INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The swimming portion of the Horizon League Championships opened Thursday at the IU Natatorium, with Milwaukee seeing six of its student-athletes compete in A-Finals, including an impressive three finalists in the women's 50 freestyle.
"We had a lot of fun today," head coach
Kyle Clements said. "It was great to be back in the pool racing against all the other teams in this league. The competition is so fast, and it brings the best out of us. We had 100-percent season-best times, and multiple lifetime-bests. We couldn't have asked for anything better, and we are really looking forward to tomorrow."
The MKE women end the day in third place with 141 points; the men are in fifth with 134.
The Panthers placed three in the finals in the 50 free, led by a fifth-place showing from
Molly Meland in 23.70.
Cassandra Hutchins was seventh (23.83) and
Kelen McDaniels eighth (23.89), with each recording season-best times in either the finals or earlier in the day in prelims.
Natalie Hey also placed seventh in the consolation final in a time of 24.49.
Antoni Haupt swam in the championship heat of the 500 free, placing eighth in a time of 5:05.40. She also went a season-best 5:03.10 in prelims.
Bella Passamani took eighth in the B-Finals in a time of 5:09.16.
On the men's side of the 500 free,
Jay Jensen topped his previous season-best by over 14 seconds, placing fourth in the consolation final in a time of 4:34.35.
Danny Larson was right behind in 4:34.56, topping his season-best by 15 seconds.
Meghan Jagdfeld swam a season-best in prelims of the 200 IM to make the A-Finals, placing eighth in a time of 2:07.40.
Giulia Guerra-Montes was seventh in B-Finals, touching the wall in 2:08.76.
Riley Melendy was close behind, placing eighth in 2:11.55.
Zach McClellan nearly pulled out a record on the men's side of the 200 IM, finishing eighth in B-Finals in a time of 1:52.35, less than a half-second behind the school's freshmen record in the discipline (1:51.89).
The women's 400 medley relay squad of Meland,
Makaila Scheiblein, Passamani, and Hutchins came in fourth in 3:49.80.
On the men's side, the 200 free relay team of
Conrad Farrell,
Jonathan Kollen,
John Ruan, and
Danny Larson was sixth in 1:22.70.
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
1) Oakland 373.5
2) UIC 194
3) Milwaukee 141
4) IUPUI 138
5) Cleveland State 125
6) Green Bay 83
7) Youngstown State 62.5
MEN
1) Oakland 251
2) Cleveland State 240
3) UIC 207
4) Green Bay 142
5) Milwaukee 134
5) IUPUI 134
7) Youngstown State 83
Day four of the League Championship resumes tomorrow morning at 8:15 a.m. CT with swimming preliminaries. Finals of all events will begin at 3:30 p.m. CT, with both prelims and finals aired on ESPN3.
Friday's events include the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays, as well as the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke individual races.
