Jan. 21, 2012

Results

CHICAGO - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's swimming teams combined to win all but three events of the day and cruised past the University of Chicago to a pair of victories Saturday afternoon at the Myers-McLoraine Pool.

The men's team won in extremely convincing fashion, taking every event in which they competed en route to a 173-79 win. It was much of the same for the women, as they won nearly every race in a 151-105 victory.

Both diving teams competed separate from the swimmers at the UIC Diving Invitational.

"The swimming events went great," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "The times were what we expected for this part of the season. We swam our events and we swam tired. We didn't put up any season-best times, but we're very excited at the progress we're making and the times of the results are not reflective of the work and effort that we are putting in all week."

Junior Nathan Welchlin led the way for the Panthers, winning an astounding three individual events (50, 100 and 200 freestyle) and helping the 200 freestyle relay team to a first-place finish in the final event of the day.

Emily McClellan also had another impressive performance Saturday, taking first in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.87) and the 200 breaststroke (2:19.78), breaking the pool record in both events.

Both teams started the day with solid showings in the 200 medley relay. On the women's side, Becky Yokosh, McClellan, Diana Diel and Heidi Niespodzany won in a time of 1:46.77, with Milwaukee's `B' team (Erika Pliner, Sarah Wardecke, Maggi Beck and Sierra Townsend) coming in just behind in second place.

The men's relay was a similar story, with the `A' relay of Sam Niesen, Brady Huemann, Jordan Diel and Mike Schaal (1:33.85) just beating out the `B' team of Kyle Trelka, David Dvorak, Sky Boggio and Mike Brady (1:33.94) in one of the closest finishes on the day.

UWM continued their dominating performances in the 200 freestyle, as the men took the top four spots on the day. Welchlin took the top spot with Brady, freshman Ryan Finke and Caleb Sandvold all coming in shortly behind. Niespodzany led the way for the women, with sophomore Sophia Schmidt and freshman Anna Yontz taking third and fourth, respectively.

Niespodzany also won the 100 freestyle, touching the wall first at 53.27.

Huemann also took the top spot in two events on the day, winning the 200 breaststroke (2:08.19) in convincing fashion. He also shared the top spot with Dvorak in the 100 breaststoke as the duo both finished the race at 58.36 seconds.

Other winners on the day include Nathan Rahe and Diel (200 butterfly), Sam Keele and Beck (400 IM), Cris Smith and Brittany Walsh (1000 freestyle), both Jordan and Diana Diel in the 100 butterfly and Niesen in the 200 backstroke. Townsend also joined Welchlin atop the podium in the 50 freestyle while Trelka also won the 100 backstroke.

Both 200 freestyle relays finished the day off with yet another win for the Panthers.

Milwaukee hits the road for the final time next weekend when it heads to Macomb, Ill. to take on Western Illinois in a dual meet Saturday at 1 p.m.