On Saturday Oct. 29 the Alumni meet was held at the Williams Center pool, giving former swimmers an opportunity to come back and get into a few races. It was a chance for current and former swimmers to get into the pool and race against one another.
This year it was also a time to celebrate and honor the life of Tyler Slak, a former UW-Whitewater swimmer who passed away in 2010 after battling cancer.
A state-of-the-art Tyler Slak Memorial Scoreboard went up in the Williams Center pool in honor of the former swimmer.
“I’m hoping the scoreboard will be an inspiration as the season goes on,” coach Joel Rollings said. “A lot of young kids think they are bullet proof, so it just shows how tragic life can be.”
The freshmen and sophomores didn’t have the opportunity to swim with Slak, but for the seniors the scoreboard meant a little more. The seniors swam with Tyler so it was somewhat of a somber event for them Rollings said.
“He inspired all of us, it was nice to have him in the pool,” senior Megan Roegner said. “The scoreboard reminds us to work hard for him.”
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams started the season off on a good note, winning every event in the season opening meet against Carroll University on Friday Oct. 21 in the Williams Center pool.
Rollings said that the first few meets this season were just to get players back into the sync of things.
“A lot of our top swimmers didn’t swim against Carroll,” Rollings said.
Rollings said seniors to look out for this season on the men’s team that are Bill Stenavich and Jake Christensen and for the women seniors Megan Kohnke and Roegner.
Rollings is also excited about the talented incoming freshmen classes for both teams.
“We have a really great freshman class,” Roegner said. “Every year the freshmen are getting faster and faster.”
Coach Rollings believes the teams’ first true test will be when the ’Hawks face off against UW-Green Bay and St. Cloud State Nov. 18-19.
Each team looks to continue it’s success at home against Luther College and UW-Oshkoosh at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Williams Center.
