MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team pulled out a close victory Friday afternoon, topping IUPUI by a final score of 153-147 at the Klotsche Natatorium in the home opener for the 2022-23 campaign.
 
Big winners for the Panthers included Julie Rebek, Makaila Scheiblein, and Erika Thomas, who each came through with two individual victories apiece. The 200 medley relay team also came out on top, offsetting a pair of pool records set on the afternoon by the Jaguars.
 
"There are so many fast women on the IUPUI side and they can put them in a lot of different events," head coach Kyle Clements said. "The great thing about our women's team, is that the events we didn't win, we were going two-three-four. And then the timely wins that came from Makaila (Scheiblein) and Ricky (Thomas), and most importantly Julie (Rebek) in diving. She saved us today – her dive points were what got us over the top."
 
Thomas continues her unbeaten start to her collegiate career, topping the field in both butterfly events to run her impressive stretch to eight consecutive. Rebek added her third and fourth victories on the young season, claiming wins on both diving boards. Lastly, Scheiblein recorded wins in both breaststroke races, making her a perfect 6-for-6 in the events on the season as well.
 
"IUPUI is an extremely fast team to dual meet with because of how they can slide around their top swimmers," Clements said. "It was our depth and diving coming through huge that made the day. One thing the women have is depth and that won it for us today."
 
Thomas claimed the 100 butterfly in a season-best 58.02 and then came out on top in the 200 fly in a showing of 2:09.32.
 
Rebek was instrumental for Milwaukee on the boards. Her score of 278.03 on the 1-meter topped the field, with teammate McKenzie Sanchez third with 239.48 points. On the 3-meter, Rebek won by almost 30 points, finishing with 287.48. Therese Missiaen was just behind in third place with a total of 244.80.
 
Scheiblein was dominant in the breaststroke competition, taking first in the 100 breast by over two seconds (1:06.36 to 1:08.75) and first in the 200 breast by over five seconds (2:22.57 to 2:27.71).
 
The 200 medley relay team of Molly Meland, Scheiblein, Thomas, and Nhia Caras led off the afternoon with a victory, going out in a time of 1:47.83.
 
Another top performer for the Panthers was Antoni Haupt, finishing second in both the 1000 freestyle (10:45.13 to the new pool record 10:09.15) and also in the 500 freestyle in 5:15.65.
 
Other top finishers included Allie Buytendorp (second in the 200 free in 1:57.89), Mara Freeman (second in the 100 backstroke in a time of 58.09; touched-out to winning 58.05), Giulia Guerra-Montes (second in the 200 back in 2:06.769), and Megan Greenley (second in 100 free in 54.16).
 
Caras also showed well in the 50 free, coming in second in 24.56 (just behind the winning 24.44), with Kelen McDaniels close behind in third in 24.68.
 
Up next, the season continues with a road trip to Illinois to battle Wheaton, set for Friday at 4:30 p.m.