Titans To Make Waves With Blugolds In Season Debut
UW-Oshkosh opens its 2017-18 women's swimming & diving season in Albee Hall against 19-time WIAC champion UW-Eau Claire on Saturday (Oct. 14).
The Titans, who compiled a 2-4-2 record in dual meets last season, will also host UW-Stevens Point on Dec. 8, Beloit College on Jan. 19 and six-time defending WIAC champion UW-La Crosse on Jan. 20.
UW-Oshkosh's dual meet agenda also includes road contests at Carroll University on Oct. 28, WIAC member UW-Whitewater on Nov. 10, Lawrence University on Jan. 6 and Ripon College on Feb. 3.
Other events for the Titans this season include appearances at the Wisconsin College Showcase on Oct. 21 in Brown Deer, Lawrence University Invitational on Nov. 18, Carthage College Classic on Nov. 30-Dec. 2, and the University of Illinois-Chicago Diving Invitational on Feb. 3. UW-Oshkosh finished fifth among eight teams with 513 points at last season's Carthage College Classic.
The 2018 WIAC Championship will be contested Feb. 15-17 in Brown Deer while the NCAA Division III Championship will be held March 21-24 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Last season, UW-Oshkosh defeated Beloit College, 134-52, and Ripon College, 116-86. The Titans also tied both Carroll University with 119 points and Lawrence University with 115.
UW-Oshkosh then went on to produce its best WIAC Championship showing in more than a decade. The Titans tallied 330.5 points at the league championship to mark their highest scoring output since totaling 466 in 2005. UW-Oshkosh has improved its point total at each of the past five WIAC Championships, counting 199 points in 2013, 253 in 2014, 272 in 2015, 284 in 2016 and 330.5 last season.
UW-La Crosse claimed its 17th overall WIAC Championship a year ago with 864 points. The Eagles were followed in the standings by runner-up UW-Eau Claire with 784.50 points, third-place UW-Whitewater with 731, fourth-place UW-Stevens Point with 404 and fifth-place UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh third-year head coach Christopher Culp welcomes back 11 of his 17 letter winners from last year's team, including Sydney Challoner, McKinzie Halkola and Gabrielle Kraus.
Challoner finished seventh at last year's WIAC Championship in both the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly while Halkola placed fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, seventh in the 200-yard backstroke and ninth in the 100-yard backstroke.
Kraus took fifth in the 1- and 3-meter diving events at the WIAC Championship last season before finishing 13th in the 3-meter diving at the NCAA Division III Central Region Championship.