INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Milwaukee swimming & diving teams sent 18 student-athletes to evening finals competition Thursday, as the Horizon League Championships hit the midway point from IU Natatorium.
 
The Panthers enjoyed a solid day of competition, with seven members of the rosters participating in championship finals and 11 more in consolation heats.
 
The strongest showings resulted in a third-place podium finish for the women's 200 freestyle relay team and a consolation championship for Bri Zablocki in the 200 IM.
 
"We had a strong start to the individual events of the meet," head coach Kyle Clements said. "We had numerous PRs, season-bests, and program Top-10 times throughout the night and we also had representation in every event."
 
With two days completed, the MKE women sit in third place with 217 points, just behind IUPUI (234) with both teams chasing Oakland (361). On the men's side, Milwaukee has a fifth-place total of 141 points, just 20 points out of third place.
 
"Day two is typically one of our tougher days," Clements said. "A lot of today's events are people's 'third' event. Starting tomorrow we are going to see the majority of the team start to get into their prime events and really show their skill set. We are a deep team both on the male and female sides, and we will see that depth really show tomorrow."
 
That depth also especially came through today in a pair of events on the women's side. With Zablocki leading the charge at 2:06.48, the Panthers had four of the eight finishers in the consolation final, with Makaila Scheiblein (12^th/2:07.84), Giulia Guerra-Montes (14^th/2:08.01), and Riley Melendy (16^th/2:08.22) making the race very black-and-gold heavy.
 
The 50 freestyle was another, with five swimmers making it back to finals in the evening. Nhia Caras was the top finisher, placing seventh after touching the wall in 23.82. Kelen McDaniels was right behind in 23.90.
 
In the consolation portion, Molly Meland was 10^th (23.92), Grace Mayes 12^th (24.06), and Mara Freeman 15^th (24.46). All five set season-best times in either prelims or finals.
 
Julie Rebek was the top finisher for the MKE women in the 1-meter diving event, placing fourth with 261.15 points. Therese Missiaen was eighth with 227.30 points.
 
In the 500 freestyle, Antoni Haupt swam a season-best in prelims (4:58.65) before finishing sixth in a time of 4:59.13. Bella Passamani was close behind, placing seventh in 5:02.49, also posting a season-low (4:59.90) in morning preliminaries. Allie Buytendorp (5:05.10/14^th) took part in consolations.
 
Jay Jensen and Jack Garcia paced the men in the 500 free, with Jensen just missing a consolation title, placing ninth in a time of 4:29.71. Garcia was 12^th in 4:31.46. Ben Lorenz swam in the 50 freestyle finals, placing eighth with a time of 20.50.
 
Other swims for the men included Zach McClellan (16^th in the 200 IM in 1:52.71) and the 200 free relay team of Lorenz, Jensen, Jared Bruce, and Jackson Ahrens (fifth in a season-best 1:22.21).
 
Day three of the championships gets underway tomorrow with swimming preliminaries at 9 a.m. CST and diving prelims after at 12 p.m. CST. Swimming & diving finals for each day will begin at 4:30 p.m. CST. All of the action will be streamed on EPSN+ and links are available on the MKE website.
 
TEAM SCORES
Women
1 – Oakland (361)
2 - IUPUI (234)
3 - Milwaukee (207)
4 – Youngstown State (155)
5 – Cleveland State (143)
6 – Green Bay (64)
 
Men
1 – IUPUI (321)
2 – Oakland (294)
3 – Cleveland State (161)
4 – Youngstown State (142)
5 – Milwaukee (141)
6 – Green Bay (131)