MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's and women's swimming & diving programs will host the Wisconsin Showcase on Saturday at the Schroeder Aquatic Center. Joining them at the meet are programs from Green Bay, Oshkosh, Whitewater, La Crosse, MSOE, and St. Norbert. Events are scheduled to start at 1:00 PM, with the diving events running concurrent to the swimming events.
 
This meet marks the first of the season for the men's program, excluding the intersquad and alumni meets. For the women, this will be their second regular season meet after falling to Indiana State on October 13^th.
 
LAST TIME OUT
In the meet against Indiana State, the Panthers fell to the Sycamores by a final score of 74.5-225.5.
 
"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."
 
PRESEASON #3
Milwaukee women's swimming and diving teams enters the 2023-24 season third in the Horizon League, according to the coaches' poll released today by the league office.
 
Milwaukee finished last season in third place at the league championships, scoring 606.5 points. The Panthers were behind only IUPUI and Oakland. For the season, Milwaukee went 5-2 overall with a 2-0 mark in the conference.
 
Highlighting the Panthers' returners is Julie Rebek, who is coming off an individual third place finish in the 3-Meter dive. The Milwaukee 400 freestyle relay team came in third at the meet and will return Grace Mayes and Erika Thomas. Also on the podium was the 200 freestyle relay team, who will return Grace Mayes and Nhia Caras.
 
 
2023 Under Armour #HLWSD Preseason Poll
Pl.     Team – Pts. (First-place votes)
1.      Oakland (6) – 36
2.      IUPUI – 29
3.      Milwaukee – 25
4.      Youngstown State – 17
5.      Cleveland State – 12
6.      Green Bay – 7
 
 
For those planning to attend the meet and cheer on your Panthers, please note that tickets will be $5, and cash is preferred. Children under the age of three will be allowed in for free.

UP NEXT
Following this weekend's Wisconsin Showcase, the Panthers will compete in a pair of meets on back to back days. On Friday, October 27th at 4 PM, the Panthers will host UIC at the Klotsche Natatorium. The next day, Saturday the 28th, Milwaukee will take a trip to IUPUI for their first conference meet of the season at 5 PM. Cleveland State will also compete at IUPUI, making it a conference tri-meet.