Dec. 2, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team continues a series of road meets as it heads to Iowa City this weekend for a three-day meet at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational. Along with the host Hawkeyes, UWM will swimming against Denver, Michigan, and conference-foe, Green Bay. South Dakota State will also be competing in diving events.

The meet will run in a championship meet format with preliminaries and finals. Prelims will begin at 10 a.m. each day, while finals will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. on Sunday.

SCOUTING THE MEETS:
The Panthers are heading to the Hawkeye Invitational for only the second time in program history. Last year, Milwaukee finished fourth, tallying 507.5 points on the weekend.

Boasting a perfect 5-0 record, Michigan heads to Iowa City with the No. 1 ranking in the country, according to College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Host Iowa is 3-1 and is ranked 10th in the country. Denver enters the meet at 5-1 while Green Bay is currently 2-2.

LIVE STATS:
For live results on your computer or smart phone, visit: http://live.iowaswimming.com/swimming/.

LAST TIME IN THE POOL:
The men's swimming team won the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Border Battle for the third-straight year Saturday afternoon, winning six events in the day's opening second session and five more in the third and final session to secure the victory.

In all, UWM tallied an impressive 1,126.5 points. The host Pointers finished second with 928.5 points, with South Dakota coming in third at 785. The Panthers dominated flexed the depth of their roster Saturday, with 11 different swimmers combining for 11 different victories. Seniors Jordan Diel and Brady Huemann, along with junior Nathan Welchlin spearheaded the attack with each winning two individual events on the day.

Diel swept the butterfly events, taking the 100 with a time of 51:47 and just edging out classmate Nathan Rahe for the top spot in the 200 at 1:59.37, less than half a second in front of his teammate.

In the breaststroke events, Huemann took first in both the 100 and 200, being pushed by teammates in both races. In the 100 breaststroke, Huemann finished just in front of teammates Sam Keele, David Dvorak and Josh Kinney to take first at 58.95. Then in the 200 breaststroke, he finished with a time of 2:11.14, just in front of Kinney.

Welchlin continued to dominate the freestyle events, winning both the 100 at 46.96 and the 200 with a time of 1:45.05. Junior Mike Brady took second in the 100 (47.85), while freshman Ryan Finke came in just behind Welchlin in the 200 (1:48.14).

Sophomore Chris Jenkyns touched the wall first in the 200 backstroke at 1:54.88, while freshman Kenny Stelpflug continued to impress, winning the 1650 with a time of 16:55:05.

Milwaukee also added victories in the 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay to help secure the victory.

INCOMING:
Head coach Kyle Clements announced the signing of four men's swimmers during the November signing period earlier this week.

The class of 2016 is comprised of swimmers Joseph Chokran of South Elgin, Ill., Matt Martin of Overland Park, Kan., Edward Stackman of Green Bay, Wis., and Taylor Wisdorf of Cheyenne, Wyo.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT:
Since the start of last season, Milwaukee's men's and women's swimming and diving teams have been setting records at an unprecedented pace.

Right around this season's midway point, the Panthers have already broken one school record, two of their own pool records and a handful of other schools' pool records. Sophomore Becky Yokosh broke the school mark in the 100 backstroke in the first race of the season with a time of 57.13 seconds.

One week later, against Grand Valley State, sophomore Emily McClellan bested her own pool record in the 200 breaststroke and was part of the 200 medley relay team that took down another Klotsche Natatorium top time. Sophomores Diana Diel, Yokosh and McClellan and freshman Sierra Townsend combined to swim the event in 1:47.05, shattering the previous record - one that stood for nearly seven years - by over a full second.

That continues the trend started when head coach Kyle Clements took over last year. In all, 46 total records were broken 68 different times during the 2010-11 season for the Panthers.

ALL-AMERICANS:
Last year was truly a memorable one for both men's and women's swimming and diving at UWM. Along with the men winning the Horizon League Championship for the second-straight year and women finishing runners-up, the Panthers had a host of individual accolades as well.

Sophomore Emily McClellan headlined a total of five Panthers that were named to the 2011 CollegeSwimming.com Division I Mid-Major All-America Swimming teams.

McClellan, who became the first UWM swimmer and the first female from the Horizon League to qualify for the NCAA Championships in just her first year of collegiate competition, was named to the First Team.

Then-senior Jake Kalinowski and junior Nathan Welchlin were each honored on the men's side, earning Honorable Mention status.

On the women's side, senior Sarah Wardecke and sophomore Diana Diel also were named on the Honorable Mention list.

LAST YEAR:
Last year, UWM took fourth at the Hawkeye Invite with a total of 507.5 points.

UP NEXT:
The Panthers have a four-week break from competition before heading on their annual Training Trip Dec. 3-13.