Men's Swimming & Diving February 04, 2015

Swimming & Diving Takes On Badgers Friday

Season finale in Madison Friday

MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's swimming & diving teams head to the pool one final time before post season action, taking on the Badgers Friday afternoon in Madison.

Friday's meet will feature 13 events, with primarily longer strokes on the docket, including the mile.

About The Opponents
Wisconsin has traditionally been a very strong Big Ten squad, and this season is no different. The Badger men sport a 6-3 record so far this season, with wins coming against USC, Minnesota, Arizona and common opponent Northwestern.

Meanwhile, the UW women are 3-6 on the year, most recently topping Notre Dame and coming up short to Indiana in a tri-dual at home in their last meet.

The Badgers will be well rested for Friday's showdown with Milwaukee, last competing on Jan. 17.

Horizon League Championships
The Panthers will host the 2014-15 Horizon League Championships again this February from the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center just up the road in Brown Deer. The meet kicks off Wednesday, Feb. 25 with the champions being crowned Saturday Feb. 28.

For complete information for this year's league meet, including schedule, order of events, maps, ticket information and more, visit the championships homepage on either Milwaukee swimming page or click on this link.

Fun In The Sun
The Panthers recently returned to campus after nearly 10 days down in sunny Florida. The teams headed south to escape the cold for their annual training trip from a local academy in the Sunshine State.

Last Time In The Pool
Milwaukee won 13 events on the women's side, eight more on the men's side and broke both pool records in the 800 free relay in a split decision with host Green Bay this past Friday.

Natalie Johnson and Sara Bentley each won three individual events to help the Panther women to their fourth-straight win over their in-state rival Phoenix.

"This was a great day today," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "I really want to congratulate Natalie Johnson and Sara Bentley on their accomplishments on the day. We were a little stiff on the first relay but we got faster and faster as the meet went on. We're happy with how things turned out and we're looking forward to finishing the season out with Madison next week."

On the men's side, the Panthers won eight of the 16 events on the day but came up just short in the final team scoring, falling short by a mere 20 points.

"We swam really fast today," Clements said. "This was one of our fastest meets of the year. We've continued tracking progress to the Horizon League Championships, we just didn't have the right numbers in each event today. Nic Halverson and Tim Halverson were great leaders today. We're looking forward to finishing the season out with Madison next week."

League Notice
With just a one week left in the regular season, UWM has been honored with the top weekly Horizon League honor 12 different times on the season. Most recently, Rachel Margis won her third-straight league honor, while Natalie Johnson earned her first of 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
Nov. 18 – Nic Halverson
Dec. 9 – K.J. Heger
Jan. 20 – K.J. Heger, Rachel Margis
Jan. 27 – K.J. Heger, Rachel Margis
Feb. 3 – Rachel Margis, Natalie Johnson

Diving For Gold
UWM has always boasted some of the best divers in the conference, but this season seems to be even better.

Senior K.J. Heger is the two-time Horizon League Diver of the Year and is trying to close out his career with a bang. Heger has won a ridiculous 17 of the boards he has competed on this season, including posting a whopping 20 NCAA Zone Diving qualifying scores. He has all three school records to his name already and has been named the league diver of the week an unprecedented 21 times in his career.

Meanwhile, Margis has been on a tear the second half of the year and has also won 17 boards this season, including every time out so far this semester. The junior has been named league diver of the week four times this season and appears to be in prime position for a run at the top at the league meet.

Fresh Faces
Milwaukee has one of its largest freshmen classes in recent memory with 23 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.

Future Panthers
Nine high school standouts have signed their paperwork and are all set to compete in the Black & Gold next year.

Anthony Blome of Macomb, Ill.; Eli Hoenshel of Kline, Texas; Adriel Huerta of San Tan Valley, Ariz.; Zach Kishpaugh of Sarasota, Fla.; Jen Kordik of Mundelein, Ill.; Danielle Kudis of Oconomowoc, Wis.; Ryan Menninga of Madison, Wis.; Addison Skogman of Waukesha, Wis.; and Carley Thomas of Racine, Wis. are currently wrapping up their impressive high school careers and will join Milwaukee next season.

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
The Panthers will now start to taper for their postseason meets. The first on the docket is the Midwest Invitational Jan. 20-21 hosted by the University of Chicago. Then, Milwaukee will close out its team season by hosting the Horizon League Championships Feb. 25-28 at Walter Schroder Aquatic Center, just up the road in Brown Deer, Wis.

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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

Natalie Johnson: 5' 10"; Sophomore; Freestyle

Rachel Margis: 5' 7"; Junior; Diving

Sara Bentley: 5' 5"; Freshman; Backstroke

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

Natalie Johnson
: 5' 10"; Sophomore; Freestyle

Rachel Margis
: 5' 7"; Junior; Diving

Sara Bentley
: 5' 5"; Freshman; Backstroke