EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire men's swimming & diving team picked up its third dual meet victory of the season with a close 123-117 win over UW-La Crosse today at the McPhee Physical Education Center.

The Blugolds earned eight race victories and finished in the top three 16 times. Alex Card (So.-Prior Lake, Minn.) scored two individual wins in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. In the 200, Card led second-place finisher Corey Groshens (Jr.-St. Louis Park, Minn./Hopkins) with a time of 2:00.60. He completed the freestyle event in 48.13.

Groshens picked up a win of his own in the 200-yard breaststroke with an effort of 2:15.31. Teammate Alex Strom (So.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) finished second with a time of 2:19.22.

Jake McDade (Fr.-Monona, Wis./Monona Grove), Alex Plaetzer (Sr.-Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) and Spencer Rose (So.-Brookfield, Wis./Central) finished first in their respective events as well. Plaetzer's time of 2:04.89 landed him first in the 200-yard butterfly. Rose and McDade tallied wins in respective 200 and 1,000-yard freestyle races with times of 1:48.15 and 10:15.14.

In diving, Nick Badilla (Jr.-Appleton, Wis./North) scored two victories in both the one and three-meter dives. He scored 324.95 in the three-meter event and 275 in the one-meter.

The two Blugold relay teams also found success at the meet. In the 800-yard freestyle race, Card, McDade, Ben Epperly (So.-Schaumburg, Ill.) and Rose earned first place with a 7:17.45 time. Rose, Groshens, Plaetzer and Aaron Lickel (So.-Madison, Wis./East) combined for second in the 200-medley relay.

The Blugolds have off until Jan. 20 when the team competes at UW-Stevens Point Invitational. The two-day invite begins at 9 a.m. Friday morning.

-AH-