2023 WIAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship Preview University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will aim for an 11th 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. 15-18. UW-Oshkosh is the host institution for the 51st edition of the women’s championship that will be held in conjunction with the 60th gathering of the men’s teams. Competition begins on Feb. 15 at 1:45 p.m., with the preliminaries of the women’s three-meter diving. The finals will start at 6:30 p.m., and include a pair of relay events. For competition held Feb. 16 and Feb. 17, preliminaries will begin at 10:00 a.m., with the finals commencing at 6:30 p.m. The final day will feature 10:00 a.m. preliminaries and a 6:00 p.m. start for the finals. Medals will be awarded to the top-eight finishers in each of the individual events and the individuals comprising the top-three relay teams. In 2022, the Eagles won the 21st WIAC championship in program history with 881 points. UW-Eau Claire finished second with 825 points, UW-Stevens Point third with 767, UW-Whitewater fourth with 308 and UW-Oshkosh fifth with 267. UW-Eau Claire ranks second in league archives with 19 championships, while UW-Stevens Point owns six titles. Former member UW-Madison secured four first-place finishes. This year’s championship also features 14 individuals that have combined for 11 individual and 14 relay first-place finishes at previous conference meets. UW-La Crosse brings back five individual event champions from a season ago, including Maddy Albert-Nelson (100-yard butterfly and 200-yard butterfly), Jordy Hahlen (100-yard backstroke), Autumn Seebach (200-yard backstroke) and Lauren Steien (200-yard individual medley). In relay competition, Albert-Nelson, Hahlen and Steien helped the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay teams to victory. Steien was tabbed the WIAC Newcomer of the Year last season. Reilly Eiynck, Sydney Guenther and Alexis Hoeben were members of the first-place 400-yard freestyle relay squad. UW-Eau Claire’s Sydney McGuine, the conference’s Newcomer of the Year in 2021, is the defending champion in the 100-yard freestyle. The Blugolds’ Ella Weaver claimed the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke a season ago, while Sarah Dahlk won the three-meter diving competition and received Diver of the Meet recognition. UW-Stevens Point’s Joy Vandenberg secured the 50-yard freestyle last season, while Kasey Fris captured the 400-yard individual medley. Rose Hansen, Vandenberg and Fris contributed to the victorious 200-yard freestyle relay team. UW-Oshkosh’s top swimmer this year has been Francesca Schiro, while Abbi Priestley has produced the best diving marks. UW-Whitewater’s swimmers have been led by Zaria Terry. Qualifying individuals will compete at the NCAA Division III Championship, which will be conducted March 15-18 at Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. # # # # #