Pointer wrestler earns All-American honors Senior Wes Kapping (Spring Valley) earned his first career All-American honor and became the 31st Pointer in history to earn the honor by finishing eighth at 174 pounds at the NCAA Division III championships in Waterloo, Iowa. Junior Nathan Preslaski (Pulaski) went 0-2 at 157 pounds, losing to Peter Doucet of Roger Williams (R.I.) by major decision, 12-3, and to Dmitri Tarasov of Central (Iowa), 7-3. Kapping opened with a 6-2 win over Andy Hull of Lycoming (Pa.) before dropping a quarterfinal match to defending national champion and top-seeded Nick Slack of Augsburg (Minn.) 10-5. In the consolation round, he avenged a loss to UW-La Crosse's Ben Bly in the WIAC championship match by beating him, 6-3. Kapping then lost to Lawrence's Ross Mueller, 6-5, and to Montclair State's Brad Christie, 15-11. Kapping ended the year 26-10 and Preslaski was 19-9. Women's Hockey The Pointers wrapped up their inaugural season by finishing third at the NCHA tournament. UW-SP lost to UW-River Falls, 4-1, on Saturday, but then beat Lake Forest, 2-0, in Sunday's third place game. UW-River Falls beat UW-Superior, 2-1, for the first-ever title. The Pointers completed the season at 13-13-1 overall. Diane Sawyer (Stillwater, Minn.), who was named the first-team All-NCHA goalie, stopped all 24 shots for her second shutout of the season on Sunday. Mandy Rhyner (Stevens Point) scored the lone goal in Saturday's game, while Naomi Morris (Onalaska) and Alison St. Peter (Wisconsin Rapids) scored on Sunday. The Pointers played without their leading scorer Nicole Busse (Stevens Point), who was injured but joined Sawyer on the all-conference team. Jason Lesteberg was named the first-ever NCHA Coach of the Year after leading the Pointers to perhaps the best season of any first-year program in the country. UW-SP was 11-0-1 against other first-year teams and received votes in the NCAA Division III rankings nearly every week. Swimming And Diving The Pointer women will compete at the national meet this weekend and are looking to improve upon their school-record 11th place finish at last year's championships. UW-SP has four relays seeded in the top seven and six swimmers participating in the meet. The UW-SP men will compete the following weekend and will bring seven swimmers and diver Chris Hansman (Neenah) to nationals. The swimmers competing are Randy Boelk (Embarrass, Minn.), Nathan Eddingsaas (Bryan, Ohio), John Green (Madison), Nick Hansen (West Bend), Anthony Harris (St. Paul, Minn.), Aaron Heiss (Oshkosh) and Eric Sands (South St. Paul, Minn.). In sheets released this week, the men's team's 200 freestyle relay and 200 medley relays are both seeded fourth. The 400 freestyle relay is seeded seventh and the 400 medley is seeded 10th. Boelk is seeded second in both the 100 and 200 backstroke and is seeded third in the 200 individual medley. Indoor Track And Field The Pointer men's and women's teams both finished third at last weekend's WIAC championships in Stevens Point as the Pointers had four men's champions and four women's champions. Sophomore Becky Lebak (Burlington) was the top Pointer performer and earned women's track athlete of the meet honors as the only female from any school to win two events. She won the 5,000 meters in 17:33.92 and the 3,000 meters in 10:21.86. Lebak joins Jessie Bushman (1993 & 1997) as the only Pointer women ever to win athlete of the meet honors. Jenny Todd (Schofield) became the first Pointer woman ever to win a WIAC long jump title in the indoor or outdoor season with a jump of 18 feet, 4.25 inches. Leah Juno (Brillion) also won the 1500 meters in 4:45.96, claiming a dramatic race by just 0.14 seconds. On the men's side, Chris Horvat (Menomonee Falls) broke a 12-year-old record in the 800 meters to win with a time of 1:53.32. Cory Lesperance also became just the fourth Pointer male ever to win a WIAC indoor long jump title, winning with a leap of 23 feet, 0.75 inches. UW-SP's men's team also had two of the meet's most exciting victories as Jesse Drake (Rhinelander) rallied from several meters down with a dramatic surge in the final 100 meters to pull out a victory in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:35.02. Craig Gunderson (Waupaca) also had to rally in the final 50 meters and finished in a dead-heat tie for first place in the 400 meters at 48.78 seconds. The Pointers will compete this weekend at the NCAA Division III championships at the Kolf Sports Center in Oshkosh. Action begins Friday at 11:30 a.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. Running events finals begin at 2 p.m. Saturday. Men's Basketball Two-time defending league champion UW-SP had four men's basketball players honored by the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in its postseason awards with two first-team selections, one honorable mention performer and the league's Scholar Athlete. Included in the awards were all three of the Pointers' seniors as Joe Zuiker earned first-team accolades, Brent Larson was an honorable mention selection and Jay Bennett was named the conference's Max Sparger Scholar Athlete award winner. Sophomore Josh Iserloth was also a first-team performer as the Pointers were one of only two teams with two players on the league's 10-player first team. Women's Basketball With two of the top scorers and rebounders in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, UW-SP landed both players on the All-WIAC women's basketball first team. Kari Groshek, a junior center from Rosholt, ranked second in the WIAC in scoring and fourth in rebounding, while Carry Boehning, a junior forward from Auburndale, ranked seventh in scoring and second in rebounding. Groshek was also selected as a first-team All-District selection to the Verizon women's basketball All-Academic team. Groshek, a Rosholt native, carries a 3.75 grade point average in biology and is now eligible for Academic All-American honors. Men's Hockey UW-SP senior Matt Interbartolo earned his first career All-Conference selection and was the lone Pointer men's player named to the first team of the All-Northern Collegiate Hockey Association teams. Interbartolo, a forward from Toronto, Ont., led the Pointers with 11 goals and 36 assists for 47 points in 29 games. His assist total also led the NCHA and ranked sixth in the NCAA Division III. His points per game total also ranked 17th in Division III. Interbartolo was the most consistent performer this season for the Pointers, who finished 17-12 overall. He scored points in 25 of the team's 29 games, including a streak of 17 straight games late in the season. Interbartolo scored in 13 of the team's 14 NCHA games. He also finished 10th on the UW-Stevens Point career scoring list with 137 career points, despite playing in just 85 games. Interbartolo is the only player among the top 20 all-time scorers to play in fewer than 100 games and ranks second in all-time points per game. Pointers' sophomore defenseman Randy Enders, a Madison native, was an honorable mention selection. Enders had three goals and six assists to rank second among Pointer defensemen in scoring with nine points in 23 games. Football The Pointer football team will play six home games plus two of its four away games in Platteville during the 2001 season. UW-SP will play just one of its 10 games against a non-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent, opening the season at home on Sept. 8 with Ohio Northern University. The Pointers will then host UW-Oshkosh in a non-conference game for the annual "Spud Bowl" on Sept. 15 before traveling to UW-Platteville for another non-conference game on Sept. 22. UW-Stevens Point will also play its final away game of the season in Platteville in a WIAC contest on Nov. 3. It marks the first time since 1931 that the Pointers have scheduled the same opponent twice during the regular season when they also played UW-Oshkosh. The Pointers haven't scheduled more than one team twice in a season since 1907 when they played three different high schools two times. The Pointers open the WIAC season on Sept. 29 at UW-La Crosse and will host UW-Whitewater for homecoming on Oct. 6.