The UW-Eau Claire swim and dive team took on Luther College last Saturday in Decorah, Iowa, managing to obtain a sweeping victory, with the men finishing on top 145.5-88.5 and the women winning 138-101.

The ladies started out the meet strong with a first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Amanda Wiedoff, a sophomore, Emily Ries and Anna Pagel, first-year competitors, and Molly Quinlan, a senior, touched the wall first with a time of 1:57.81.

Earning more first place titles for the women, Rachael Streit, a first-year competitor, came out on top in the women’s 200-yard freestyle. Meanwhile, Camille Madsen, a junior, nabbed first in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team, made up of Quinlan, Ries, Jessica Short and Brittany Farr – both juniors – snagged an additional first place title with a time of 1:43.99.

“I think our girls in the 200 freestyle showed a lot of strength,” Short, a team captain, said.

Finally, for the women, Short exited the competition with two more first place titles and a new record under her belt. The junior won the 200-yard backstroke and set a pool record of 2:14.93 when she secured first in the 200-yard Individual Medley.

“I was pretty excited,” Short said. “I felt pretty good in that race.”

Short said the Luther swim team had a lot of fast freshmen, making for some fun competition. In addition, she said her Blugold teammates showed a lot of strong support for one another, always cheering for one another.

On the men’s side, 200-yard medley relay team also earned a first place title with a final time of 1:39.81. This team was made up of Collin Miller and Conner Pendill, both sophomores, Dayton Miller, and Logan Coert, both seniors.

“I really, really liked how we raced,” Coert, a team captain, said. “Relays are what get the team fired up.”

Coert said he believes that this weekend’s win has been beneficial for the team’s moral before next weekend’s meet against the Blugolds’ rivals, the UW-La Crosse Eagles.

“La Crosse is a tough team,” Coert said. “We’re going to try to focus mentally (for next weekend’s meet).”

Collin Miller went on to take the title in the 200-yard Individual Medley and set another pool record for the Blugolds in the 50-yard freestyle.

Like the women, the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay team also took first place, with a time of 1:28.45. This team was made up of Collin Miller, Coert, Andrew Shane, a sophomore, and Jack Kelly, a senior.

Nicholas Meints, a sophomore, took first in the 200-yard backstroke and Dayton Miller broke the final pool record of the meet with a time of 2:15.84  in the 200-yard breaststroke.

For men’s diving, Dylan Glumac-Berberich, a sophomore, took first in the 1-meter dive and Noah Krantz, a freshman, won the 3-meter dive.

Annie Ryder, the Head Coach, said she was very pleased with the performance put on by her athletes on Saturday.

“We’ve been working really hard these last couple of weeks,” said Ryder, “It’s not so much about time (for us), but it’s about the racing.”

Ryder said she was excited to have three athletes break pool records on Saturday, and is looking forward to a  close meet next weekend. She said she believes as long as the Blugolds stay in the moment and have a few things go their way, next Saturday’s meet should be an exciting one.

The UW-Eau Claire Blugolds will be home next week with a dual at 1 p.m., on Nov. 4, against UW-La Crosse.