The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s swim and dive teams made the trip to Brown Deer to begin postseason competition at the Wisconsin International Athletic Conference Championships, which were hosted by UW-Eau Claire at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center. Throughout the weekend, the Titans earned five top-three finishes while setting nine new records.
The Titans got one podium finish Feb. 19 to kick things off for UWO, with a third place finish by the 800-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Francesca Schiro, Cadence Showalter, Rowan Sinclair and Brianna Wesenberg, who finished in 7:43.98. This broke last year’s record of 7:47.36. As the leadoff swimmer, Schiro’s 200-yard freestyle time of 1:51.77 was good for both a NCAA Division III ‘B’ cut and a new school record. She then cut that time Feb. 21, swimming to a first place, 1:51.54 in the individual event.
On the men’s side for day one, two records were broken right out of the gate. CJ Willert, Damen Seremet, Ben Knoeck and Drew Davis swam in the 200-yard medley relay and finished in 1:35.14, breaking the previous mark by more than a second.
Law Lykins, Davis, Charlie Mason and Leo Ramierez-Gutierrez broke a 2021 record in the 800-yard freestyle relay by nearly two seconds with a 7:05.74 finish.
After delays due to technical problems at the facility, day two saw Schiro reset her own 200-yard individual medley relay record with a second place finish of 2:06.18.
On Friday, UWO’s oldest record, a 1:38.7 200-yard freestyle relay time which was set in 1998, was finally broken by Schiro, Kori Burnett, Grace Fergus and Showalter with a fifth-place finish at 1:38.35.
Sinclair set the Titans 400-yard individual medley record at 4:40.94 in the preliminary round and again with a third-place finish of 4:40.94 in the final round.
Friday also saw the Titans beat the oldest standing program record on the men’s side, as Ramirez-Gutierrez, Willert, Davis and Seremet swam a 1:25.48 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, besting a 2019 time of 1:25.85.
On the final day of the tournament, Schiro captured first place in the 100-yard freestyle at 51.04 seconds, beating last years ‘A’ cut time of 51.28 seconds. Her 50.94-second preliminary time set another program record.
The Titans ended the championship with the men taking 282 points, placing fifth, while the women took fourth, with 406 points. UW-Eau Claire won the men’s side of the event, while UW-La Crosse took the women’s crown.
Both Wesenberg and Mason were UWO’s representatives for the 2025 WIAC All-Sportsmanship team for their respective squads. Additionally, Schiro was named the Kwik Trip Swimmer of the Meet for the women for the second consecutive year.
The NCAA Division III Championship will be held March 19-22 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
