Titans Have Seven Top-Five Finishes At WIAC Championship
Sophomore Hannah Cunningham finished second with a school-record performance, senior Sydney Challoner ranked second in one event and third in two others and freshman Mariah Marowsky set a pair of school records while placing in the top nine in three events as UW-Oshkosh concluded three days of activity on Saturday (Feb. 15) at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Swimming & Diving Championship (Presented by Culver's) in Brown Deer.
Cunningham set the UW-Oshkosh record in the 100-yard butterfly with her second-place swim of 58.49 seconds. Last year she finished 11th at the championship in the 100-yard butterfly and 15th in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyles.
Challoner finished second with a time of 2:10.96 in the 200-yard butterfly and third in both the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley with times of 58.87 seconds and 2:13.26, respectively. She finished second in both the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley at last year's championship and placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly.
Marowsky concluded her impressive rookie season by finishing third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.67 seconds, fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.20 and ninth in the 200-yard freestyle with a school-record time of 5:13.21. She broke UW-Oshkosh's record in the 200-yard freestyle with her preliminary time of 1:55.18.
Freshmen divers Danielle Tesky and Allison Wucak both placed in the top eight off the 1- and 3-meter boards. Tesky finished fifth with 332.00 points and Wucak seventh with 304.50 in the 1-meter category while Tesky ranked seventh with 302.40 points and Wucak eighth with 286.45 in the 3-meter section.
UW-Oshkosh also had Rebecca Birriel, Alyssa Hassel and Jennifer Lutz place in the top 16 in three events.
Birriel finished 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:36.91 and 13th in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys with swims of 2:18.63 and 4:55.36, respectively. Last year she placed 12th in both the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke.
Hassel placed eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.79, 13th in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:40.24 and 15th in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:20.94. She was an 11th-place finisher during last year's 200-yard breaststroke.
Lutz finished eighth in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:22.40, ninth in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:16.87 and 12th in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:10.45. Last year she placed sixth in the 100-yard butterfly, 10th in the 200-yard backstroke and 15th in the 100-yard backstroke.
Contributing a pair of top-16 listings were Titans Paige Betthauser, Lexi Gray and Leah Perreault.
Betthauser placed 14th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 19:43.34 and 16th in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:38.92, Gray 13th in the 1,650-yard freestyle at 19:36.91 and 15th in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:38.42, Perreault 15th in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes with times of 1:28.87 and 3:08.40, respectively. Gray finished 12th in the 1,650- and 16th in the 500-yard freestyles at last year's championship.
The Titans also had Emma Wilcher finish 15th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:35.66 and Brianna Beseler 16th in the 1,650-yard freestyle at 20:44.97. Wilcher was a 14th-place finisher in the 200-yard butterfly at last year's championship while Beseler placed 14th in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
UW-La Crosse scored 812.5 points to win its ninth straight WIAC team title and 20th overall. The Eagles were followed in the team listings by second-place UW-Eau Claire with 777 points, third-place UW-Whitewater with 603.5, fourth-place UW-Stevens Point with 559 and fifth-place UW-Oshkosh with 369. UW-Oshkosh's point total was its second highest since the 2005 championship.