Oct. 26, 2012

Results

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team put together a dominating team performance Friday, winning 10 of 13 events, and cruised to a 155-85 win over Wright State at the Klotsche Natatorium.

"I am happy. Things are starting to come around," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "We are exposing our strengths and we are exposing our weaknesses and we have to continue to get better. I am very happy with the overall product that we are putting into the pool right now."

Milwaukee stormed out of the gates, taking the 400 medley relay in impressive fashion. Sam Niesen, J.J. Melville, Nathan Welchlin and Mike Brady combined to swim 3:28.18, over four seconds in front of the second place team.

Welchlin then went on to win the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:41.89, just shy of his own pool record. Ryan Finke was close behind in second at 1:45.28.

In diving, Milwaukee nearly swept both boards. Lee Anderson continued his hot start to the season, winning the one-meter with a score of 290.03. Freshman Will Sass was second at 242.40, followed by Andy LaFleur (234.90) and Andres Villa (213.83).

Anderson later also won the three-meter diving competition, scoring 278.18 to top the field.

Seniors David Dvorak and Mike Schalla and freshman Erik Wahlgren finished 1-2-3 in the 50 free. Dvorak touched the wall first at 21.61 with Schalla (21.84) and Wahlgren (22.25) right behind.

Freshmen Nic Halverson and Tim Halverson took the top two spots in the 500 free, with Nic grabbing the top spot at 4:43.10 and Tim taking second in 4:45.57. The twins also had strong showings in the 1000 free, finishing second and third.

Mike Brady won the 100 free with a time of 46.96. Wahlgren was right behind at 48.66 for second.

Freshman Taylor Wisdorf picked up his first collegiate victory with a win in the 100 breaststroke. Wisdorf finished with a time of 10.99, tied with Wright State's Kile Aukerman for the top spot.

Niesen also won the 100 backstroke and then teamed up with Welchlin, Dvorak and Brady to win the 200 free relay.

"With such a young team there are so many teaching and learning moments and there were a lot more tonight," Clements said. "Was it a good meet? Yes. Do we have some gaps in our lineup? Absolutely, and we'll continue to improve on that. We faced a good team in Wright State and we're always happy to get a conference win. We're happy where it is all going and we will really be tested next week against UIC."

The Panthers stay at home next weekend for a pair of dual meets. UWM will take on Wheaton Friday afternoon at the Klotsche Natatorium at 4:30 p.m. before UIC comes to Milwaukee for a Saturday meet at 1 p.m.