Janie Boschma

For being such a young group of athletes, the UW-Eau Claire swimming and diving team certainly didn’t show it this weekend.

The Blugolds won their first two meets of the year, beating UW-Oshkosh on Friday and winning the Midwest Coed Relays on Saturday. Both events this weekend were held at the McPhee Physical Education Center.

The men’s and women’s team, comprised of more than 50 percent freshmen, won nearly every event this weekend.

The returning members came through as expected in their events, but coach Jerry Kollross said he was impressed by the performance turned in by the freshmen – his first recruiting class.

“There were some step-up swims turned in by our freshmen,” Kollross said. “A lot of them really made their presence known on the team.”

Men’s team

The men’s swimming and diving team won Friday’s meet with a dominating 181-61 performance. While Oshkosh swept the diving events, the Blugold swimmers returned the favor by winning every one of their events.

Kollross said freshmen swimmers Jonathan Poppele and Ben Macalalad made good impressions in their first collegiate meet. Poppele won both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 backstroke, while Macalalad won the 1,000 freestyle.

“I’d say the first meet went pretty well,” Macalalad said. “At this point in the year, we’re just trying to get in shape.”

Freshman Carl Serum said the team did well in its first meet of the season, but will look to improve as the year progresses.

“There’s going to be more pressure to continue to do well,” Serum said, “but I’d say that this weekend went surprisingly well.”

Women’s team

The women’s team turned in an equally dominant showing, defeating Oshkosh on Friday 179-52. Senior Sarah Myers won both the one-meter and three-meter boards for the diving team. The swimmers won nearly all their events, with the freshmen again making their presence known.

Freshman Angie Bakula was the only female Blugold to take multiple swimming events, winning both the 100-yard butterfly and 1,000-yard freestyle. Bakula downplayed the wins, noting that the collegiate swimming season is a long one.

“Having yourself improve is what’s important,” Bakula said. “We’ve been training really hard, and it’s just good to see where you’re at and use it as a benchmark to improve upon.”

Fellow freshmen Megan Finley and Mari Kissell won an event each – Finley won the 50-yard freestyle and Kissell won the 500-yard freestyle.

“I was expecting to be nervous, but it was a lot of fun,” Finley said. “We (freshmen) were all motivated to do well in our first college meet.”

The Blugolds won the Midwest Coed Relays Saturday morning, defeating both Oshkosh and UW-River Falls. Though the win didn’t count towards the Blugolds’ overall record, Kollross said that Saturday’s meet was still good for the team.

“The home meets are always special because we can carry a full roster,” Kollross said, “so it’s a good chance for some swimmers to find their identity on the team.”

The Blugolds’ next bit of action will come this Friday when they host Minnesota State-Mankato at 5 p.m. at McPhee.