MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team opened their season by hosting Indiana State today in an afternoon matchup at the Klotsche Natatorium.
 
The Panthers fell to the Sycamores by a final score of 225.5 to 74.5.
 
"It's good to get this first one out of the way and have a really fast competition with Indiana State," head coach Kyle Clements said. "With twenty new people on our team, we're just starting to get into the racing part of our season, so today was actually the first day that we swam a lot of events."
 
Skylar Ruggles highlighted Milwaukee's efforts on the afternoon, grabbing a first-place finish in the 200 back with a time of 2:05.77. Ruggles also recorded a third-place finish in the 100 back with a time of 59.22.
 
The day started with the Panthers finishing third in the 200 medley relay, recording a time of 1:48.29. Shortly after that was the 200 freestyle, where Janelle Schulz finished second with a time of 1:53.93.
 
Carly Plate finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.06, and Erika Thomas finished third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:09.21. Nhia Caras recorded a 50 free time of 24.79, good enough for third, and Julie Rebek finished second in both 3 meter and 1 meter diving.
 
Schulz picked up another top three placing with a third-place finish in the 200 breaststroke, while Thomas took third in the 100 butterfly and the 200 IM. In the final event of the day, Milwaukee's 400 freestyle relay team placed third.
 
"It's a good jumping off point, now we kind of know where we're at," Clements added. "We're looking forward to seeing where this goes as an evolution throughout the season. With the Wisconsin Showcase coming up and then the UIC and IUPUI, I think we'll look back on today as a good starting point."
 
"We have a long way to go but we have a lot of time to do it, so I'm really proud of the team today."
 
After tomorrow's alumni meet, the Panthers will compete at the Wisconsin Showcase on October 21^st.