MILWAUKEE – After nearly two months off from competition, the Milwaukee men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to the pool to host the University of Chicago this Saturday. The dual begins at 1 p.m. inside the Klotsche Natatorium.
Scouting the University of Chicago
Chicago will enter the dual after hosting Lewis on Friday, January 14. In the first half of the season, the Maroons hosted the Phoenix Fall Classic in late November, placing first on both sides. Chicago's men and women also finished first of eight teams at the D3 Shootout and defeated Wheaton in a dual to open the season.
Freshman Sensation
Nhia Caras has put together an impressive start to her Panthers career, tallying five individual victories. The freshman opened the season with a pair of wins in the 50 free and 100 free against IUPUI and added two more wins the following week against UIC. Caras improved her times in both events and later collected her fifth individual victory versus Wheaton in her first 100 butterfly.
Caras closed the first half of the season with a strong performance at the IUPUI House of Champions Invite, placing third in the 50 free and eighth in the 100 free and posting season-best times in both events.
Distance Specialist
Jay Jensen has dominated the long-distance events for the Panthers so far this season, posting four individual victories across three events. He has claimed a pair of wins in the 1000 free, while also earn first-place finishes in the 500 free and 400 IM.
Jensen had several great swims at the House of Champions Invite, finishing third in both the 500 free and 1650 free and placing fourth in the 400 IM. He also tallied season-best times in the 500 free (4:33.11) and 400 IM (3:59.45) at the three-day invite, improving by 10 seconds and seven seconds in the two events respectively.
Relay Record
The Panthers women's team collected a win over UIC in late October, setting a new pool record in the process.
The 400 free relay team of Kelen McDaneils,
Cassandra Hutchins,
Bella Passamani, and
Nhia Caras set a new Klotsche Natatorium record, finishing first in the event with a time of 3:30.50. The time bested the previous pool record set in 2017.
Caras also put together an impressive performance, winning both the 50 free and 100 free for the second consecutive meet. Junior
Makaila Scheiblein picked up a pair of individual victories as well, claiming the top spot in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breast.
A Decade With Clements
Entering his 12th season as Milwaukee's head men's and women's swimming and diving coach,
Kyle Clements has led the Panthers to unprecedented heights. In his first ten years at the helm, Clements has completely reshaped Milwaukee's history, bringing home an unprecedented 12 team trophies – four Horizon League Championships and eight runner-up finishes – over that span.
MKE has also had a lot of individual success, breaking all but two of the combined 72 school and freshman records during Clements' time at Milwaukee, including one freshman record in the abbreviated 2021 season.
Clements' highlights also include four NCAA appearances, an NCAA individual runner-up finish (Emily McClellan), three-time coach of the year honoree, four athletes of the year, three newcomers of the year, and 55 individual league titles.
Diving Duo
McKenzie Sanchez and
Jared Kleczka came up big for the Panthers in their second seasons. Sanchez earned a pair of podium finishes at the Horizon League Championships, placing first in the one-meter (290.30) for the second consecutive season and third on the three-meter board (248.60).
Prior to the championships, Sanchez established a new career-best on the one-meter (302.78) against Green Bay on March 7. Her score placed her second in program history and the sophomore also claimed victory in the three-meter at the same meet. The Racine, Wis., native collected second place finishes on both boards in two meetings with UIC.
Kleczka also earned a pair of podium finishes at the Horizon League meet, placing second in the one-meter (302.95) and fourth in the three-meter (280.35). Prior to the championships, the Franklin, Wis., native posted a career-best in the one-meter (317.85) in the season-opener against UIC, which ranks fifth in program history.
Both divers qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships but did not compete due to COVID-19.
Breaking Into the Record Books
On the final day of the Horizon League Championships last spring, freshmen
Robert Petersen and
Zach McClellan each broke the former MKE freshman record in the 200 butterfly. Petersen placed second (1:49.41) while McClellan finished third (1:50.35) in the B-finals of the 200 fly, surpassing the previous freshman standard in the event set in 2016.
The times also placed the freshmen on the Panther top-10 list, with Petersen checking in at eighth and McClellan right behind at ninth.
Petersen also posted season-best times in a pair of other events at the championships. The Oswego, Ill., native placed 18th in the 100 butterfly (50.40) and 23rd in the 500 freestyle (4:48.31) to cap a productive first season.
McClellan closed his first season with a pair of season-best times in the 200 IM (1:52.35) and 400 IM (4:10.09) at the championships. The Sylvania, Ohio, native placed 16th and 17th, respectively, in the two events.
Mighty Meland
After a strong freshman campaign, sophomore
Molly Meland continued to post impressive marks in the pool, especially at the Horizon League Championships. The Golden Valley, Minn., native recorded a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly (55.85), a mark that cracked the program top-10 list. She added two more podium finishes with a fifth-place finish in the 50 free (23.70) and eighth in the 100 backstroke (57.71). The sophomore also competed in the 200 medley and the 400 medley relays, assisting the team to a pair of fourth-place finishes.
Alongside her performance at the championships, Meland picked up pair of individual victories to help lead the Panthers to a win over Green Bay last March, topping the field in the 100 fly and the 100 back.
Up Next
Milwaukee will travel to Green Bay next Saturday for the final Horizon League dual of the regular season. The meet will begin at 12 p.m. inside the Peter F. Dorschel Natatorium.
