Pointer teams head into season-ending competition The WIAC baseball race comes down to this weekend as the Pointers play their final four regular season games in La Crosse and River Falls. UW-SP is in third place at 7-3 in the league, while UW-Oshkosh is 7-0 and UW-Whitewater is 6-2. The top four teams make the tournament May 12-13 with the first place team serving as the host. Overall, the Pointers are 24-9. UW-SP is peaking at the right time, having won nine of its last 10 games. The Pointers swept UW-Platteville, 8-6 and 12-2, on Saturday after splitting with UW-Whitewater on Friday. The Pointers beat the Warhawks, 4-3, in the opener, but lost, 7-4, in the nightcap as UW-Whitewater hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth for the victory. Sam Molski (Stevens Point) had three hits in each game at UW-Platteville, while Randy Reed (Appleton) hit his single-season school-record fourth triple of the year in the opening game. The Pointers had 35 hits in the doubleheader. Molski hit a two-run triple and Eric Bennett (Madison) followed with a two-run homer in the fourth inning of Friday's win over UW-Whitewater as the Pointers erased a 3-0 deficit. UW-SP also trailed 3-0 in the second game, but came back to tie the game in the eighth on a solo homer by Ryan Ivy (Kenosha). Softball It was a huge week for the Pointers as they won all six games, including four one-run games, while capturing the UW-River Falls Tournament and sweeping UW-La Crosse. The Pointers are now 21-10 overall and 1-5 in the WIAC. The Pointers will play in the WIAC tournament at Superior this weekend and are the No. 7 seed in the nine-team tournament. They will face second-seeded UW-River Falls in the opening round at 11 a.m. Friday. In the second round, UW-SP will face either third-seeded UW-Whitewater or sixth-seeded UW-Eau Claire. The other half of the bracket has eighth-seeded UW-Oshkosh meeting ninth-seeded UW-Stout, with the winner taking on top-seeded UW-La Crosse. Fourth-seeded UW-Superior meets fifth-seeded UW-Platteville. The seedings are based on a formula that combines overall record, divisional record and a coaches' poll. The divisional record is worth 50 percent of the seeding and UW-SP ranked last in the East Division with its 1-5 record, but was 20-5 in non-division games. UW-Platteville had the leagues best divisional record at 4-2 but the worst overall record at 11-23. The Pointers beat UW-Stout, 3-2, in the title game in River Falls Sunday as Nicole Alexander (Dodgeville) singled home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. UW-SP also beat UW-Stout, 4-3, in eight innings earlier in the day as Sarah Berg (Stillwater, Minn.) hit an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. On Saturday, the Pointers beat UW-Eau Claire, 2-1, as Kelly Rutta (Stevens Point) drove home two runs and then beat UW-River Falls, 2-0, behind a two-hit shutout from Karen Guckenberger (South Milwaukee). Guckenberger became the all-time career strikeout leader at UW-SP Thursday in an 11-0 win at UW-La Crosse. She surpassed Jamie Lowney's career record of 186 strikeouts in less than two seasons with the Pointers. UW-SP beat UW-La Crosse 4-3 in the second game as Alexander hit a solo homer in the sixth. Track and Field The Pointers competed in three different meets last weekend, including the annual Drake Relays, for their final tune-up prior to this weekend's WIAC Outdoor Championships in Whitewater. Events begin Friday, May 4, at noon and Saturday, May 5, at 11 a.m. Leah Juno (Brillion) had the fastest time of any NCAA Division III runner in the women's 800 meters by more than two seconds by finishing 10th in the Division I competition at the Drake Relays. Juno posted a time of 2:10.49 to place 10th among 15 runners in the event. The Pointer senior was the only Division III runner in the race. The men's team was led at Drake by the third-place distance medley relay team of Ben Treptow (Viroqua), Craig Gunderson (Waupaca), Chris Horvat (Menomonee Falls) and Jesse Drake (Rhinelander) in 10:00.97. The sprint medley team of Kyle Newman (Holmen), Eric Miller (Green Bay), Gunderson and Horvat was fourth in 3:21.59. The remainder of the men's team placed second at the nine-team UW-Eau Claire Invitational, while the rest of the women's team was seventh of eight teams at UW-La Crosse. Luke Hilgers (Nekoosa) was the top performer for the men's team, winning the hammer throw at 183 feet, one inch. He was also second in the shot put at 51 feet, one-fourth inch, while Paul Steffeck (Amherst) was third in the shot put at 49 feet, seven inches. April Halkoski (Schofield) was the top Pointer women's performer at UW-La Crosse, placing second in the 3,000 meters at 10:28.40. Athletes of the Year Five athletes who earned Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships during the past year have been honored as UW-Stevens Point' Athletes of the Year for their performances during the 2000-01 school year. Men' swimmer Randy Boelk (Embarrass, Minn.) and cross country and track runner Jesse Drake (Rhinelander) shared the men's individual sport honor, while cross country and track runner Leah Juno (Brillion) was the women's individual sport selection. Soccer player Marie Muhvic (Stevens Point) was the top women's team sport athlete and men's basketball player Joe Zuiker (Port Edwards) was the top men's team sport athlete. The awards are selected by the entire UW-SP coaching staff. Boelk won all seven of his events to lead the Pointers to their second straight WIAC men's swimming championship. Boelk set the WIAC career record with 23 career titles, which is five more than any other swimmer in conference history. He was a four-time WIAC champion in the 400 individual medley and won 10 of his 12 individual races during his four years. He also finished as an All-American in all seven of his events this season, placing second in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Boelk finished his career with a school-record 26 All-American honors. Drake was named the NCAA Division III indoor track Athlete of the Year after winning the national championship in the 5,000 meters. He was also the WIAC champion in the event and won the individual title at the WIAC cross country championships. Drake finished third at the Division III cross country championships for his second straight All-American honor. During the outdoor track season, he currently holds the nation's fastest time in the 5,000 meters. Juno won her second career national title by claiming the indoor 800 meters after winning the outdoor title last spring. Juno was named the Division III Midwest Region indoor track Athlete of the Year after leading the Pointers to their highest national finish in school history at fourth place. She currently has the best outdoor times in Division III in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters. Juno won the WIAC indoor title this season in the 1,500 meters and was the individual champion at the WIAC cross country championships. She finished 16th at the Division III cross country championships for her second straight All-American honor and was named a third-team Verizon Academic All-American in cross country. Muhvic was the first-ever WIAC Player of the Year this past season after leading the soccer team to its fourth straight conference title and a berth in the Division III final four. Muhvic is the conference's all-time leading scorer with 74 goals and 173 points despite playing just three seasons since transferring. She scored a WIAC record 30 goals and 73 points this season. Muhvic is a three-time All-Conference performer and earned second-team All-American honors. She was the conference's scholar athlete and was the first female athlete in school history to be named a first-team Verizon Academic All-American. Zuiker had the second-highest field goal percentage in WIAC men's basketball history at 65.2 percent while helping the Pointers to their second straight conference title. He also ranked fourth in the league in rebounding at 6.9 per game and ranked second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game to earn first-team All-WIAC honors. Zuiker set a single-game school record for field goal shooting with a nine-for-nine performance in a win over UW-River Falls. Also, four athletes were selected as the school's freshman Athletes of the Year. Swimmer Alissa Bartz (Beloit) was the women's individual sport selection and soccer player Jenny Bruce (Menasha) was the women's team sport honoree. Cross country runner Curt Johnson (DeForest) was the top men's individual sport newcomer and men's basketball player Neal Krajnik (Manitowoc) captured the men's team sport honors.