Blugolds burst Titans bubble, blow out Oshkosh

After winning its first two meets by a total of eight points, it wasn't out of the question to expect another dramatic competition from the women's swimming and diving team.

But the team fell in convincing fashion to UW-Eau Claire 180-55 on Saturday.

Head coach Jon Wilson and the Titans swimmers expected a challenging match going into the meet.

"We knew Eau Claire would be tough," he said. "They are one of the big three teams in the conference. We knew we would have an uphill battle coming in. Eau Claire just swam awesome. They were ready to go and had something to prove."

The Blugolds started off strong by sweeping the 200-yard medley relay and taking the top three spots in the 1650-yard freestyle. But the Titans managed to obtain points in the freestyle race after sophomore Liz Schneider finished in 19 minutes, 58 seconds, and fellow sophomore Jennifer Karpinsky finished in 20:39.

Eau Claire dominated the 200-yard freestyle by taking four of the five top spots, but Titan freshman Emily Shandley finished in fourth place with a time of 2:04.

In the 50-yard freestyle, seniors Angie Picotte and Janna Oelrich took fourth and fifth place with times of 26.56 and 27.23, respectively.

Amidst a long streak of Eau Claire victories Oshkosh senior Jana Krautkramer finished the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:24 to take fourth, freshman Cassie Dutko took third in the 1-meter dive, fellow freshman Katie Duffey finished the 200-yard butterfly in 2:34 to place fourth and Shandley finished fifth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 56.88.

The Titans began to improve their score after sophomore Melissa Harvey and senior Lynnea Krajco finished third and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke. 

Schneider also scored for the Titans again after placing third in the 500-yard freestyle.

Dutko produced some more points out of the dives for the Titans after placing third in the 3-meter dive as well.

Despite the lopsided score, many of the Titan swimmers performed at their desired level, which is especially promising since it is still early in the season.

Schneider said she understands that it is just one meet, and there is still a lot of time left to achieve what the team wants.

 "The score shows we didn't win the meet, but as a team we know that the season isn't over and there are more obstacles yet to overcome," she said.

The Titans next competition, which will be their first on the road this season, will be in La Crosse on Nov. 21.