UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Janice Buron was a major contributor to UWEC’s back-to-back NAIA National swimming championships in 1987 and 1988 and second-place finish in 1989. Not surprisingly, the Blugolds won the conference championship in each of her three seasons. She won the team Hardest Worker Award in each of her three seasons in addition to earning Most Valuable honors her final two seasons. She was the team captain and also the team’s Most Inspirational Award winner in 1989 and received the Blugold Super Six Salute Award that same year. She was a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that set an NAIA record in the 1987 national meet. During her career, she set seven school and five conference records and won 13 conference championship events including seven at the 1987 conference meet. She earned All-American honors by placing among the top six finishers in 19 NAIA events during her career including a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly at the 1989 nationals. She also was named a College Swim Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete and an NAIA Scholar-Athlete. After graduating magna cum laude in 1990, she became assistant store manager of a Blains Farm and Fleet in Davenport, Iowa. She worked at Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Eagan, Minnesota for five years with four promotions. At the time of her induction, she had been with Land O’Lakes in Arden Hills, Minnesota since February, 1998, serving as a customer service rep and a customer service specialist. Buron has remained active physically as a tri-athlete and distance runner. At the time of her induction, she and her husband Larry were the parents of one child.
