Feb. 23, 2001

MILWAUKEE-The MCC Swimming and Diving Championship opened to much excitement, as conference schools closely battled it out Thursday at the Schroeder Aquatic YMCA Center in Brown Deer, Wis. The UWM women's team currently leads the championship with 249 points while the UWM men ride third place with 148 points.

Wright State finished right behind the Panther women with 243 points and UW-Green Bay took third with 197 points. On the men's side, Wright State leads the championship with 235 points and Cleveland State is in second with 184 points. The battle remains tight for third place, as UWM holds the narrow advantage over Illinois-Chicago's 147 points.

Junior Leslie Brock broke a school record in the 500 freestyle, winning the event in 5:05.94. Freshman Jen Kedinger's time of 5:07.17 in the same event set a freshman record, while place fifth among the conference swimmers.

In the 200 IM, sophomore Amanda Chan also broke the school record by swimming in 2:08.92. Chan finished a strong second, while freshman Daniel Bradley set a freshman record of 2:12.47 and placed fifth.

Five out of eight divers represented UWM in the 3 meter diving event, but all were led by senior captain Amanda Maas's second-place finish with 416.15 points. In the women's 200 freestyle relay, the Panthers took third with a time of 1:39.48. Rachel Smith, Sarah Caldwell, Kathleen Owen, and Beth Watt made up UWM's relay team. UWM also took third place in the 400 medley relay, as Randi Fletcher, Amanda Chan, Watt, and Kelly Goetsch finished in a total time of 3:57.77.

The UWM men's swimming and diving team best saw a few fourth-place finishes on the day's events while grabbing the no. three spot in team points. The Panthers' relay team of Josh Baseheart, Peter Clark, Bill Kuri, and Matt Schmaling placed fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:24.08.

Sophomore David Faust took fourth in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 4:37.37. Junior Nic Seider also took fourth in his event, scoring 266.15 in the 1 meter diving. In the last event of the night, UWM's team of Kuri, Nick Bowers, Adam Hanson, and Clark took fourth place in the 400 medley relay in 3:30.90.

The action continues on Friday, opening with swimming prelims at 10:30 a.m. Diving finals begin at 2 p.m. and are followed by swimming finals at 6 p.m. Results and a recap of the day's events will be posted following the competitions.