Feb. 5, 2002

Milwaukee (Feb. 5) - The UWM swimming and diving teams will head to Madison for their final tune-up before the Horizon League Championships on Friday when they take on in-state rivals Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay.

The Panthers are coming off a split against Northern Illinois last Friday when the women's team picked up just their second win in the past ten years against the Huskies with a 134-108 win. The men dropped a close decision, falling 129-109.

The women won despite the absence of Kelly Goetsch and Danielle Bradley, both of whom were out sick for the meet. Jen Kedinger and Krystina Herzog picked up the slack, though, as they each won to events. Kristin Cefalu and Sarah Walby also gathered a win for the Panthers, who also won the 400 free relay. The men got wins from Michael Belting, Jason Procto, Josh Baseheart and Nic Seider, as well as winning the 400 free relay.

Scouting the Phoenix: The Panthers and Phoenix have already met once in the pool this year, as UW-Green Bay won both the men's and women's side of the Bill Ritter Invitational two weeks ago. Adam Cremieux led the way for the Phoenix, who won by more than 200 points over the second-place Panthers. The women's side was much closer, as only about 50 points separated UWGB and UWM. Kaye-Lani Laughna and Cremieux were both named Horizon League Athlete of the Week for their performances at the Bill Ritter Invitational.

Scouting the Badgers: Wisconsin's men's team was swept by Purdue and Minnesota on Saturday at Purdue. Matt Marshall picked up the only win for the Badgers, winning the 100 fly with a time of 48.94. The women, however, took three victories on Saturday, defeating Purdue, Illinois and Minnesota. Carly Piper and Jenny Lyman each picked up a pair of wins for the Badgers.

Continuing to Impress: Jason Procto won the 200 back against Northern Illinois, marking the third win in backstroke events that he has competed in. Since making his debut at the Bill Ritter Invitational, Procto has took first in the 100 and 200 back at the invitational and took first in the 200 back at NIU. Procto missed the first half of the season while a matter invloving his transfer hours from England was resolved.

Inside the Statistics: At the Bill Ritter Invitational, Andy Davis achieved the rare feat of scoring points for the Panthers in the meet's longest and shortest events. Davis placed 16th in the men's 50 free and added an eighth place finish in the 1650.

Sounding Like a Broken Record: The Panthers have started breaking records on a regular basis since the first part of December. The latest record to fall was the six-year-old school mark in the women's 1m diving, as Krystina Herzog scored 289.65 to break the old mark of 280.25. Josh Baseheart and Julie Olson have each contributed to the rewriting of the record books, as Olson broke the freshman record in the 100 back at the Wheaton Invitational. Baseheart broke his own school record in the 100 free and set meet records in the 50 and 100 free at the Wheaton Invitational. He also set a Chrouser Pool record with his time in the 100 free. David Faust also set a meet record in the men's 1650.

Athlete of the Week: The Panthers have had their share of honorees by the Horizon League as Athlete of the Week in 2001-02. Josh Baseheart earned the honor twice, first for his performances against Northwestern in late October and again in January for his record-breaking times at the Wheaton Invitational. Kelly Goetsch and Nic Seider each were honored by the league in early November, Goetsch on Nov. 6 and Seider on Nov. 13, giving the Panthers three honorees in the first three weeks the award was handed out.

Under the Weather: The Panthers have also had their share of injuries this season, though they are starting to get relatively healthy. Sean Tepper was an unexpected scratch due to illness for the Bill Ritter Invitational. Adam Hanson (hand), Brady Arnold (back) and Jenn Moore (back) are all out for the meet with Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay.

Nationally Ranked: Josh Baseheart is currently ranked 65th in the country in the 50 free and 47th in the nation in the 100 free. Baseheart is the only Panther to be ranked in the nation.

Academic Excellence: The women's team was named Academic All-American for the 26th consecutive semester during the spring of 2001. The women had a cumulative grade point average of 3.201, ranking them 24th in the country among Division I schools. In addition, seniors Kelly Goetsch, Leslie Brock and Adam Hanson, along with junior Peter Clark, were named to the Academic All-Conference team last spring. Thirteen Panthers were named to the league's Honor Roll for having a grade point average of above 3.25. Ten of those Panthers return in 2001-02. The ten are seniors Adam Hanson, Kelly Goetsch, Jessica Hoffmann and Erin McCauley, and juniors Peter Clark, Jenny Behr, Erin Hallen, Rachel Smith and Beth Watt.

Up Next: UWM is off until the Horizon League Championships on Feb. 27-Mar. 2 in Chicago.