2020 WIAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship Preview University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will try for a ninth straight first-place finish at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship (presented by Culver’s) that will be held at Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis., Feb. 13-15. UW-Whitewater is serving as the host institution for the 49th edition of the women’s championship that will be held concurrently with the 58th meeting of the men’s teams. Preliminaries will begin at 10:00 a.m. all three days with the finals commencing at 6:30 p.m. the first two evenings and 6:00 p.m. the final night. Medals will be awards to the top-eight finishers in each of the individual events and the individuals comprising the top-three relay teams. The Eagles secured the 19th league title in program archives a season ago, accumulating 835 points to exceed UW-Eau Claire’s second-place total of 798 points. UW-Whitewater placed third with 651 points, UW-Stevens Point fourth with 541 and UW-Oshkosh fifth with 296. UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire share the conference lead with 19 championships, while UW-Stevens Point owns six league titles. Former conference member UW-Madison secured four first-place finishes. This year’s meet features 20 student-athletes that have combined to win 14 individual and 24 relay first-place medals at previous conference championships. UW-La Crosse’s Lilly Larsen is the two-time defending champion in the 200-yard backstroke, while Ellie Szczupakiewicz is the reigning winner in the 100-yard butterfly. Szczupakiewicz helped the 800-yard freestyle relay squad to victory at the 2018 championship. Elizabeth Konkel and Sydney Vian will aim for back-to-back titles in one-meter diving and three-meter diving, respectively. Konkel received Diver of the Meet recognition for her performance a year ago. The Eagles’ Maria Vaudreuil placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2018 and 2019, while adding a first-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2018. In relay competition, she helped the 200-yard medley relay team to the title a season ago, while Amanda Wciorka, Aubrey Lonergan and Jaime Kloehn contributed to the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay squad. Kloehn helped the 800-yard freestyle relay team to victory at the 2017 and 2018 championships, and the 200-yard medley relay squad to a first-place finish in 2019. UW-La Crosse’s Victoria Campbell won the 200-yard freestyle in 2018 and secured relay titles in the 800-yard freestyle in 2017 and 2018, as well as the 400-yard freestyle in 2017. UW-Eau Claire’s Jessica Wilson and Anna Egli were members of the winning 400-yard medley relay team in 2019, while Katherine O’Connell and Olivia Hanzak helped the 400-yard freestyle relay team to victory. In 2018, Hanzak and Emily Ries contributed to the victorious 400-yard freestyle relay squad. UW-Stevens Point’s Anna Pilecky won the 1,650-yard freestyle a season ago with a conference meet record time of 17:09.61. She also posted a first-place performance in the 500-yard freestyle. UW-Whitewater’s Bailey Weston and Meredith Gustafson are the defending champions in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly, respectively. Weston also contributed to the first-place 800-yard freestyle relay team, along with Olivia Theobald and Shayna Putney. Theobald added 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay titles at the 2018 championship. She was joined by Weston on the 200-yard freestyle relay squad. The Warhawks’ Renata Schlomann will strive for consecutive titles in the 100-yard backstroke. UW-Oshkosh has received strong performances from Mariah Marowsky in swimming events in 2019-20, while Danielle Tesky owns the team’s best diving marks. # # # # #