Men's Swimming & Diving November 14, 2014

Panthers Claim First Win In Emphatic Fashion

UWM wins nine of 11 events on the day

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming and diving team won nine of the 11 events en route to a decisive 137-65 win over Wheaton College Friday evening from the Klotsche Natatorium.

Six different individuals all won at least one event to go with wins in both relay events as UWM grabbed its first win of the season.

"We've had some really solid opponents all season and Wheaton is no different," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "We're coming along each week. We anticipated we would swim well tonight and winning was a byproduct of that. We've been starting to come around to consistently swimming fast as the season has gone on, making it a daily routine and when it becomes a routine like that, wins naturally start coming with that. We really started to see times drop this week in practice, starting back last week and we had a hunch this week was going to be a little bit quicker."

Milwaukee set the tone right out of the gates with an opening win in the 200 medley relay. Evan Kuker, Teddy Stackman, Max Ward and Nick Menninga combined to win the opening relay in 1:35.46, nearly six seconds ahead of the second-place team.

Junior J.J. Melville had one of the largest time drops of the day, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.36, nearly four seconds faster than his previous season best for his first win of the year. Senior Mic Boggio was second at 1:02.46, also a season best.

Erik Wahlgren grabbed his first win of the year. The junior topped the field in the 100 free with a time of 48.39 in a tight race, just touching out Wheaton's top swimmer.

After four-straight runner-up finishes in the 50 free, senior Mike Lucchesi grabbed his first win of the year in the sprint event with a time of 21.69, over half a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Kenny Stelpflug led four Panthers in the 200 free. The senior posted a season-best time of 1:44.16 to lead the way. Menninga was second at 1:46.38, with Ryan Finke (1:48.33) and Tanner Nimke (1:48.73) right behind.

Tim Halverson posted a convincing win in the 1000 free. The junior touched the wall first at 9:50.58, with Wahlgren taking second at 10:04.34.

Nic Halverson posted a pair of wins on the night. The Kiel, Wis. native collected his first win of the night in the 400 IM in 4:16.73, just ahead of Joe Chokran (4:20.56). Then, in the 500 free, N. Halverson again won, this time in 4:53.84.

With the victory well in hand, the Panthers closed out the night with yet another win, this time in the 200 free relay. Ward, Kuker, Yevgeniy Foster and T. Halverson took first at 1:27.73.

Milwaukee will now have three weeks to prepare for its big mid-season meet – the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational Dec. 5-7 from Iowa City, Iowa.

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Players Mentioned

Joe Chokran: 6' 0"; Junior; Breaststroke/IM

Ryan Finke: 5' 9"; Senior; Butterfly

Yevgeniy Foster: 5' 9"; Sophomore; Butterfly/IM

Nic Halverson: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Tim Halverson: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Evan Kuker: 6' 3"; Sophomore; Sprints

Mike Lucchesi: 6' 0"; Senior; Sprints/Fly

J.J. Melville: 6' 3"; Junior; Breaststroke/IM

Nick Menninga: 6' 4"; Sophomore; Sprints

Tanner Nimke: 6' 0"; Junior; Sprints

Players Mentioned

Joe Chokran
: 6' 0"; Junior; Breaststroke/IM

Ryan Finke
: 5' 9"; Senior; Butterfly

Yevgeniy Foster
: 5' 9"; Sophomore; Butterfly/IM

Nic Halverson
: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Tim Halverson
: 5' 11"; Junior; Distance

Evan Kuker
: 6' 3"; Sophomore; Sprints

Mike Lucchesi
: 6' 0"; Senior; Sprints/Fly

J.J. Melville
: 6' 3"; Junior; Breaststroke/IM

Nick Menninga
: 6' 4"; Sophomore; Sprints

Tanner Nimke
: 6' 0"; Junior; Sprints