Titan swimmers wash away LU

The Titans men's swimming and diving team earned a win over Lawrence University in Appleton on Jan. 27, and gained a little momentum for the upcoming Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

According to head coach Jon Wilson, the meet served more as a warm-up to the WIAC championships more than anything.

"The victory doesn't mean much for us," Wilson said. "It is nice to get a win, but everyone is pretty focused on the conference meet in two weeks. Lawrence's men were better than we had thought, but a meet like this is just nice to get people a chance to swim some different events."

However Wilson said he was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the meet.
"I thought the meet went OK," he said, "but I thought that we could have swam a lot tougher than we did."

The Titans still had a strong showing from freshman swimmer Dalton Anderson and sophomore diver Phil Devine.

Anderson took home first-place finishes in both the 50-yard and 500-yard freestyle events with times of 22.42 seconds and 4:58.19, respectively.

Anderson has become a force in the pool throughout his first season at UW-Oshkosh, with two school records (200-yard butterfly and individual medley) already under his belt.
Wilson speaks very highly of the emerging star and has big plans for him in the upcoming WIAC Championship meet.

"He is ultra-competitive and really pushes himself hard," Wilson said. "He is ready for the unique challenges that he has set for himself at the conference meet and we are hoping that everything will work out according to our plan. His three individual events should be fun to watch and his three to four relay swims will hopefully help us out in the team standings."

Meanwhile, Devine has consistently performed well and showcased his presence in Division III diving.

Devine won both the 1-meter (315.05 score) and 3-meter (350.30 score) diving events at the meet and earned his fifth WIAC Diving Athlete of the Week award.

Like Anderson, Devine has also already had his name etched into the school record books earlier this season in the 3-meter diving event.

Senior swimmer Kent Ludeman was also nominated for the WIAC Swimming Athlete of the Week for his performance in Appleton.

Ludeman won the 100-yard butterfly event with a time of 1:00, and the 100-yard breaststroke with a time 1:08.94.