Lucchesi’s Record Sends Seniors Out With A Bang

Senior tops Klotsche record in final home meet

Results

MILWAUKEE – Mike Lucchesi, Kenny Stelpflug and K.J. Heger all won two events each in the final home meet of their careers to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team to an emphatic 183-113 win over the University of Chicago Saturday afternoon from the Klotsche Natatorium.

"The seniors are the ones that really swam fast and carried us today," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "There were a lot of senior wins for us today. They have all been great swimmers and divers for us over the years so I wouldn't have expected anything less.

"It's nice to swim well two days in a row. We got a little tired about halfway through this meet, but we're seeing constant improvement. Everything is moving forward from here. We're building on the foundation of the past five months of work and now we're just shaping things out."

In a day dominated by seniors, the highlight of the day came late in the meet. Lucchesi, swimming in his final individual race ever at the Klotsche Natatorium, closed things out with a bang. The senior broke the Klotsche record in the 100 butterfly with a remarkable time of 49.11 – over half a second faster than the previous record set by former Panther Jordan Diel back in 2011.

Lucchesi also grabbed a win in the 50 free. The Greendale native touched the wall first with a season-best time of 21.14, just edging out teammate Nick Menninga at 21.22.

Stelpflug also had quite an impressive day in the pool. The senior first won the 200 freestyle in 1:43.26 – a new season-best. Junior Erik Wahlgren came in second at 1:44.63. Later, Stelpflug came in first in the 200 IM with a season-best time of 1:57.36. The senior just missed his third win of the day in the 500 free, touching the wall at 4:43.98, just behind Tim Halverson's winning time of 4:42.08.

Heger swept both boards for the sixth time this season. The senior closed out his home career with an impressive score of 345.37 on the one-meter. Teammate Andres Villa was second at 291.90. Heger also cruised to a win in the three-meter competition with a mark of 332.17. Andy LaFleur also did well on the day, taking second at 273.45.

In the 200 fly, seniors Ryan Finke and Rob Miller finished 2-3. Finke grabbed the runner-up spot in 1:57.72, just ahead of Miller at 1:58.08.

Milwaukee continued to pile up the wins on the day, with other tops spots being claimed by Max Gatzke (1000 free), Menninga (100 free), Kyle Gerum (200 back) and Tim Halverson (500 free). Both of the Panther relays also took first on the dominating home finale.

Next up for the Panthers is a trip to Muncie, Ind., taking on both Ball State and IUPUI next Friday at 4 p.m. Central.

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