Nov. 8, 2003

Complete Results

MILWAUKEE - Returning home to the Klotsche Center pool for the first time since October 24, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's swimming and diving team definitely made themselves comfortable. The Panthers hosted a quad meet on Saturday afternoon against the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Evansville and the women's team from the University of Northern Iowa. Each team raced against each other, but the meet was scored in a dual system. This meant that each team would be scored as if facing one other team.

UWM made the most of their day. The women turned in a 3-0 performance by defeating Evansville 186-107, Illinois-Chicago 190-109 and attaining the third with a 195-104 victory over Northern Iowa. The men came away with 1-1 record on the day by defeating Evansville 172-122 and falling to UIC 158-141.

The women had an array of excellent performances throughout the afternoon. Besides winning the 400-yard medley, the women saw contributions from Heather Sawatzki, Sarah and Lindsay Caldwell, Emily Holcomb and Bridget Fargen. Sawatzki snagged herself two first-place finishes with victories coming the in 200 butterfly with a time of 2:13.44 and in the 100 butterfly with a finishing time of 1:00.76. Consistent performances are starting to be synonymous with the Caldwell sisters, Lindsay and Sarah. Lindsay Caldwell swam away with two wins on the day. Her wins came in the 50 freestyle (24.44) and 100 freestyle (53.21). Her sister Sarah added second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:09.71. Also finishing high on the list of performers was Bridget Fargen. Fargen finished second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.23. The women also got help from Crystal Szymanski and Hannah Burgard in the diving department. Szymanski won the women's 1-meter competition while Burgard placed 2nd and came away with the victory in the women's 3-meter.

"The women did such a great job today," commented Panther head coach Dave Clark. "They've been working very hard and came away with three wins. It's something to be extremely proud of."

While the men may have finished 1-1 on the day, they had their shining moments. Michael Belting swam away with another victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:59.75. His time was 20 seconds better than the second-place competitor. Senior captain Josh Baseheart came away with three victories by winning the 200, 100 50-yard freestyle events. Perhaps the most exciting race for the men came during the 100-yard butterfly. UWM sophomore Rob Vergeer was swimming stroke-for-stroke with Casey Morford of Evansville during the event. With teammates cheering and fans watching steadily, Vergeer pulled out the race for the victory with a finishing time of 52.03. Morford finished just behind with a time of 52.11. Belting, Baseheart and Vergeer would later team up with Tim Watt to take the victory in the men's 400-yard freestyle relay. The men also received a strong diving performance from Jeff Jasinowksi and Corey Kupfer. Jasinowski finished 1st in the 3-meter diving and 2nd in the 1-meter. Kupfer claimed 3rd in the 3-meter and 4th in the 1-meter.

"Our guys had a strange meet, but they kept pushing themselves through," Clark said. "They'll continue to get better each day though."

The swimming and diving teams will take time off before returning to action on December 4. They will be competing in the Notre Dame Diving Invitational and then will participate in the Wheaton Invitational on December 5.