schroeder who took home the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 6.78 seconds and Cael Schoemann who claimed the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute 51.59 seconds.
Despite success on the track being a key characteristic of Coach Buchholz’s time at UWL, Buchholz hopes to be remembered for the impacts made outside of it.
“I hope to carry on the legacy that was created before me, add to it as much as I can, make the program better and to continue to develop good quality young men and walk away knowing that everybody who came through this program is either a little better or a lot better than when they got here,” commented coach Buchholtz.
Both programs will continue the indoor season on March 13-14 competing for the NCAA Division III indoor championships in Birmingham, Alabama.
On Feb. 28 the UWL men’s basketball team made program history defeating the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to claim their first WIAC title. Despite being down 71-65 within the final five minutes, the Eagles showed off some clutch play pulling off the victory 81-78.
Impressive seasons propelled the Eagles into the playoffs. UWL Guard Sam Grieger became the seventh player in school history to take home the WIAC player of the year after putting up a conference leading 25.9 points per game. Guard Dustin Derousseau joined Grieger on the first team with his defensive efforts earning him an all-defensive team nod.
The duos combined 51 points in the conference championship helped secure the historic season.
The men’s basketball team has kept up the high-level play throughout the NCAA III tournament thus far. The program beat Hope College 75-61 in the first round and won over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges 79-62 in the second round.
The team’s season will continue in the Sweet 16 of the tournaments facing off against the University of Mary Washington on Mar 14.
This capped off the impressive four WIAC titles claimed by UWL within the weekend. Each of the teams competing demonstrated great play and well-rounded performances leading these teams making their mark in the Eagles history books. Looking onwards, this impressive play will contribute to even more UWL athletics success.
“In every sport we succeed, were constantly picking up national titles here and conference titles there. Every sport sets the bar high and continues to raise that bar, so we [UWL] just collectively keep getting better and better,” said Zak.
