Feb. 28, 2002

Results

CHICAGO - The UWM men's and women's swimming and diving teams both stand in fourth place after the first of three days of competition in the Horizon League swimming and diving championships. The Panther women have 166.5 points, 78 behind the meet's leader, Wright State, while the men have 137 points, 89.5 points behind the WSU men.

The Panthers broke three records in the first day's action, all falling in the women's 400 medley relay. Julie Olson broke the school and freshman records on the opening backstroke leg, swimming in 58.27 seconds. The relay team of Olson, Kristin Cefalu, Beth Watt and Kelly Goetsch also broke the school mark in the event, swimming a 3:55.18, good for a third-place finish. The men's 400 medley relay team finished fifth in the event.

The Panthers opened the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 200 free relay, while the men's relay team also grabbed fifth in the same event. The women's 500 freestyle saw Kelly Goetsch taking fourth place overall, while Jen Kedinger and Sarah Walby took ninth and tenth as the top two finishers in the consolation final. Leslie Brock added a 14th-place finish in the event.

In the men's 500 free, Peter Clark pulled a surprise by placing third, while David Faust finished seventh. Michael Belting won the consolation final to take ninth place.

Four Milwaukee swimmers scored in the women's 200 IM, as Danielle Bradley took seventh place. Sarah Caldwell added a 10th place-finish, while Natalie Oettinger finished 12th and Kari Kinney was 15th. Their counterparts on the men's team got two scorers in the event, as Sean Tepper and Carey Kammel finished 14th and 15th.

The women's 50 free saw Beth Watt and Rachel Smith scoring for the Panthers, finishing 10th and 13th. Josh Baseheart took fourth in the men's 50 free, while Adam Steffes added a 15th-place finish.

The Panther diving teams also contributed, as the women scored 36 points in the 3m diving event. Hannah Burgard took sixth place to lead the divers, while Krystina Herzog was eighth, Becky Rubel finished 10th and Erin Hallen was 12th. For the men, Nic Seider took second place and Marco Gruchalski finished 12th to contribute 22 points to the men's total.

Milwaukee will look to close the gap when action resumes on Friday. The day begins with the preliminary swimming heats at 10:30 a.m. Preliminary round action in the men's 3m and women's 1m diving will begin at 2 p.m., while the day's swimming finals will begin at 6 p.m.