MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee Panthers swim & dive teams are set to host the UIC Flames for a Horizon League dual on Homecoming Saturday from the Klotsche Natatorium beginning at 11 a.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Both the men and women defeated the Wheaton Thunder last weekend. The Panthers combined for 19-of-22 events with the men winning 125-76 and the women defeating the Thunder 119-77.
 
Senior Emma Helgeson led the women's team with two solo event wins and a helped her teammates, Addison Skogman, Jenn Kordik and Shelby Rozeboom to a 200 Medley Relay victory.
 
Freshmen Madeline Worgull and Makaila Scheiblein grabbed their first collegiate wins winning the 1000 Freestyle and 100 Breraststroke.
 
On the men's side, Bailey Bodart, Brandon Niemiec, and Colin Duffy picked up their first event win of the season against the Thunder. Bodart won the 100 Backstroke, Niemiec the 100 Breaststroke, and Duffy clocked in at 4:46.74 to go the distance in the 500 Freestyle.
 
Freshman Jack Garcia also earned his first collegiate win in his young career taking the 1000 Freestyle.
 
ABOUT UIC: The UIC Flames were preseason picked to finish fifth this 2018-19 season. The men currently hold a  2-3, 0-1 record while the women are 3-4, 0-1.
 
Last weekend, the Flames lost narrowing to Horizon League favorite Oakland by a score of 167-133 while the men came up just short 152-148.
 
UIC's schedule highlights Big Ten opponents such as Michigan State and Northwestern, Illinois and Big East opponent Butler. Both men and women faced Northwestern while the men fell shy of victory against Michigan State. The women split the outcome falling to Illinois but defeated Butler convincingly.
 
Head coach Tim Loeffler enters his fourth year at the helm for the Flames. In 2017, Coach Loeffler was named Horizon League Coach of the Year when both the men and women finished third in the Horizon League Championships – the programs best finish for the men in nearly a decade.
 
MID-SEASON RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER: MKE's big mid-season meet in Oxford, Ohio is just around the corner. The Panthers will travel to Ohio for the 25^th annual Miami Invitational November 29-December 1. Last year, Ball State, Denison, Emory, Washington University in St. Louis, and host Miami competed in the invite.
 
LEAGUE RECOGNITION: With two dive event wins at the All-Wisconsin Showcase on Saturday (Oct. 20), Dakota Skenandore was named Horizon League Diver of the Week for the week of Oct. 22.
 
The West Bend native won the 1 meter and 3 meter, scoring 300.50 points in the 1 meter – an NCAA Zone standard.
 
This marks the fourth time that Skenandore has garnered with the award.
 
FRESH FACES, RETURNING ROCK STARS: The Panthers welcome 20 new freshmen this season. Sprinkled in with the new and exciting talent are 44 returning Panthers – 26 on the men's side and 18 on the women's.
 
Ahmed Ghallab, Jasper Appleton and Bailey Bodart return ¾'s of the men's 400 freestyle relay team. The squad finished took the podium at third place at the Horizon League Championships a season ago.
 
Also returning is seasoned veteran Dakota Skenandore on the diving side of the team. The junior is a 4x Horizon League Diver of the Week and leads with fellow junior Frank Hearn and sophomore Spencer Peronto.
 
The women are led by 2017-18 Horizon League 400 IM Champion Addison Skogman. The Waukesha native claimed the title at 4:21.63 – narrowly missing her own school record in the event she set as a freshman at 4:21.00.
 
Diver's Cassidy Pilo and Carley Thomas add valuable experience to the team having finished in the A-Final in fourth and fifth place at the conference championships.
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Last season the Panthers took to the road six times in addition to their high-level, mid-season meet at the Miami Invitational. The tides switch as the 2018-19 schedule features four home meets at the Klotsche Natatorium and the annual Wisconsin Showcase held in Brown Deer (Wis.).
 
WELCOME ASSISTANT COACH ALEX HALLAM: Coach Hallam begins his first season as an assistant coach for the MKE swim and dive team. Hallam comes to Milwaukee with over six years of coaching experience and over 14 years devoted to the sport.
 
Familiar with the Horizon League, Hallam graduated from Green Bay and was a four-year swimmer for the Phoenix. He swam distance free, IM and backstroke events with the Phoenix.