INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Milwaukee men's and women's swim and dive teams wrapped up the 2022 Horizon League Championships on Saturday, with the women earning a second-place finish and the men coming in seventh.
Oakland claimed the team championships on both sides for the ninth consecutive season while Cleveland State was runner-up on the men's side. Milwaukee's women maintained a solid grip on second for the entirety of the championships, finishing ahead of both IUPUI (505 points) and UIC (502) by a wide margin.
The finish is the highest for the women since 2017-2018, when the team was coming off five consecutive runner-up finishes.
"Always a big sigh of relief whenever this meet comes to an end," head coach
Kyle Clements said. "It is the culmination of months and years of hard work that people don't get to see. The swim season and swim life are hard work and it doesn't always reward in the ways you deserve, but in these moments at the end you look back and realize everything you did and accomplished."
Clements was named Horizon League Women's Swimming Coach of the Year following the meet. It's the fourth coach of the year award for Clements throughout his time with the Panthers.
The Panthers recorded a pair of impressive swims in the 1650 freestyle to get the final day of the league championships underway.
Antoni Haupt recorded a fifth-place finish on the women's side, posting a time of 17:15.89 and improving upon her prior season-best time by over 16 seconds. Haupt's time also places her fourth on the MKE top-10 list. On the men's side,
Jay Jensen continued his strong championships, earning a sixth-place spot at 15:47.30. His time puts him sixth on the top-10 list.
Makaila Scheiblein touched the wall at 2:15.19 in the A-finals of the 200m breaststroke to finish runner-up. She improved upon her prelim time by over two seconds and now ranks third in the event in program history.
Betsy Weil (2:22.21) competed in the B-final of the 200m breast, placing third.
On the men's three-meter board,
Jared Kleczka tallied a third-place finish behind a strong finals performance. Kleczka recorded a score of 326.05 in the finals improving by 30 points compared to the prelims. In the consolation finals,
Adam St. John placed fourth at 247.00 points while
Ben Stitgen placed sixth at 238.50.
The women's team was busy in the 100 free, sending six to the finals following the morning prelims. In the A-finals,
Nhia Caras (51.26),
Sydney Dahl (51.67), and
Cassandra Hutchins (51.80) were consecutive finishers, placing fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.
Meghan Jagdfeld tallied a third-place finish in the B-finals, touching the wall at 51.94 seconds while
Kelen McDaniels (52.24) and
Jenna Fistler (52.66) placed fifth and seventh.
In the 200m backstroke,
Skylar Ruggles posted the third-fastest time in program history in the prelims at 2:01.13. The freshman followed that with a seventh-place finish in the A-finals with a time of 2:03.98.
Giulia Guerra-Montes was runner-up in the B-finals at 2:05.49 and
Riley Melendy was seventh in the B-finals at 2:08.06.
The men had two in the B-finals of the 200m back, with
Conrad Farrell (1:52.31) and
Mason Schoof (1:54.27) finishing back-to-back for seventh and eighth.
Four Panthers competed in the finals for the women's 200m fly, continuing to showcase the team's depth.
Bella Passamani (2:06.59) placed sixth in the A-finals while
Bri Zablocki (2:08.36) came in at eighth. In the B-finals,
Brianna Homontowski finished third with a time of 2:08.11 while
Allie Buytendorp was close behind at 2:09.54 for fourth.
In the final event of the meet, the women's 400m free relay team of Caras, Dahl, Hutchins, and Passamani touched the wall at 3:26.60 to finish fourth. The men's 400m relay team placed seventh at 3:04.08 and consisted of Jensen,
Jonathan Kollen,
Andrew Innerebner, and Farrell.
"This is a great group of young men and women," Clements said. "It is my absolute honor to work for them every day. They represent themselves, their families, and this university beyond reproach."
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
1) Oakland – 917
2) Milwaukee – 598.5
3) IUPUI – 505
4) UIC – 502
5) Cleveland State- 338.5
6) Youngstown State – 262
7) Green Bay – 174
MEN
1) Oakland – 745
2) Cleveland State – 678
3) IUPUI – 602
4) UIC – 376.5
5) Youngstown State – 362
6) Green Bay – 339
7) Milwaukee – 243.5
Horizon League Swimming & Diving Specialty Awards
Women's Specialty Awards
Athlete of the Year; Susan LaGrand, Oakland
Freshman of the Year: Emmaleigh Zietlow, IUPUI
Diver of the Meet: Cydney Liebenberg, UIC
Swimmer of the Meet: Susan LaGrand, Oakland
Diving Coach of the Year: Susan Bromberg, UIC
Swimming Coach of the Year:
Kyle Clements, Milwaukee & Pete Hovland, Oakland
Men's Specialty Awards
Athlete of the Year: Timmy Kubacki, Cleveland State
Freshman of the Year: Jonas Cantrell, Oakland
Diver of the Meet: Felix Lafortune, UIC
Swimmer of the Meet: Marko Khotynetskyi, Oakland
Diving Coach of the Year: Tom Stover, Green Bay & Susan Bromberg, UIC
Swimming Coach of the Year: Damion Dennis, IUPUI
