Lieder Wins Two Events, Sets Four School Records At WIAC Championship
Junior Jarrett Lieder won two events, including the 1,650-yard freestyle for the second straight year, as UW-Oshkosh completed three days of participation on Saturday (Feb. 15) at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Men's Swimming & Diving Championship (Presented by Culver's) in Brown Deer.
Lieder defeated all 13 of his challengers in the 1,650-yard freestyle with his school-record swim of 16:15.46. He set a second school mark in the race by registering a time of 9:51.55 during the event's first 1,000 yards. Last year Lieder became UW-Oshkosh's first WIAC 1,650-yard freestyle champion when he swam to the event's previous school record of 16:24.21. He also established the school's previous 1,000-yard record during the race with a time of 9:56.95.
Lieder earned his other victory at this year's championship in school-record fashion as well. He beat 21 other competitors in the 500-yard freestyle with a new school record of 4:34.49. Lieder, who set the school's previous event record of 4:41.29 at last year's meet, became the first Titan to win the 500-yard freestyle title in the 58 years of the WIAC Championship. He also became the first UW-Oshkosh representative to win two swimming events at the WIAC Championship since Yusuke Ilmori captured the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes in 2004.
Lieder also established a new school record with his preliminary time of 1:42.81 in the 200-yard freestyle. Lieder, who set the previous UW-Oshkosh mark of 1:42.96 at last year's championship, went on to place sixth in this year's competition with a time of 1:43.58.
In addition to his 2019 title in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Lieder also finished second in the 500- and sixth in the 200-yard freestyles at last year's championship. In 2018, Lieder earned three top-nine freestyle finishes by placing second at 1,650, sixth at 500 and ninth at 200 yards.
Junior Matt Wilke also received a high evaluation for the Titans with his two second-place diving finishes. Wilke, who has qualified for the NCAA Division III Region 1 Diving Championship later this month, compiled runner-up scores of 521.20 off the 1-meter board and 522.25 off the 3-meter plank. He was a second-place finisher in both diving events during last year's championship.
Besides Lieder, UW-Oshkosh also had sophomore Alex Jernberg and freshman Jack Miller place in the top 12 in three events.
Jernberg finished fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:46.31, eighth in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:51.35 and 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:02.04. Last year at the championship he finished fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle, fifth in the 500-yard freestyle and 15th in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Miller achieved his finishes by placing seventh in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:50.95 and ninth in both the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly with times of 47.34 and 51.86 seconds, respectively.
Contributing a pair of top-16 listings were Titans David Bain, Cody Else, Andrew Park and Josiah Vandenberg.
Bain finished 11th in the 100- and 12th in the 200-yard backstrokes with times of 54.80 seconds and 2:00.75, respectively, while Else placed 11th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:11.81 and 13th in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:02.11. Bain was a 12th-place finisher in both the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes at last year's championship while Else ranked 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Park placed 14th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.79 seconds and 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:04.98 while Vandenberg finished 10th in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:20.75 and 13th in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:06.38.
The Titans also received a 16th-place time of 2:09.72 in the 200-yard freestyle from Jarod Falk.
UW-Stevens Point scored 964 points to win its 21st straight WIAC team title and 24th overall. The Pointers were followed in the team listings by second-place UW-Eau Claire with 807 points, third-place UW-Whitewater with 571, fourth-place UW-La Crosse with 407 and fifth-place UW-Oshkosh with 325. UW-Oshkosh's point total was its highest since the 2005 championship.