Women's Recap

 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming team won the Wheaton Invitational going away Saturday, claiming the team title for the third-straight season. The championship was also the fourth in five years at the event.

UWM ended the meet with 902 points, almost 350 points ahead of runner-up Grand Valley State University (555.5). Rounding out the top five was Wheaton College in third (538), UW-Stevens Point in fourth (516) and Hope College in fifth (513.5).

Milwaukee used a team effort for the victory, recording season-best times across the board in every event. Sophomore Shannon Berndt and freshman Danielle Wenger added individual wins, with the 400 free relay and 200 medley relay teams also coming through with victories to lead the way.

"This was a great team effort this weekend," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "One of our biggest strengths this season is our depth and it showed this weekend."

Berndt helped give the Panthers a one-two finish in the 200 breaststroke, topping the field in a time of 2:23.21. Sophomore Kerry Rossow was just behind in second, touching the wall in 2:23.82.

Wenger won the 1650 freestyle in a time of 17:35.26 to top the rest of the field by over seven seconds and also take almost 20 seconds off her previous season-best of 17:53.50.

It was the 400 freestyle relay that provided the most thrilling end, as the team of freshman Ellie Gross, junior Molly Finn, sophomore Bailey Nennig and senior Jess Kelly won the event by the smallest of margins over Hope College. Kelly anchored and touched out the victory by .01 of a second, with UWM finishing in 3:33.49 and Hope in 3:33.50.
 
The 200 medley relay team of junior Kate Riebe, Rossow, senior Briana Fergusson and Kelly recorded a season-best time of 1:47.60 to claim the victory.

"The 400 free relay was the highlight of the night," Griffore said. "It is now the midpoint of the season. We did well this weekend but we have a lot of things to do in order to improve. But, we are headed in the right direction."

Other top finishers for the Panthers included Fergusson in the 100 butterfly, placing third in 1:00.05. Sophomore Kristina Hansen placed third in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.66 after winning the preliminaries. She also took sixth in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.65. In that race, freshman Kelsey Ogle was fifth in 1:56.73 and Gross third in 1:56.05. Kelly was the top finisher in the 100 free, with her time of 24.81 earning a fourth-place finish.

Finn took over five seconds off her season-best in the 400 IM, taking second in 4:32.15. Nennig did the same, eclipsing her season-best by over four seconds in taking fourth at 4:38.93.

 

Men's Recap

Senior Chase Gravengood and junior Robby Leibold continued their weekend heroics on Saturday, each setting a new school record en route to victories that helped the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming team claim back-to-back titles at the Wheaton Invitational.

UWM ended the meet with 832 points, over 150 points ahead of runner-up Washington University (662). Rounding out the top five was Grand Valley State University in third (556), Hope College in fourth (533) and UW-Stevens Points in fifth (520.5).

Gravengood established new school, meet and pool record in the 400 IM, topping the field in a time of 3:59.32. That broke the school record of 4:03.29, which Gravengood set back in 2005.

Leibold broke the oldest record in the UWM record book and did it handily. He set a new school mark in the 1650 freestyle, finishing in a time of 15:41.89. That broke the school mark set by Brent Boock in 1991 by over 10 seconds, as Boock's former standard was 15:51.68. His time was also a meet and pool record.

"We had some really good things happen today," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "Robby breaking the school record by over 10 seconds was amazing and Chase's record in the 400 IM was great."

The 100 backstroke was a strong event on the day for Milwaukee, placing three swimmers in the top six of the race. Senior Ross Bittner finished second, touching the wall in 52.96. Freshman Garett Dissmore was third in 54.28 and sophomore Dennis Knipfer sixth in 55.16. All three times were season-bests.

Other top finishers for Milwaukee included Bittner in the 100 butterfly, placing fourth in a time of 51.55. Junior David Adams finished third in the 1650 free in 16:22.95, cutting over 30 seconds off his previous season-best. Freshman Jake Kalinowski was the top UWM finisher in the 50 free, recording a season-best time of 21.60.
 
In the 200 free, freshman Bill McCarty (fourth in 1:43.80) and senior David Yugo (fifth in 1:44.35) gave the Panthers two in the top five. In the relays, both the 400 free and 200 medley relay teams placed fourth.

"The goal as a coach is to get better every year and we continue to show that," Griffore said. "It is the midpoint of the season. We did well this weekend but have a lot of things we need to do to improve."