After taking on several Div. II schools last weekend, the Eau Claire swimming and diving team will get its first look at its WIAC competition this weekend in the WIAC relays.

The relays, which will be hosted by UW-La Crosse on Saturday, will be the first time this season that every WIAC team will be at the same meet.

Coach Rob Welcher said that the relays will feature many events that won’t be seen at the conference meet in February.

“It’s kind of a fun meet,” Welcher said. “We want to win a couple of events, but we’re not slowing down for it. We’re going to keep training right on through it.”

Last weekend, the Blugolds competed in their largest meet so far this season. They visited Div. II power St. Cloud State (Minn.) for the St. Cloud Invite. Other teams competing included Div. II teams Minnesota State-Mankato and the University of North Dakota.

The Eau Claire men finished third, 50 points behind St. Cloud. Welcher was encouraged with the finish.

“It shows us that (St. Cloud is) beatable in a dual meet,” he said.

North Dakota ran away with the men’s competition, getting 788.5 points to finish 310 points ahead of St. Cloud.

Encouraging performances from the meet included a pair of wins from senior Matt Oglesby, who took first in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 49.15 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 55.47. He also took second in the 100 butterfly. Oglesby was the only athlete to win an individual event that wasn’t from North Dakota.

Freshman Scott Heatwole also had a good meet, taking second in both the 1- and 3-meter diving competitions. This meet was the first one this year where competitors had 11 dives, which is the number used in the conference meet.

Senior Chris Smith finished third in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 200 backstroke for Eau Claire, and the 200 medley relay team took second.

The Eau Claire women finished fourth in the meet with 255 points. MSU-Mankato finished on top with 647, followed by North Dakota at 526 and St. Cloud State at 516.

Senior Liz Halbur had the lone first-place finish for the Blugolds in the women’s competition, winning the 50 freestyle in 26.28 seconds. Halbur also finished third in the 100 freestyle, clocking in at 57.18.

Welcher said he was impressed with the performance of sophomore Liz VonFeldt, saying she did well in the 200 breaststroke and the 400 individual medley, events which were run back-to-back.

VonFeldt was happy with the way she swam in the meet, but thinks the team still needs some work this season.

“We’re a little behind the other teams right now,” she said. “At the conference meet, we’ll be ahead of them.”

Welcher said that the team did well even though it had never been to this meet before.

“It was a long, tough meet,” he said. “It was a good learning experience.”