Coming off one more Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team championship, Al Boelk begins his 12th season as the Pointers' men's and women's swimming and diving coach in 2008-09.
Boelk has already guided the Pointers' men's and women's teams to 14 conference championships in his first 11 years, having won ten men's titles and four women's crowns. The Pointers have won both team championships each of the past two years.
Boelk led the men’s team to their ninth straight WIAC championship and 11th in 12 years last season. Boelk has already earned 13 WIAC Coach of the Year honors in his short career. He has been the WIAC women's Coach of the Year three of the past four years and men's Coach of the Year five of the past six seasons.
Boelk has coached two NCAA Division III national champion relays that both set Division III records, while also coaching his brother, Randy, to a national title in the 200 backstroke in 1998. Boelk has coached the Pointer men to a top 10 national finish in five of his nine seasons, including a ninth place performance in 2006. He also guided the women’s team to their three highest-ever national finishes, including a 10th place finish in 2006 an eighth place effort in 2001.
Overall, Boelk has coached 24 men’s All-Americans and seven honorable mention men’s All-Americans. He has trained 17 women’s All-Americans and four honorable mention women’s All-Americans. Boelk has guided 56 All-American men’s swims, including 18 All-American relays. He has coached 19 All-American women’s swims, including 14 All-American relays.
A native of Embarrass, Minn., Boelk came to UW-Stevens Point from the University of Minnesota, where he was an assistant coach for the Gopher Men’s Swimming and Diving Team and the Head Coach for the distance competitors. He was also Assistant Coach for the Twin Cities Swim Team (USS) for over two years.
A four-year letterwinner for the Gophers, he made his mark in the high school ranks when he became the first swimmer in nearly 40 years from Northern Minnesota to win a high school state championship (1991). He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Minnesota in Kinesiology with a coaching minor and has a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology. Boelk has also published research regarding “Power Generation in Female Swimmers.”
Boelk and his wife, Amy, reside in Amherst. They have a son, Otto.
