The Blugold men’s and women’s swim teams opened their seasons in an unconventional meet against Div. II Mankato State (Minn.) and division rival UW-River Falls Saturday in Mankato (Minn.).

The meet consisted of five events, the 50-yard freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and the 100-yard individual medley. All competitors swim every event.

The finishing times for each event are combined and the final placement for each swimmer is determined by that time. The team placement is determined by adding the times of all the team’s swimmers together.

The Blugold women’s team started with a second place finish at the Maverick Pentathlon Meet.

Leading the meet was junior captain Liz Vonfeldt, who took the championship with her first place finish out of 62 competitors. Her overall time for the meet was 3 minutes, 6.48 seconds.

Freshman Annie Gorman also turned out a strong performance at Saturday’s meet, finishing first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.37 and finishing the meet in sixth place overall with a time of 3:11.77.

“We got off on the right foot and did well as a team,” Gorman said in an e-mail. “The team was strong in the freestyle, taking first and second place in that event. The team also was strong in the butterfly and quite a few members were in the top 10.”

Sophomore swimmer Erin Albrecht said the meet was a fun meet and got the team excited about the season.

“The meet was relaxed so the team could work on their technique,” Albrecht said. “The freshmen excelled in sprints so they started with fast times.”

Gorman said that the outlook is good for the season after this first meet.

“We did well as a team and it was a big accomplishment to have someone in first,” she said, adding that it will be a good season and that the team plans to do well at the conference meet.

Junior Jill Wendorff said that the women looked strong, especially the freshmen recruits.

“With the number of new freshmen,” she said, “there is a good chance that some members could go to nationals.”

The men’s swimming and diving team also started its season well Saturday, finishing with three swimmers in the top 10.

Sophomore Mike Lotzer finished third with a total time of 2:53.5. Sophomore Steve Fisher finished sixth with a time of 2:55.1 and junior Mike Carroll finished less than one second behind Fisher with a time of 2:55.6, taking seventh place overall.

“We swam well,” Lotzer said.

Senior Dan Vonfeldt agreed.

“Everybody performed well,” he said. “It was a good meet for all the young swimmers on the team.”

Junior Stetson Johnson said that this was a good meet to start the season.

“It’s very non-conventional in structure and consists of all short distances,” Johnson said.

Three teams with a total of 26 swimmers competed at the meet.

Because the meet is unconventional, it does not have an effect on any of the teams’ records for the season, but it showed both the men and women that they can compete against schools in other divisions.

“It was especially cool to beat some of them (Mankato State swimmers),” Lotzer said.

Vonfeldt added that the meet was useful to the team because it gave them the opportunity to look at River Falls and see how they are shaping up.

As for the Blugolds, things seem to be shaping up nicely for the team as a whole, Vonfeldt said.

“I think the team is coming together very well,” Vonfeldt said. “It is a young team and everybody is really starting to get to know each other.”

Lotzer said that many of the men on the team are primarily distance swimmers, and their performance in the meet showed their depth in being able to handle the sprints as well. When they compete in other meets, they’ll be able to showcase their talents even further.

The men will have every opportunity under coach Rob Welcher, who was last year’s Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Coach of the Year. His team placed third in the WIAC conference last year and sent five men to Nationals.

“Our goals this year are to bring as many guys to Nationals as possible,” Lotzer said. “(UW-Stevens Point) has been a powerhouse . but Eau Claire has won the WIAC conference far more times than anyone else.”

The Blugolds will host the Midwest Relay Coed Race at noon Saturday at the McPhee Natatorium.