INDIANAPOLIS – The Milwaukee men's and women's swimming & diving teams finished up the final meet of the fall portion of their schedule today at the IUPUI House of Champions. The women finished in second place overall, while the men finished fifth.
 
"It was a great week for the Panthers - from seniors to freshman, from sprinters to distance swimmers we swam fast," head coach Kyle Clements said. "With the smallest adjustment in our training and a great mindset we were able to just go race."
 
The event of the day for Milwaukee turned out to be the 200 fly, as Erika Thomas and Nik Wheeler each grabbed third place in their respective championship heats. Thomas recorded a time of 2:05.26, and Wheeler touched the wall in 1:50.63.
 
Also recording a championship heat podium finish was the women's 400 free relay team. Janelle Schulz, Carly Plate, Noelle Bryan, and Nhia Caras combined for a third place finish and a time of 3:25.17.
 
The Panthers were unable to reach the podium in any other championship heats but littered their names throughout the championship and consolation heats as well as the other finals.

Skylar Ruggles and Mara Freeman finished fourth and eighth in the championship final of the 200 back, with Ruggles missing the podium by .05 seconds. Nicholas Klenner took the fifth spot int he men's 200 back championship heat, touching the wall in 1:49.40.

Finishing not far behind Thomas in the 200 yard fly were Johanna Edgren and Allie Buytendorp, racing in the consolation final and placing 13th and 16th overall. Benjamin Witt also managed a top-16 finish in the event, grabbing the 15th spot on the men's side of the pool.
 
Hayden Christiansen and Victor Kostov took the top two spots in the consolation final of the men's 200 backstroke, coming in at 1:50.21 and 1:50.99. Jackson Hodek finished 16th overall, finishing eighth in the consolation final.
 
Not long after Christiansen and Kostov came another pair of Panthers in the top three. Charlie House and Ben Lorenz finished two and three in the men's 100 free consolation final, recording times of 45.11 and 45.32 respectively. House's time put him in the Milwaukee record books, as he swam the fastest 100 yard freestyle by a Milwaukee freshman in recorded history.
 
Lucy Borlase showed her chops in the women's 200 backstroke consolation final, placing third with a time of 2:22.2. She was followed closely by Hannah DeGrace, who took fifth in the consolation, 13th overall. Schulz, Caras, and Plate finished 5th, 7th, and 8th in the championship heat of the 100 free, while Noelle Bryan took third and Audrey Dixon took fourth in the bonus final.

Scoring for the Panthers in the 200 breast were Yassin Dwidar and Andrew Jones, finishing 13th and 16th overall while competing in the consolation final.

In the lone distance event of the day, the 1650 free, multiple Panthers added to their team totals. Lilly Nesson and Antoni Haupt finished 6th and 8th, respectively, while Jay Jensen and Konnor Pilger grabbed the 7th and 16th spots on the men's side. Finally, the men's 400 free relay team consisting of Jensen, House, Lorenz, and Griffin Hawley missed the podium by 0.15 seconds, finishing 4th.
 
"As a team we learned a lot about ourselves," Clements continued. "We've learned what is and isn't working, how to prepare and recover from races, and what it's going to take mentally to take that next step come February." 
 
"We have a long way to go, but this was a fun step in the process."
 
The Panthers will now begin their two-month break from competition, picking back up on January 27^th against Green Bay. The in-state rivalry marks the first of just three meets before the Horizon League Championships starting February 14^th.