The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's and men’s swimming & diving team opened defense of its Bill Ritter Invitational title in style on Friday night. The UWM women lead the way with 396 points, followed by UW-Green Bay (347), Illinois State (331) and UIC (185).  The UWM men sits in third with 347 points, trailing UW-Green Bay (366) and first-place UIC (375).

Milwaukee road a strong showing by the diving team and a pool-record time in the 50 freestyle from senior Lindsay Caldwell to the day one lead. It was an overall team effort, as the 400 medley relay team also was victorious.

The Panthers dominated the diving competition, finishing 1-2-3 on both boards. Senior Emily Duesler won the one-meter board with a score of 246.40, followed by senior Crystal Szymanski in second with 240.35 and freshman Rachel Grimm in third with a season-best 238.00.

On the three it was Grimm adding another season-best, winning with 246.50 to top her previous-best of 233.70 set in November. Duesler was in second with 245.45, with Szymanski close behind with 237.60 points.

Caldwell broke her own standard in winning the 50 free, with her 23.98 eclipsing the 24.01 she set last season.

The 400 medley relay team of sophomore Molly Finn, freshman Shannon Berndt, junior Briana Fergusson and Caldwell won comfortably in 3:58.49, topping second-place Green Bay (4:01.74) by over three seconds. 
  

Finn and Berndt also made some noise in the 200 IM, with Finn taking second in 2:10.76 and Berndt third in a time of 2:12.19.

For the men, sophomore Robby Leibold led a contingent of Panther swimmers in the 500 freestyle, taking second in a time of 4:43.35. Milwaukee placed 2-3-4, with sophomore David Adams right behind in 4:48.63 and junior David Yugo in fourth at 4:50.63.

Freshman Jeremy Waldhart helped out with a second-place showing in the 200 IM, touching the wall in 1:58.72.

In the 50 freestyle, freshman Eric Burns recorded a season-best time (fifth, 22.18) and junior Tyler Jefferson (sixth, 22.32), freshman Ed Lichinsky (eighth, 22.59), freshman Andy Rux (ninth, season-best 22.99) and junior Tom Heitkamp (tenth, 23.10) gave the Panthers half of the top ten. UIC's Blake Booher led the way with a pool-record time of 20.51.

On the boards, Corey Kupfer took third on the three-meter with 260.00 points and fifth on the one with 231.95. Freshman P.J. Rongitsch was UWM's top finisher on the one-meter board, taking fourth with 234.25 points.