MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's and women's swimming and diving teams close the regular season with a busy weekend, hosting St. Thomas on Friday before UW-Stevens Point comes travels to the Klotsche Natatorium on Saturday. The team will also send divers to the UIC Diving Invitational on Saturday for final preparations before the Horizon League Championships.
Scouting the Opponents
St. Thomas enters the weekend with a 1-5 record on the men's side and 2-4 mark on the women's. The Tommies most recently swam against the University of Nebraska at Omaha two weeks ago. The dual between St. Thomas and Milwaukee is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
UW-Stevens Point competed last weekend at UW-La Crosse, earning a victory on the men's side but falling on the women's. Milwaukee will be the final regular season dual for the Pointers before heading to the WIAC Championships two weeks later.
UIC hosts the annual UIC Diving Invitational on Saturday, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and will feature divers from several Horizon League opponents as well as Big Ten schools.
Senior Day
The 16 seniors being recognized as the season wraps up are
Andrea Bellart,
Sydney Dahl,
Giulia Guerra-Montes,
Natalie Hey,
Jenna Hotvedt,
Cassandra Hutchins,
Claudia Kirkpatrick,
Mackenzie Koehler,
Bella Passamani,
Mia Piljevic,
Makaila Scheiblein,
Madeline Worgull,
Conrad Farrell,
John Ruan,
Mason Schoof, and
Quinn Yeager.
Collecting Awards
Following the meet against Chicago in early January, a pair of Panthers were awarded with Horizon League weekly honors.
Jared Kleczka was named Men's Diver of the Week after posting a career-best 349.80 points on the three-meter board. The junior added his second individual win of the meet with a score of 315.30 on the one-meter board. Both scores reached the NCAA Zone-qualifying mark on both boards.
Nhia Caras was recognized as Women's Swimmer of the Week with two more individual victories. The freshman collected her third wins of the season in the 50 freestyle (23.88) and 100 free (53.23) and anchored a pair of Panther wins in the 200 medley and 400 free relay.
Freshman Sensation
Nhia Caras has put together an impressive start to her Panthers career, tallying seven 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 five individual victories across three events. He has claimed a trio 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.
Up Next
The Panthers will kick off the Horizon League Championships on Tuesday, February 15 hosted by IUPUI. The five-day championships conclude on Saturday, February 19 from Indianapolis.
