RELEASED:  Tuesday, February 26, 2008

UW-Stevens Point’s Clapp Claims Men’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete Plaque

Madison, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Willie Clapp has been named the 2008 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Max Sparger Men’s Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete.

A native of Faribault, Minn., Clapp is a senior and carries a 3.64 grade point average, while majoring in chemistry/pre-pharmacy.   He is a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll and has received highest honors from his institution numerous semesters.

A team captain this season, Clapp has been a member of four consecutive WIAC championship teams and is a five-time individual/relay WIAC champion.  He has participated on the winning 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay teams in 2006 and 2008, while claiming the 100-yard backstroke in 2007.  Clapp is a two-time All-American and All-American honorable mention recipient.

Clapp is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Societies and is a three-year representative on UW-Stevens Point’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  In addition, he has participated in his institution’s Pharmacy Club and has served a four-year honors internship with UW-Stevens Point’s Chemistry Department.

UW-La Crosse’s Cole Swanson (Jr., Onalaska, Wis.) and UW-Whitewater’s Kyle Boers (Sr., Madison, Wis./East) were also nominated for this year’s scholar-athlete honor.

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Max Sparger and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.  Sparger served as commissioner of the Wisconsin State University Conference from July, 1971 - July, 1993.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.25 grade point average, be in their last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.