Oct. 29, 2011

Results

Dayton, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming team rebounded from a loss Friday night with a record-setting day in a hard-fought win at Wright State Saturday morning in Dayton, Ohio.

Milwaukee broke three pool records at the WSU Natatorium en route to a 167-133 win in their first conference meet of the year.

"I was very pleased with the overall effort of the team today," UWM head coach Kyle Clements said. "Following a 6 p.m. Friday meet with an 11 a.m. Saturday meet is tough, but it is something that we need to do each year to prepare us for our four day championship meet in February. The most encouraging thing that I saw today is that we were stronger on day two."

The dynamic combination of sophomores Becky Yokosh, Emily McClellan, Diana Diel and freshman Sierra Townsend started the day off by setting the pool record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:47.21.

Yokosh then went on to set a pool record of her own in the 100 back with a time of 58 seconds flat, over two seconds in front of the next swimmer.

McClellan continued the trend, winning the 100 breast and setting yet another pool record in 1:04.10, finishing over five seconds in front of second place.

"The women woke up and were ready to swim this morning," Clements said. "This group has pretty lofty goals and they know what they have to do to achieve them. Yesterday wasn't exactly what we were looking for but we have a gritty group of young ladies and they had some nice bounce-back swims.

"This team still has a lot of work to do before we can take that next big leap as a program, but I know that they're willing to put in the work."

Diel and classmate Mary Kuyvenhoven took the top two spots in the 200 butterfly with the duo finishing just 0.34 seconds apart.

Senior Sarah Wardecke and Townsend did the same in the 50 free with Wardecke finishing first in 24.64 and Townsend second in 25.02.

In the 200 back, Yokosh (2:06.51) finished first, sophomore Erika Pliner (2:09.33) took second and senior Danielle Chapman (2:12.97) took fourth.

Wardecke also took the top spot in the 200 breast, while McClellan and junior Maggie Beck finished one-two in the 200 IM.

On the diving side, junior Aubrey Griffiths and senior Morgan Hearn finished second and third on the one-meter board and then switched spots on the three-meter board with Hearn finishing second and Hearn third.

In the final event of the day, Diel, senior Heidi Niespodzany, Townsend and Wardecke teamed up to take first in the 400 free relay at 3:33.94.

The Panthers return to the pool this Friday when they head to Wheaton College to take on the Thunder.