The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming and diving team kicked off the Horizon League Championships in record-breaking fashion, setting a new school mark in both the 200 freestyle relay and a new league-best time in the 200 medley relay to cap the first day of action at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis. Wednesday.
Milwaukee sits atop the standings after the first day of action with 109 points, with Cleveland State in second with 102 points. Green Bay is third at 90, Wright State and UIC are tied for fourth at 83, while Youngstown State (61), Valparaiso (51) and Butler (48) round out the scoring.
"Today went really well," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "The women set school records in both relays, which is awesome. The `two medley' relay was not only a school record, but also a league record, which is not something everybody gets to hold, especially in those relays. We already hold the `four medley' and we knew it was just a matter of time before we got the two."
The Panthers finished the meet off in impressive fashion, crushing the previous league record in the 200 medley relay. Sophomores Becky Yokosh, Emily McClellan, Diana Diel and senior Sarah Wardecke teamed up for an NCAA `B' cut time of 1:40.64, knocking off the previous standard by over a full second.
Milwaukee also broke the school record in the 200 freestyle relay in the day's first event. Wardecke, sophomore Becky Yokosh, freshman Sierra Townsend and senior Heidi Niespodzany combined to finish the event in 1:32.84, breaking the mark of 1:33.62 set last year.
Four UWM swimmers scored and two finished in the top-five in the 1000 freestyle, both the most by any program. Junior Karmyn Van Dewettering led the way for Milwaukee, finishing fourth with time of 10:23.68, shattering her season-best time of 10:48.33.
Brittany Walsh (10:23.89) finished just behind in fifth, while Chloe Lewis (10:35.47) finished 12th, both equaling season-best times. Maggi Beck (10:43.02) also scored for the Panthers, coming in 16th.
"Karmyn Van Dewettering stole the show," Clements said. "She was seeded 15th or 16th and dropped a lifetime best over 10 seconds and got herself up there on the podium finishing fourth. That's what we need."
Day two of action gets underway with 10:30 a.m. CST preliminaries and finals, which can be seen live on the Horizon League Network, getting underway at 6:30 p.m.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming and diving team had six top-five finishes to lead the way in the first day of the Horizon League Championships at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis. Wednesday.
After the first day of action, Milwaukee sits on top with 152 points, followed by Cleveland State at 149 and UIC with 125. Green Bay (110) is in fourth, Wright State (91) fifth and Valparaiso (53) sixth to round out the scoring.
"Today went really well," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "The relays were right on, just missing school records but very solid and things we can build on, that's for sure. In the thousand, what gets us where we need to go is our depth and our depth took over again.
Milwaukee kicked the day off well, nearly breaking a school record in the 200 freestyle relay. Senior Kyle Trelka and juniors Sam Niesen, David Dvorak and Nathan Welchlin combined to finish with an NCAA `B' cut time of 1:21.28, equaling a season-best time and just missing the school record.
In the 1000 freestyle, freshman Kenny Stelpflug led the way for Milwaukee, taking third overall in 9:30.03, knocking 10 seconds off his season-best time. Chris Jenkyns was right behind, winning his heat and taking fifth in 9:30.23.
Sophomore Jeff Maxwell took ninth at 9:38.17 and junior Brian Verink was 11th in 9:39.57 to also score for UWM.
A group of freshmen posted outstanding marks on the three-meter board in their first league championships. K.J. Heger came in third with a score of 333.35 and classmate Lee Anderson was fourth at 324.90 as Milwaukee was the only school with two divers in the top-five.
Freshman Andy LaFleur also did well, winning the consolation finals with a season-best score of 273.50.
"Diving was a nice piece we added this year," Clements said. "We've always had good divers but we've never had this amount of good divers. Putting two divers in the top four is amazing, and then Andy won `consols,' so there are some more points right there."
The Panthers again just missed a school record in the day's final event, touching the wall in the 200 medley relay at 1:30.23. Trelka and seniors Brady Huemann and Jordan Diel and junior Caleb Sandvold all swam fast, missing first place by a mere five one-hundredths of a second.
Day two of action gets underway with 10:30 a.m. CST preliminaries and finals, which can be seen live on the Horizon League Network, getting underway at 6:30 p.m.