Women's Swimming & Diving November 08, 2014

Women’s Swimming & Diving Takes Down UIC

Milwaukee wins seven events in convincing team win

Results

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving 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."

Milwaukee claimed its first win of the day in the very first event. Sara Bentley, Natalie O'Connell, Sierra Townsend and Anna Yontz combined for a big win in the 200 medley relay at 1:48.49, with Yontz pulling away during the final leg for a win by nearly a full second.

Yontz then posted two individual wins on the day. In the 50 free, the senior topped the field at 23.88, a season-best time and the only swimmer to go under 24 seconds on the day. Yontz later also won the 100 free at 53.05 in a hard-fought win.

Milwaukee swept the backstroke events on the day in impressive fashion.

In the 100 back, the Panthers took the top-four spots overall. Freshman Maddy Nelson won the event for the fifth-straight week to start her collegiate career, touching the wall at 58.35, just a hair ahead of Bentley, who was second at 58.66. Emily Kinnaird (1:00.38) was third and Kiersten Seidel (1:01.11) came in fourth.

Kinnaird then won the 200 back at 2:08.75, flipping the tables and just out touching Nelson at 1:08.92 in second.

Rachel Margis had an outstanding showing in diving again. The junior won the three-meter board at 321.83, her fifth NCAA Zone qualifying score of the season. Margis also took second on the one-meter board at 277.50, just shy of the top spot.

A host of other Panthers also posted runner-up finishes on the day. Natalie Johnson was second in the 500 free and the 1650 free in the first time swimming the mile on the season. Freshman Alena Bodnaruk came in runner-up in the 200 free at 1:57.50. Charli Wike just missed a win in the 100 breast, while Kristin Zablocki (200 fly), O'Connell (200 breast, 200 IM) and Mandie Siehs (50 free) all also had second-place finishes on the day.

UWM also grabbed a win in the 200 free relay to cap the meet in impressive fashion. Siehs, Townsend, Arica Smith and Yontz teamed up to win the event going away, touching the wall at 1:36.99, almost three full seconds ahead of UIC's top team.

Milwaukee will now wrap up its three-meet home stand next Friday with a 4:30 p.m. meet against Wheaton at the Klotsche Natatorium.

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