Nov. 12, 2001

Milwaukee - The UWM women's swim team will return to action when they take on Illinois State on Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Klotsche Center Pool. The Panther men are off until early December.

Last Week: The Panther men scored a pair of victories over Northern Iowa and Illinois-Chicago at Cedar Falls, Iowa, while the women split on the weekend, defeating the Flames but falling to Northern Iowa.

The men got three victories from freshman Michael Belting (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) and two from sophomore Josh Baseheart (Milwaukee, Wis./King) and senior Nic Seider (Mequon, Wis./Milwaukee Lutheran). Belting and Baseheart swept the men's freestyle events, with Belting winning the 1000, 500 and 200 free, while Baseheart took first in the 50 free and the 100 free. Seider scored first place victories in both of the diving events, while scoring high enough to qualfiy for the NCAA Zone Championships.

The women's team was led by junior Beth Watt (Waukesha, Wis./West), who captured a pair of first place finishes in the 100 and 200 fly. The Panthers took three of the first four finishes in the 200 fly, with sophomore Kari Kinney (Madison, Wis./East) and freshman Natalie Oettinger (Waukesha, Wis./North) taking third and fourth places.

Sophomore Kristin Cefalu also helped the Panther cause, placing first in the 200 breaststroke and placing second in the 400 IM.

This Week's Opposition: Illinois State is coming off a loss to Ball State on Saturday by a 172-128 margin. The Redbirds got a first and second place finish from freshman diver Krystal Featherston and a pair of firsts in the 100 and 200 fly and a second in the 200 IM from senior Diana Cirstea. Cirstea's times in the 100 and 200 fly are very close to Panther senior Beth Watt's top times in 2001. Illinois State's dual meet record in 2001 is 0-3, having dropped to Illinois and Northern Illinois in addition to Ball State.

The Injury Bug: The Panthers continue to be struck by a rash of injuries on the early part of the 2001-02 season. Freshman Courtney Gilbert (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) has yet to compete in 2001 due to injury, while sophomore Stacy Jereczek (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville) also missed this week's action with an injury.

The men's team has not escaped the injury bug, either. Freshman John Batty (Madison, Wis./Verona) has a sprained ankle and did nto compete at Northern Iowa.

Doubling Up: The Panthers took the top two spots in the men's 1000 free and 50 free and the top three spots in the 500 free. Junior David Faust (Eden Prarie, Minn./Eden Prarie) finished the 1000 free two seconds behind Michael Belting for second place. Faust took third in the 500 free behind Belting and junior Peter Clark (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay), who took second. In the 50 free, freshman Adam Steffes (Madison, Wis./LaFollette) finished close behind Josh Baseheart for second place.

The Panther women also had success finishing in pairs. Sophomores Jen Kedinger (Fond du Lac, Wis./Goodrich) and Sarah Walby (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) finished second and third in the 1000 free. The pair teamed up again in the 500 free to finish third and fouth.

Goetsch Gets League Honor: Senior Kelly Goetsch (Plymouth, Wis./Plymouth) was named Horizon League Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 6 for her performances against Wheaton and Western Illinois. Goetsch took first place in the 100 free in both meets and added a third in the 200 free against Wheaton. She becomes the second Panther to receive the league's weekly honor, following Josh Baseheart, who received the honor on Oct. 30.

Everyone in the Pool: Depth is a strength of the Panther swimming and diving teams. Last year, the women's team had five of the top nine swimmers in both breaststroke events at the MCC Championships, as well as five of the top seven divers in both diving events from a year ago.

The men also have excellent depth, as UWM had five of the top 16 swimmers in the 200 freestyle from a year ago. The men's team had at least three athletes place in the top 16 in all but four events.

Academic Excellence: The women's team was named Academic All-American as a team for the 26th consecutive semester during the spring of 2001. The women had a cumulative grade point average of 3.203, ranking them in 24th place in the country among Division I schools.

In addition, seniors Leslie Brock, Kelly Goetsch and Adam Hanson, along with junior Peter Clark, were named to the Academic All-Conference team last spring.

Thirteen Panthers were also named to the league's Honor Roll for having a grade point average of above 3.25. Ten of those Panthers return in 2001. The ten are senior Adam Hanson (Verona, Wis./Verona), junior Peter Clark, junior Jenny Behr (Wauwatosa, Wis./West), senior Kelly Goetsch, junior Erin Hallen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton), senior Jessica Hoffmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower), senior Erin McCauley (Genoa City, Wis./Lake Geneva Badger), junior Rachel Smith (Superior, Wis./Superior) and junior Beth Watt.

League Honors: Last year's Panthers had several athletes honored by the league as Athlete of the Week. Four of them return in 2001. They are sophomore Jen Kedinger, Peter Clark, Amanda Chan and Beth Watt. Clark and Kedinger were each named Athlete of the Week twice on the year.

Up Next: The Panthers swimmers will wrap up their competition in the fall semester with the Wheaton Invitational on Dec. 7-8, while the Panther divers will compete at the Notre Dame Invitational on Dec. 6-8.