After six days of intense competition in Knoxville, Tenn., the UW-Eau Claire women’s swimming & diving teams fought their way to 16th place at the NCAA Division III Championships tournament. They had 16 All-American finishes in the process.

One such All-American was junior Nicole Dorvinen, who swam her way to the only first team All-American finish for the Blugolds. She took fifth in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:28.10. Dorvinen is the only Blugold to place in the first team since the 1995-96 season.

“It was probably one of the happiest moments of my life,” she said. “It has been my goal for my entire career.”

Dorvinen said she was nervous going into the meet. Last year she received honorable mention and was disappointed.

“I definitely was a lot more stressed going into nationals because that was the one thing I was focusing on was being top-eight,” she said.
Adding to the excitement of her success, Dorvinen also broke a school record with a time of 2:04.43 in the 200-yard butterfly.

She wasn’t the only female to walk away with honors. Junior Julia Olson, sophomore Grace Fair, and seniors Casey Preissel and Megan Finley make up the foursome that grabbed second team All-American titles in two relays –– the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay.

Junior Kirsten Lickel, Preissel, Finley and Dorvinen also received All-American second team for the 800-yard freestyle relay. The girls seized two school records for the 400- and 800-yard relay.

“The six women coming together and swimming faster at nationals than they did at conference … and that we broke a bunch of school records that we set at conference (were some highlights of nationals),” said coach Art Brandt. “Everyone did so well that it’s hard to have
one highlight.”

The women’s team kept breaking school records. Preissel crushed her own school record, in the preliminaries of the 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 2:06.72. Olson also found success in the 100-yard butterfly as she clocked-in at 58.53, breaking a record set 22 years ago.
All of the current relay records were set this season. Coach Art Brandt thinks the girls will be putting high expectations on themselves for next season.

“We have to keep a high level of expectations for the whole team and I’m hoping to sneak some more guys into our team next year,” Brandt said.
Sophomore diver Nick Badilla, who was the only representative of the men’s swimming and diving team, qualified for nationals for the second time this year. Badilla made the All-American second team for both the one- and three-meter dives.

Badilla said that being the only male diver doesn’t bring external pressure, just internal.

“I try to block everything out and stay in my zone,” he said. “I have to stay loose and focused and have fun.”

There were a few things Badilla said he wishes he could change about his performance at nationals but was very satisfied, especially with the one-meter event.