INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Riley Melendy is the Horizon League champion in the 100 backstroke and Jay Jensen broke the school record in the 400 IM to highlight the action for the Milwaukee swimming & diving teams on day three of the Horizon League Championships Friday from the IUPUI Natatorium.
 
Melendy won the 100 back to claim her first individual league title of her career and the first of the week for the Panthers. It was the race of the night for the team, with Mara Freeman finishing second in the same event.
 
Jensen broke the eight-year old record in claiming third place in the 400 IM, while Makaila Scheiblein added a second-place effort in the 100 breaststroke, Jared Kleczka placed third in the 1-meter diving competition, and the women's 400 medley relay team also took a spot on the podium with a season-best time in its third-place showing.
 
"As expected, today was a good day for our program," head coach Kyle Clements said. "We got contributions from a lot of people in numerous events. From fifth-year seniors to freshmen, and from divers and swimmers, we are getting big points and impressive times and scores.
 
With three days completed, the MKE women sit in third place with 388.5 points, behind IUPUI (425.5) with both teams chasing Oakland (643). On the men's side, Milwaukee has a fifth-place total of 255 points, just 21 points out of third place.
 
"There is still a lot of opportunity for us to clean up some of our races tomorrow, and get even more people into the A and B finals," Clements said. "We are really looking forward to seeing how this team closes this meet out."
 
Melendy gave the school record a run and came from behind in the final leg to claim the crown, touching the wall in 55.73. Freeman earns the silver and nearly set a new freshmen record as well, just behind in 56.67.
 
After nearly setting the record in preliminaries, Jensen got in done in finals, placing third in 3:53.50. That clipped the school mark of 3:54.18, which was set by Nic Halverson back in 2015.
 
Scheiblein earned the top seed in morning prelims and nearly pulled it off, finishing second in the 100 breaststroke in a season-best time of 1:03.23.
 
Kleczka earned the bronze on the 1-meter, posting an NCAA zone-qualifying score of 311.50.
 
The 100 back field was dominated by Panthers, with four of the eight A finalists wearing the Black & Gold. In addition to Melendy and Freeman, Molly Meland placed fifth in 57.26 and Skylar Ruggles took eighth in 57.91.
 
The women also put together an impressive showing in the 100 butterfly, sending five to the finals. Bri Zablocki placed sixth in 56.13 and Bella Passamani claimed the consolation title in a time of 55.90.
 
Also in consolation finals was Erika Thomas (10^th/56.35), Meland (14^th/56.97), and Brianna Homontowski (16^th/57.94).
 
The men were just as strong in the 200 freestyle, taking up half the field in B finals. Jack Garcia just missed a win, taking second in 1:40.76, with Jackson Ahrens an arm-length behind in 1:40.89. The team wasn't done there, seeing Jonathan Kollen 12^th (1:41.02), and Andrew Innerebner in 15^th (1:42.74).
 
Kleczka's bronze led a big-time showing on the boards, with MKE placing three in the top eight after Adam St. John was fifth with 301.30 points to also earn an NCAA zone-qualifying total. Ben Stitgen was eighth with 288.05 points.
 
Other strong finishes for the Panthers on the evening included Giulia Guerra-Montes (5^th in 400 IM in 4:29.68), Grace Mayes (8^th in 200 free in 1:53.40), Katherine Hackett (10^th in the 400 IM in 4:35.14), and the women's 400 medley relay squad of Melendy, Scheiblein, Passamani, and Kelen McDaniels, who earned the bronze in a season-best time of 3:48.48.
 
The final day 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.