Mikitchik Paces Titans At WIAC Championship

Val Mikitchik's (Fr. • Menasha) eighth-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle led UW-Oshkosh's efforts at the WIAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship held this past weekend (Feb. 14-16) in Brown Deer.

UW-Stevens Point compiled 779 points to claim its 14th straight title and 17th overall. UW-La Crosse finished second with 769 points, UW-Whitewater third with 711, UW-Eau Claire fourth with 606, UW-River Falls fifth with 229 and UW-Oshkosh sixth with 151. The Pointers' margin of victory was the closest since UW-Eau Claire defeated UW-Stevens Point, 550-544, at the 1983 championship.

In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Mikitchik touched the wall in a time of 17:52.12. The event also featured UW-Oshkosh's Sam Green (Fr. • Germantown) placing 12th in 18:00.82 and Quin Lenz (Jr. • Oshkosh) 15th in 18:18.18.

Tom Herrick (Jr. • New Berlin) owned a pair of top-12 finishes in the diving. He compiled a ninth-place score of 283.40 off the three-meter board and a 12th-place figure of 271.25 off the one-meter plank.

Patrick Keleny (Fr. • Madison) contributed three top-15 swims by finishing 12th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.13, 14th in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:07.36 and 15th in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:04.47.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Brian Markovich (Sr. • Colgate) placed 13th and Zach Hogan (Fr. • Milwaukee) 14th with times of 2:05.62 and 2:05.68, respectively. Hogan also finished 14th in the 100-yard backstroke with an effort of 56.61.

Additional UW-Oshkosh points were scored in the diving as Zach Seelman (Jr. • Sturgeon Bay) ranked 14th with a one-meter mark of 246.35 and 15th with a three-meter tally of 189.45.

UW-Eau Claire's Alex Card was selected the Swimmer of the Meet, while UW-La Crosse's Justin Bublitz earned the Diver of the Meet honor. UW-Whitewater's Joel Rollings was named Coach of the Year.