With top finishes in women’s swimming and diving and men’s track and field, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has climbed to third place in the latest NCAA Division III Sears Cup standings, recognizing the nation’s top overall athletic program.

Not included in the latest standings are men’s and women’s basketball, hockey and men’s swimming and diving. The Pointers could move up in the next standings after advancing to the quarterfinals in men’s basketball and finishing seventh in men’s swimming and diving.

UW-Stevens Point finished fourth in men’s track and field and 11^th in women’s swimming and diving. The Pointers also earned a 24^th place finish in women’s track and field and a 38^th place performance in wrestling to total 394 points in the latest standings.

Already enjoying a big season on the playing field, it’s been an equally successful year in the classroom for UW-Stevens Point athletes in 1999-2000.

The Pointers landed two athletes on each the men’s and women’s GTE Academic All-District fall/winter at-large teams. GTE sponsors academic teams in football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball, as well as fall/winter and spring at-large sports. The fall/winter at-large teams consist of 10 men and 10 women with UW-Stevens Point garnering four of the 20 spots. The district consists of all Division II, Division III and NAIA schools in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana.

On the men’s side, cross country athlete Dan Schwamberger was honored along with swimmer Brent Newport. The women’s team recognized soccer player Marie Muhvic and swimmer Becca Uphoff. UW-La Crosse cross country athlete Jenny Fiedler is the only other Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference athlete named to either the men’s or women’s team. The All-District selections are now eligible for Academic All-America honors.

Also, men’s basketball player Gabe Frank was a second-team All-District selection. Earlier this season, football player Andy Palzkill was a second-team All-American.

Schwamberger, a senior from North Mankato, Minn., holds a 3.91 grade point average in Forest Management. He was a cross country All-American the past two seasons, finishing 25^th at the NCAA Division III national meet as a senior and 20^th as a junior. Schwamberger, who also recently won the national championship in the 5000 meters at the Division III indoor track meet, was named the WIAC’s scholar athlete for men’s cross country.

Newport, a senior from Berlin, Wis., was the WIAC’s men’s swimming and diving scholar athlete with a 3.97 GPA in Biology and Business Administration. He won WIAC titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, while also swimming on the 200 and 400 medley relay teams as the Pointers won their third WIAC title in four years. Newport qualified for the NCAA Division III meet in all four events and earned All-American honors in the 400 medley relay, finishing sixth.

Muhvic, a junior from Stevens Point, holds a 3.93 GPA in Physical Education. She scored a school-record 23 goals last season, breaking her own record of 21 the previous season. Muhvic scored six goals in three WIAC tournament games, including the game-winner in a 1-0 overtime victory over UW-La Crosse in the WIAC title match as the Pointers won their seventh conference title in eight seasons. She earned first-team All-WIAC this season for the second straight year.

Uphoff, a senior from Madison and a graduate of West High School, is majoring in Communicative Disorders/Psychology and boasts a 3.83 GPA. She became a four-time WIAC champion this season in the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke, while also winning her third straight 500 freestyle title as the Pointers won their first-ever WIAC title. Uphoff also won three WIAC relay titles this season and became a five-time All-American by finishing sixth in the 200 freestyle relay and seventh in the 800 freestyle relay.

Six players from UW-Stevens Point’s Northern Collegiate Hockey Association regular season championship team have been recognized on the league’s All-Academic team.

Leading the way for the Pointers are two-time All-Academic selections senior Troy Michalski (Mosinee, Wis./Elementary Education) and junior Justin Zimmerman (Marshfield, Wis./Natural Science).

Players honored for the first time included junior Micah Brown (Anchorage, Alaska/Broadcasting), junior Pierre Nicolet (Anchorage, Alaska/Business Administration), junior Mikhail Salienko (Riga, Latvia/Communications) and senior Derek Toninato (Ashwaubenon, Wis./Business Administration).

Michalski and Salienko were both first-team All-NCHA performers on the ice as well.

UW-Stevens Point junior Kelly Rutta, a former standout at Stevens Point Pacelli High School, has been named the WIAC East Division softball Player of the Week for her performance at last weekend’s Concordia-St. Paul tournament.

Rutta hit .538 (seven-for-13), while leading the Pointers to a 3-1 record at the tournament, which included two games against NCAA Division II competition. Rutta also had four runs scored and three RBI’s. In the field, she had 20 fielding chances without an error at second base.