Al Boelk
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aving already captured thirteen men’s and women’s Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships in his first ten years, Al Boelk begins his eleventh season as the Pointers’ head coach in 2007-08.
Boelk led the men’s team to their eighth straight WIAC championship and tenth in eleven years last season. The Pointer women’s team finished first to reclaim the WIAC title as well. The double win is UWSP’s fourth ever in 40 years. With these successes, Boelk has already earned 12 WIAC Coach of the Year honors in his short career, earning both the men's and women's award during 2005-06 and the women's in 2007. He has now claimed the men’s award six times in the last eight years and the women's honor four straight seasons. He also was named men’s Coach of the Year in 1998 and earned the women’s Coach of the Year award in 2000.
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 seven national finish in four of his eight seasons. He also guided the women’s team to their three highest-ever national finishes, including an eighth place effort in 2001.
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 letter-winner 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.”
