A field of Div. I and II competitors didn’t daunt the UW-Eau Claire swimming and diving team this weekend, which hoisted several top 15 finishes at UW-River Falls’ two-day Falcon Invitational.

Div. I University of Minnesota-Twin Cities made an appearance, as did Div. II Minnesota State University-Mankato, University of South Dakota and University of North Dakota.

No final team finishes were listed, but several Eau Claire swimmers posted impressive performances in individual events.

Women

Freshman Angie Bakula’s name came up in the top 15 for several events, making her one of the team’s more dominant swimmers.

Bakula’s best individual performance was a seventh-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. She finished the event with a time of 18 minutes, 28.41 seconds.

Bakula also finished No. 14 in both the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle.

Senior Amanda Kroger also placed high individually in many events, usually coming just behind Bakula. Kroger took No. 13 in the 1,650 freestyle and No. 15 in the 500 freestyle.

The women’s relay teams also notched some impressive finishes Friday and Saturday.

Bakula, sophomore Ann Grossklaus and freshmen Megan Finley and Megan Lindner produced a No. 10 finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Finishing just behind them was the team of Kroger, sophomore Missy Kleist, senior Emily Diehl and junior Jenna Spicer, who took No. 14 in the same race.

Kroger headed another top-finishing relay team, this time helping to pull the 800 freestyle squad to a No. 11 finish. The team also included freshman Mari Kissell, sophomore Amy Stewart, anchored by Bakula.

Another relay team posted a No. 12 performance. The 200 freestyle relay, headed by Lindner and also including Kleist, Bakula and anchor Grossklaus clocked in at 1:44.32 for the finish.

Men

The men enjoyed a similarly successful outing, putting up several top-10 finishes of their own.

Finishing tops for the Blugolds in many events was senior Brian Jordan. His No. 9 finish in the 100 butterfly and No. 11 finish in the 200 butterfly marked two of the team’s better individual finishes in the invitational.

Jordan also anchored the men’s 800 freestyle relay, which clocked in at No. 6 with a time of 7:25.53. The team also included junior lead-off man Patrick Finley and freshmen Tom Dahl and Ben Macalalad.

Finley and Macalalad posted several other high finishes themselves. Finley helped pull both the 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams to top-15 performances, as well as posted a No. 14 finish individually in the 100 freestyle, clocking in at 49.76.

Macalalad came in at No. 10 in the 1,650 freestyle.