MILWAUKEE – After months of preparation, the Milwaukee men's and women's swimming and diving teams head to the 2022 Horizon League Championships this week, hosted by IUPUI. The league meet is scheduled to begin Wednesday, February 16 and go through Saturday, February 19 inside the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.
 
Championship Central
Fans looking for more information about this year's championships, including meet schedule, order of events, and more, can visit the Championship Central link located on both swim and dive pages.
 
Competition begins Wednesday at 12 p.m. with the women's three-meter diving preliminaries and consolation finals. The action will continue at 4:30 p.m. with the 200 medley relay, women's three-meter diving finals, and 800 freestyle relay with the events on ESPN+.
 
The following three days of the championships will follow a schedule that begins with swimming prelims at 9 a.m. and diving prelims after at 12 p.m. Swimming and diving finals for each day will begin at 4:30 p.m. and be streamed on EPSN+.
 
Scouting the Opponents
The 2022 Horizon League Championship in a four-day, prelim-final meet with seven teams in competition. Competing alongside Milwaukee is Cleveland State, Green Bay, IUPUI, Oakland, UIC, and Youngstown State.
 
This season the Panther women went a perfect 7-0 in duals this season, the first time since 2016-17 that the team went undefeated. The men finished with a winning record for the first time since 2012-13, going 4-3.
 
Big-Time History
In all, Milwaukee has won seven Horizon League team titles in program history, including a sweep of both the men's and women's team title 2011-2012. The Panther men have been crowned League Champions four times (1999-2000, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12) while the women have won three times (2000-01, 2011-12, 2012-13).
 
The Panthers have also claimed an outstanding 19 team trophies (first of second) at the league meet since the move to Division I in 1990. Most notably, the women have finished runner-up five times in the past eight years.
 
Collecting Awards
After wins against St. Thomas and UW-Stevens Point to close the dual season, the Panthers collected a pair of Horizon League Weekly Awards.
 
Jay Jensen was named Men's Swimmer of the Week after totaling five individual victories over the two meets, bringing his season total to ten. Against St. Thomas, Jensen won the 1000 free at 9:40.48 and followed that with a first-place finish in the 500 free at 4:42.99. The sophomore added three more wins against UW-Stevens Point, winning the 200 free (1:43.10), 100 free (47.17), and 200 IM (1:55.19).
 
Nhia Caras was recognized as Women's Swimmer of the Week for the second time this season after a pair of individual wins. The freshman won the 100 free against St. Thomas with a time of 52.01 and won the 50 free Saturday versus UW-Stevens Point at 23.89. Caras was also a part of two relays wins for Milwaukee.
 
Freshman Sensation
Nhia Caras has put together an impressive start to her Panthers career, heading into the Horizon League Championships with ten 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.
 
In the second half of the season, Caras tallied a pair of Horizon League Swimmer of the Week awards while recording four individual victories.
 
Distance Specialist
Jay Jensen has dominated the long-distance events for the Panthers this season, posting ten individual victories across six events. The sophomore finished with individual victories in all four of the 1000 free races he competed in and recorded two wins in the 500 free.
 
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.
 
In the final meets of the dual season, Jensen also swam in three events for the first time. He tallied wins in all three: the 200 free, 100 free, and 200 IM.
 
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.
 
Up Next
The Horizon League Championships will conclude the 2021-22 season.