Oct. 28, 2001

Complete Results

Milwaukee - The UWM swim teams officially got their seasons underway on Sunday as they took part in the Northwestern Relays. The men's team took second place in the three team field, while the women came in fourth out of five schools. Both teams finished ahead of Horizon League rival UIC.

Northwestern won both of the meets, followed in the women's meet by Illinois and Indiana. The UWM men finished the meet with 168 points, 48 more than UIC. The Panther women outdistanced the Flames by 18 points, 116-98.

Head coach Dave Clark said the meet, which only involves relay races, is a good one to begin the season with to have a little fun.

"Winning and losing this one doesn't really matter," Clark said. "It's a good time to experiment a little and to try a few different things. People can run the same type of race two or three times on the day and can see what works and what doesn't."

On the men's side, the Panthers finished second in nearly every event. Of particular note was the performance of sophomore Josh Baseheart, who, in the opening leg of the 400 freestyle relay, led most of the distance and touched the wall at the same time as Tony Swanson of Northwestern, who gathered NCAA All-American honors last year.

"For not having much speed work, we really showed a lot of speed," Clark said. "I suspect Josh will be at the top of the league in three events after this weekend. He did a really excellent job."

The women also competed well, consistently finishing with the three Big Ten powers.

"The Big Ten was the Big Ten," Clark said. "We still competed with them and we showed up very well.

"I thought Beth Watt swam well, she had some good times even though she didn't quite get the one turn right," Clark said. "Kelly Goetsch ran a great anchor leg, running down a conference finalist from a year ago, in the 400 free relay."

The Panthers head back to the training pool this week to prepare for Friday night, when they travel to Wheaton to take on the Thunder. The Panthers will also head to Western Illinois on Saturday for a dual match. UWM next swims at the Klotsche Center Pool on Nov. 18, when the women take on Illinois State.