Sports
The swimming and diving team on their winter training trip in Hawaii.
Swimming and diving host invitational after break
The Pointer
ataub878@uwsp.edu
The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams have had successful seasons thus far. They have been busy preparing to compete in the Get to the Point Invitational held at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Aquatics Center on Friday, Jan. 23 through Saturday, Jan. 24.
The success this season did not come easily. The first major hurdle for the teams to overcome came early on in the season when five swimmers were involved in a car accident. The collision left the athletes with some bumps, bruises and broken bones.
“It was a scary setback,” said Coach Al Boelk. In his twelfth year coaching the team, Boelk said he is thankful most of the injuries did not limit the swimmers’ training too much.
Junior Jenna Shelerud making a splash. Last season Shelerud ranked sixth in the 1m and 3m WIAC dive.
Sophomore Kimberley Kuber looked at it optimistically as she commented that, “the accident caused members of the team to step up their performance.” She also stated that it brought the team closer as time went by.
Boelk mentioned that other minor setbacks in the team’s performances resulted from a large number of illnesses this season such as mono, the flu and strep throat.
“Our goal is to stay healthy, start focusing and finish strong the rest of the season,” Bohlek said of the team that has been training since September.
Recently, the swim team took their sport beyond the continental United States. During winter break, the team traveled to warmer climates and spent 15 days training in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was no picnic in paradise, though.
“We trained the living hell out of them,” said Boelk of the experience he summed up in the three words, ‘eat, sleep, train.’
“Although it was challenging, it was a worthwhile experience and it allowed time for some fun team bonding,” junior Caitlin Dickman said.
Now that the vacation is over, the team heads into one of the most important meets of the season.
“We have trained and trained and trained to get where we are at,” Boelk said. “Now we just have to do what we can.”
The Get to the Point Invite is free for students and begins Friday morning with preliminaries at 9 a.m. and ends the first day of competition with day one finals at 6 p.m. Saturday will also open with preliminaries at 9 a.m. and tournament finals will be held at 4 p.m. in the Aquatics Center, located in the west side of the Health Enhancement Center.
