The UW Oshkosh swim and dive Titans had their 2024 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet last week. The meet was hosted in Brown Deer at the UW-Milwaukee Schroeder Aquatic Center. The UWO Titans, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire competed at the event.
The event lasted four days and within that time UWO broke 10 school records. Seven relay records were broken, including the men’s 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay and the women’s 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Three individual records were broken; the women’s 100 freestyle record was broken and the 200 freestyle record was broken twice.
The women placed fourth out of five teams with 466 points, scoring the highest they have since 2005.
The women’s 400 freestyle relay broke the school record with a time of 3:33.56 and placed third. Francesca Schiro led off the relay with a 51.30, breaking her own 100 freestyle record and making the NCAA last cut. She was followed by Amanda Richards, Brianna Smith and Cadence Showalter.
Abbi Priestley took first place overall in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 424.50 points. In the 3-meter event she also made the podium, placing sixth overall with 398.40 points.
Schiro broke her own 200 freestyle record twice. The first time in prelims she went 1:52.93 and in finals she went 1:52.80, taking first place and making that time the new school record for that event.
The women’s 200 medley relay took third. It was led by Richards, followed by Bella Cichon, Showalter and Schiro. Together, they set a new school record with a time of 1:47.96. The women’s 400 medley had the same order of swimmers and they crushed the old school record by over six seconds with a time of 3:54.25
The women’s 800 freestyle relay was another amazing race. They finished fourth overall with a new school record-breaking time of 7:47.36. Showalter led off, followed by Schiro, Smith and Brianna Wesenberg bringing it home.
Smith is the only senior on the women’s team and concluded her last swim season breaking two relay school records as well as having an impressive time of 18:09.49 in the 1650 freestyle, taking seventh overall in it.
“As a senior, I have never been more proud to be a part of this team,” Smith said. “This team is changing in a positive way as we have grown in numbers. … I am so proud of everything we have accomplished as a team because it has shown that all of our hard work has paid off.”
The season isn’t over for Schiro, however, since she got an NCAA cut she will continue to train until the meet on March 20.
The men placed fifth out of five teams with 235 points, an improvement from last year.
Men’s diver Glen Cole made the podium taking eighth place in the 3-meter diving event with a total of 331.90 points in prelims and 336.60 in finals.
The men’s 200 medley relay led off with CJ Willert, followed by Damen Seremet, Leo Ramirez-Gutierrez and Drew Davis.The team broke the old record by nearly a second with a total time of 1:36.47.
“I expected to break the [200 medley relay] record because we had broken it before,” Davis said. “And I’m really proud of all my boys.”
The men’s 400 medley relay record was broken by Alex Ward, Seremet, Ramirez-Gutierrez and Davis in a time of 3:32.67.
The men’s 400 freestyle relay was destroyed by almost three seconds with a time of 3:09.87. The relay order was Ramirez-Gutierrez, Davis, Chase Millam and Seremet. That record hadn’t been broken in five years.
