University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Laurie Woelfel 1997 - Swimming
An America East Champion who was twice named the team's athlete of the year, Laurie Woelfel finished her standout four-year career as the program's best-ever in the breaststroke. Woelfel, a 2009 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, was the first and only Catamount to win the conference individual title in the breaststroke capturing the 200 championship as a junior in 1996.
One of the first three UVM women's swimmers to win an America East individual title, she was the only Catamount to win of an individual event at the America East Championship from 1996 to 2008. When Woelfel graduated in 1997, she held the school record in both breaststroke events, the 100 and 200, with times that still stand 10 seasons later. Several times throughout her career she bettered each record.
She had a great start with the Catamounts in 1994 establishing five UVM freshman records, the 50, 100 and the 200 breaststroke, and the 200 and 300 IM. At her first conference meet as a freshman, she came in second in the 200 breaststroke and fifth in the 200 IM. In 1995 as a sophomore she was third in the 200 breaststroke and fourth in the 100.
As a junior in 1996 she twice bettered the school-record in the 100 breaststroke and three times she elipsed the 200 mark finishing the season winning the conference title at the University of Delaware pool with a time of 2:26.47. She also came in fifth in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 200 individual medley in 2:13:39. At that season's New England Championship in December, 1995, she was Vermont's highest finisher coming in sixth in the 200 breaststroke.
A native of Haverhill, Mass., Woelfel wrapped up her career with an outstanding senior season retiring as the UVM record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events setting both marks at the America East Championship, her final meet for the Catamounts. At the Maine pool on February 16, 1997, she came in second in the 200 with a time of 2:25:64 and finished fourth in the 100 swimming the event in 1:07.85. She also added an eighth place finish, tops for the Cats, in the 200 IM.
An excellent student who graduated with a degree in education, Woelfel twice earned a spot on the America East Academic Honor Roll.
