Men's Swimming & Diving October 17, 2014

Swimming & Diving Hits The Road For First Time This Season

Panthers to take on Grand Valley State Saturday

MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee swimming & diving teams hit the road this week for the first time this season, heading to Grand Valley State for a Saturday meet at noon CST.

Scouting The Meet
Milwaukee heads into Friday's meet after a pair of close losses to Oakland last Friday in the season opener. Grand Valley State also kicked off its seasons last weekend, coming in second on both sides in a double-dual meet with Michigan State and Denison University, winning two events on the day.

A Little History
The Lakers' men's squad defeated Milwaukee for the first time ever last year. Milwaukee does still hold a 3-1 all-time advantage over GVSU, though. On the women's side, UWM is a perfect 4-0 against its weekend opponent.

Last Time In The Pool
Coming down the final relay, the UWM women's team fell just short to Oakland, 157-141, Friday night at the Klotsche Natatorium.

In the season-opener for both teams, Milwaukee came out of the gates hot, winning the first three individual events against the preseason favorites.

With the meet on the line heading into the final event of the night, the Grizzlies just edged out Milwaukee's top 400 free relay squad by a mere five-hundredths of a second to secure the win.

Milwaukee did win seven of the 16 events on the night, including two by the talented and deep incoming freshman class of 13.

On the men's side, UWM won six events on the night but came up just short to defending league champs Oakland University Friday from the Klotsche Natatorium.

"You never like opening your season with a loss," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "Oakland is obviously the top team in conference and the result tonight was to be expected. Our divers gave us a lot of points and kept us in the meet the entire time. We relied on our veterans tonight. Kenny (Stelpflug) in the 1000, Tim (Halverson) in the 200. (Ryan) Finke and Rob (Miller) were great leaders tonight, but the bottom line is that we have to get better. We want to contend in this conference this year and we have to get better and we will get better."

League Notice
Just one week into the season and UWM has already had one individual honored as tops in the Horizon League. K.J. Heger was named league diver of the week after sweeping both boards in the season opener against Oakland. It marks the impressive 14^th time in Heger's career he has earned the league's weekly top award.

Fresh Faces
Milwaukee has one of its largest incoming classes in recent memory with 24 newcomers added to the UWM roster this season. Seven men and 13 women come to Milwaukee to kick off their college careers this year, while an additional four swimmers (one men's, three women's) join the Black & Gold after transfer.

A Look Back At Last Year
The 2013-14 season certainly was one to remember for Milwaukee. The women's team finished 8-1 in the regular season and were a mere 34 points behind Oakland at the Horizon League Championships to finish runner-up. Individually, Emily McClellan closed out her remarkable Panther career by twice earning First-Team All-American honors after finishing second in the nation in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships.

On the men's side, it was a little more of a learning year for UWM. After four-straight seasons of finishing either first or second at the league meet, Milwaukee finished fourth last season with one of its youngest squads in recent memory. K.J. Heger repeated as league diver of the year as the team finished the year 5-5 in dual meet competition.

A Near National Champion
Emily McClellan capped her remarkable Panther career last season with an unbelievable finish at the NCAA Championships. The breaststroker from Delevan, Wis. came in second in the nation in the 100 breaststroke with the third-fastest time ever recorded in world history. McClellan also earned First-Team All-American honors in the 200 breaststroke, taking seventh in the nation.

Up Next
Milwaukee returns home to host the All Wisconsin Invite next Saturday at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis.

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Players Mentioned

Emily McClellan: 5' 10"; Senior; Breaststroke/IM

K.J. Heger: 5' 9"; Senior; Diving

Players Mentioned

Emily McClellan
: 5' 10"; Senior; Breaststroke/IM

K.J. Heger
: 5' 9"; Senior; Diving