Seniors Lead The Way In Convincing Home Win

Group of three close out their home career in style

Results

MILWAUKEE – Three seniors teamed up to win five events and post eight top-three results overall for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team in a convincing win over the University of Chicago Saturday afternoon on senior day 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."

While there were solid times put up by many Panthers across the board, Saturday belonged to Milwaukee's senior class of Kelly Theis, Sierra Townsend and Anna Yontz.

Yontz powered to a win in the 50 free with a strong in-season time of 23.78. Townsend was right behind at 24.44 for second place overall as UWM took the top-four spots overall.

Yontz again led the charge in the 100 free, touching the wall first at 52.51, earning every inch in a tight race with teammate Mandie Siehs, who was second at 52.68.

Townsend also got in on the winning ways. The senior took the top spot in the 100 butterfly in very convincing fashion with a winning time of 58.55 – a full two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kristin Zablocki (1:00.91).

Then it was Theis' turn to get in the action. The Germantown native posted a season-best time in the 500 free and was neck-and-neck with the leader for much of the race before settling for second at 5:16.71. Sophomore Natalie Johnson won the event at 5:12.21.

Theis also came in third in the 1000 free in 10:54.21, also a season-best time. Johnson won the 1000 in 10:25.81 with freshman Alena Bodnaruk taking second at 10:44.52.

The Panther seniors also played a big role in both relay wins on the day. In the opening 200 medley relay, Townsend and Yontz anchored the winning relay started off by Sara Bentley and Hannah Lucas with a winning time of 1:47.20. Then, to close out the meet, Yontz, Johnson, Townsend and Siehs teamed up to win the 400 free in 3:33.82 – just behind Klotsche-record pace.

UWM added more wins on the dominating day by Johnson (200 free), Bentley (100 back and 200 IM), Lucas (100 and 200 breast) and Rachel Margis (1-meter and 3-meter diving).

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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