Feb. 5, 2011

Results

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Erika Pliner set a school record in the 200 backstroke and a freshmen record in the 100 back to highlight the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving effort Saturday against Green Bay. In the end, the six-time defending league champion Phoenix won the meet, 132-111, handing the Panthers a dual meet record of 10-3 to conclude the regular season.

Freshman Emily McClellan won two more times and both relay teams were also victorious. In addition, senior Kelsey George won the three-meter diving competition and junior Sarah Wardecke led the way in the 50 freestyle.

"It was a tough meet against Green Bay - they are a very deep team," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "The kids that were rested for this meet did very well and we did have some highlights. Erika Pliner had a great meet with a couple of record performances and Sarah Wardecke had a strong showing with a win in the 50 and anchoring both winning relays."

Pliner led off the `B' relay in the 400 medley with a 57.73 clocking, breaking UWM's freshmen record in the 100 back of 58.29, set by Julie Olson in 2002. She then did that one better by winning the 200 back in 2:04.20, also bettering Olson's mark of 2:04.28 set in 2006. It also broke Danielle Chapman's freshman mark of 2:05.45.

"I was very happy with how things went overall," Clements said. "We are looking forward to conference in two weeks when the whole team is rested."

McClellan broke the pool record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:20.02. She also won the 200 IM in a season-best 2:06.58.

George scored 278.55 on the three-meter for the win and also placed second on the one with 243.30 points.

Wardecke claimed the 50 free in 24.25 and anchored the winning 400 medley (season-best 3:52.19) and 400 free (3:30.10) relay teams.

Other top finishers for Milwaukee included senior Danielle Wenger (third in the 500 free in 5:10.15), juniors Heidi Niespodzany (third in the 200 free in 1:55.43) and Danielle Chapman (second in the 200 back in 2:08.67) and a trio of freshmen: Diana Diel (second in the 100 free in 53.20), Chloe Lewis (third in the 1000 free in 10:27.65) and Mary Kuyvenhoven (third in the 200 butterfly in 2:12.88).

The team sets its sights on Cleveland, heading to the Horizon League Championships at the Busbey Natatorium. The meet starts Feb. 23 and runs through Feb. 26, with preliminaries each morning and finals each evening.