Men's Swimming & Diving November 13, 2014

Panthers Wrap-Up Home Stand Friday Against Thunder

Milwaukee looks to head into break on strong note

MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee swimming & diving teams close out a three-meet home stand Friday when Wheaton makes the trip to the Klotsche Natatorium for a 4:30 p.m. dual meet.

This will be the last time the Panthers are in the pool until heading to Iowa for the annual Hawkeye Invitational the first weekend in December.

Scouting The Meet
Friday will mark the 25^th-consecutive year the Panthers and Thunder have squared off head-to-head. UWM holds a combined 44-4 overall record in the series, with the last Wheaton wins coming back in 2001 when they won on both sides down in Illinois.

Last Time In The Pool
The Panthers won a combined 16 events in a split decision with UIC.

The women's team won seven events en route to a convincing 171-129 win over UIC Saturday afternoon from the Klotsche Natatorium.

Milwaukee got wins from all four classes on the day to help them claim their second-straight convincing win over a Horizon League opponent.

"The women continued on a pretty impressive role," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "Beating two league teams in the past two weeks isn't easy, so I'm really excited how things went today. They put up some of the top times in conference so far today. You can see as the season is going along that the freshmen are settling off and the seniors and upperclassmen are helping them realize how to be consistent. With such a young roster, you expect them to react in different ways and sometimes be a little up and down with their times. The upperclassmen are coming around and they were key leaders for us today.

"I'm really happy with this team though and really happy with the progress that we're making each week in the pool. You will see the consistent results come through as the year goes."

Twin brothers Nic Halverson and Tim Halverson combined to win an impressive five individual events but it was not enough as the men's team came up just short to UIC Saturday afternoon, falling 153-147 at the Klotsche Natatorium.

"We had some incredible individual performances today," Clements said. "The Halverson brothers just get better. They knew what they were supposed to accomplish today and they did it. Now, we're just looking for the rest of the roster to come behind them. We had our leaders in (Mike) Lucchesi and Rob (Miller) swam better, but we're just not able to put it all together as a team yet. We left a lot of swims on the table and we just can't have that. We're looking forward to getting back in the pool on Monday, fixing our issues and getting better next week."

Meanwhile, five different newcomers won events on the women's side as Milwaukee won 12 events in all in an impressive showing at Saturday's meet.

"I was much happier with our effort and results this weekend," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "This meet was a great opportunity to swim a lot of events in the pool that will be hosting this years Horizon League meet. With so many events and so much competition, we were able to find some new possible events and show off our team depth."

League Notice
Closing in on the season's midway point, UWM has already been honored with the top weekly Horizon League honor six different times on the season. This past week, K.J. Heger was named league diver of the week for the fifth-straight week to start the season. Here's a breakdown of the complete week-by-week winners for Milwaukee.

Oct. 14 – K.J. Heger
Oct. 22 – K.J. Heger
Oct. 28 – K.J. Heger, Rachel Margis
Nov. 4 – K.J. Heger
Nov. 11 – K.J. Heger

Fresh Faces
Milwaukee has one of its largest incoming classes in recent memory with 24 newcomers added to the UWM roster this season. Six 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 will take two weeks off from competition before returning to action next at the big Iowa Hawkeye Invitational Dec. 5-7 in Iowa City, Iowa.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

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

Nic Halverson: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Tim Halverson: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

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

Rachel Margis: 5' 7"; Junior; Diving

Players Mentioned

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

Nic Halverson
: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Tim Halverson
: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

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

Rachel Margis
: 5' 7"; Junior; Diving