UW-Stevens Point Recent Athletics Success
* In 2006-07, UW-Stevens Point placed 13th in the Director’s Cup standings which measure the nation’s top overall NCAA Division III athletics program among all 441 Division III schools. It marked the 10th straight year that the Pointers have been in the top 25 of the standings.
* Since 2003-04, UW-Stevens Point has had 22 teams from 11 different sports place in the top 10 of NCAA Division III tournament competition. The men’s basketball team won back-to-back national titles in 2003-04 and 2004-05. The Pointers also had national runner-up finishes in women’s hockey and men’s cross country in 2003-04.
* UW-Stevens Point has had 33 Academic All-Americans in school history, including 30 over the past eight years.
* Former UW-Stevens Point linebacker Clint Kriewaldt was a member of the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in February 2006 and is beginning his ninth season in the National Football League. Kriewaldt made the tackle on the Super Bowl’s opening kickoff. He played the previous four seasons with the Detroit Lions and was the only Division III player selected in the 1999 draft as a sixth-round choice.
* UW-Stevens Point women’s basketball player Kari Groshek and women’s cross country and track and field athlete Leah Juno were selected as recipients of the prestigious NCAA Top VIII Award in consecutive years. The awards recognize students for athletic and academic performance in all NCAA sports and divisions. Groshek received the award in 2002 and Juno was honored in 2001.
* UW-Stevens Point basketball, soccer and track and field athlete Tara Schmitt was named Wisconsin’s winner of the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2006. Former Pointers’ swimmer Becca Uphoff also won the award in 2000.
* Former Pointer quarterback Kirk Baumgartner (1984-87) is still the all-time leading passer in NAIA football history with 14,847 yards and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in August 2005.
* Three athletes were named National Players of the Year in their respective sports during 2004-05. Men’s basketball player Jason Kalsow, women’s basketball player Amanda Nechuta and baseball player Steve Wiczek all landed the honor. It marked the first time in any division a school won the award in both men’s and women’s basketball in the same year.
* Matt Interbartolo was named the NCAA Division III women’s golf coach of the year in 2006-07. Jack Bennett also received a national coach of the year award for men’s basketball in 2003-04 and 2004-05.
