Feb. 5, 2011

Results

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Senior Jake Kalinowski and sophomore Zac Kraai each won a pair of events to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team to a 170-73 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers won all nine swimming events and both relays to top the Phoenix for the third time in the past four seasons. The victory is UWM's fourth in a row to end the year and gives them a 10-3 dual meet record on the season.

"It was nice to see the men win convincingly and they swam pretty well," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "The kids that were rested for this meet did very well and we ended up winning everything but the diving events."

Kalinowski claimed the 50 freestyle in 21.14 and the 100 free in 46.61. Kraai had his best showing of the season, claiming the 1000 free in a season-best 9:30.78, while also putting in a season-best time in the 500 free. He touched the wall in 4:32.46 to set a pool record.

"Zac Kraai had a strong night with a couple of wins and a pool record," Clements said. "I was very happy with how things went overall and we are looking forward to conference in two weeks when the whole team is rested."

The Panthers dominated several events and both relay teams set pool records. The 400 medley relay team of senior Matt Kluczinske, juniors Brady Huemann and Jordan Diel and sophomore Nathan Welchlin opened the meet with a winning time of 3:24.28.

Kalinowski anchored the 400 free relay with three sophomores - Caleb Sandvold, Mike Schalla and Welchlin in 3:05.92.

Other winners for Milwaukee included Diel, Huemann, Welchlin and sophomores David Dvorak and Sam Niesen.

Diel won the 200 butterfly in 1:53.77, with junior Even Green right behind in 1:54.76.

Huemann touched out the win in the 200 breaststroke, with his time of 2:06.67 just ahead of freshman Josh Kinney's 2:07.05.

Welchlin won the 200 free in 1:42.79, with Green again just behind in 1:43.29.

Dvorak topped the field in the 200 IM (1:53.16). Sandvold was second (1:54.46) with both swimmers setting season-bests in the process.

Niesen led the way in the 200 backstroke in 1:53.97 with freshman Chris Jenkyns right behind in 1:55.47.

Kraai led a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000 free, with senior Dan Heraly second in 9:41.42 and sophomore Cris Smith third in 9:53.85. All three times were season-bests. It was also a sweep of the top three spots in the 500 free, with Heraly second (4:41.87) and freshman Jeff Maxwell third (4:45.11).

The Panthers had the top four in the 100 - in addition to Kalinowski, freshman Collin Heitfeld was second (48.11), Schalla third (48.26) and Green fourth (48.22).

Junior Shane Conner was the top diver for the Panthers, placing third on the three-meter with 267.83 points and fourth on the one-meter with 227.55.

The team sets its sights on Cleveland for its league-title defense next, 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.