Oct. 10, 2008

Results

MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin proved to be tough competition Friday night, as it won each event in handing the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team a 147-74 loss in the season opener for each.

Freshman Sarah Wardecke got off to a strong start, leading Milwaukee with two second-place finishes that were each less than a second away from what would have been freshman records in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

In addition to Wardecke, UWM got strong starts from senior Molly Finn, freshman Heidi Niespodzany, junior Kerry Rossow and the diving team.

"It's a good start for us to be able to swim against such high-level competition in our season opener and see where we are at," UWM head coach Erica Janssen said. "We were much better than we were last year at this time and a lot of our kids were even much better than they were at our intrasquad scrimmage just last week."

Wardecke took second in both the 50 and 100 free, finishing just off freshman records in both events. Her time of 24.70 in the 50 was just behind the standard of 24.11 and her clocking of 52.99 in the 100 was just off the freshman mark of 52.64.

Finn placed second in the 100 butterfly in a time of 59.84 and also took fifth in the 200 IM in 2:12.79.

Niespodzany was third in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.85. That time was less than a quarter of a second off the freshman mark of 1:54.62 set by Kelsey Ogle a year ago. Rossow also earned a second-place showing against the Badgers, touching the wall in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.43.

Senior Ashley Hall (third on both boards) and sophomores Kelsey George (fourth on both) and Lauren Roy (fifth on both) helped out the Panthers.

"We had a lot of great swims tonight," Janssen said. "We were close to quite a few records in our first day in the pool, so we have a lot to take from this meet."

The women's team will take a small break but jump right into Horizon League action next, hosting Wright State Oct. 31. The Panthers and Raiders are scheduled for a 5 p.m. start that Friday at the Klotsche Natatorium.