Dec. 3, 2001

Milwaukee - The fall semester of competition ends this weekend for the UWM swimming and diving teams. The Panther swimmers will compete in the Wheaton Invitiatonal in Wheaton, Ill., while the diving teams will be at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

Words on Wheaton: The Panthers will be making their second trip to Wheaton, Ill., this season. UWM competed against the Thunder on Nov. 2 at Wheaton. Both the men's and women's teams lost a close meet, the women by five points and the men by just two. Wheaton traditionally has one of the strongest Division III teams in the country, and is the only non-Division I school on the schedule for Milwaukee. UWM will also be making a return trip to the Wheaton Invitational, where both the men and women placed second in the field of nine teams a year ago.

Notre Dame Notes: The UWM diving teams will be returning to South Bend, Ind., this week for the Notre Dame Invitational. The Panthers competed at Notre Dame last year, but did not receive a team score. UWM will be looking to compete with some of the top divers in the country.

The Season So Far: The Panthers return to the pool after a lengthy layoff. The women's team last competed on Nov. 18 against Illinois State, while men's team hasn't competed since the triangular meet with UIC and Northern Iowa on Nov. 10. The men's team is 2-3 in dual meet competition in 2001, while the Panther women have gotten off to a slow start with a 1-4 mark. Injuries have hurt the Panthers, especially the women's team, as numerous athletes have been forced to sit out several meets.

The Injury Bug: UWM has been nearly crippled by injuries in 2001. The Panther women have had to compete at various times without sprinter Stacy Jereczek, backstroker Julie Olson, individual medalist Danielle Bradley and reigning League Athlete of the Year, Amanda Chan. The men's team has also had several injuries, as divers Nic Seider and Brady Arnold have each missed competition due to injury. Sprinter John Batty has also missed time with an ankle sprain.

Diving In: The Panther divers, who will compete with some of the nation's best this weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational, came through against UIC and Northern Iowa and in the women's meet against Illinois State. UWM claimed three of the top four spots in the 1m and the top three spots in the 3m against Illinois State. On the men's side, Nic Seider won both diving events against UIC and Northern Iowa, scoring high enough in each event to qualify for the NCAA Zone Meet at the end of the year.

Getting Honored: The Panthers have taken three of the Horizon League's top weekly honors in 2001. Josh Baseheart was the first to be honored, being named Athlete of the Week on Oct. 30 for his efforts against Northwestern. Kelly Goetsch received the honor the following week. She was honored on Nov. 6 for her performances against Wheaton and Western Illinois. Nic Seider was the third Panther to be honored, receiving the award on Nov. 13 for his performances against UIC and Northern Iowa.

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 during the year.

Baseheart Near Nation's Best: Sprinter Josh Baseheart has already had a strong season for UWM. Baseheart, who has the top time for Milwaukee in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly, has had his times very close to the top swimmers in the nation. Baseheart's top 50 free time of 20.96 is just .12 seconds off the 27th best time in the nation. He is only about a half a second behind the NCAA 'B' Standard for qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 50 freestyle. Baseheart was honored by the Horizon League as Athlete of the Week on Oct. 30 for his performances against Northwestern. Baseheart was fourth in the 100 freestyle a year ago at the MCC Championships. He also captured a pair of sixth place finishes, one in the 50 freestyle and one in the 100 butterfly.

Watt A Swimmer: Junior Beth Watt has currently holds three of the top times on the women's team in 2001. Watt has the top time in the 100 freestyle and the 100 and 200 butterfly. Watt's times have also been good enough to place her in the top 15 in the Horizon League in each of those events this year. She currently holds the top 200 fly time in the league and the second-best 100 fly time. Watt placed second last year in the 100 butterfly and third in the 200 butterfly at the MCC Championships. She also took ninth in the 50 freestyle at the league meet. Watt also received the Scholar-Athlete award last year for the highest grade point average on the team.

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 24th 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 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, junior Peter Clark, junior Jenny Behr, senior Kelly Goetsch, junior Erin Hallen, senior Jessica Hoffmann, senior Erin McCauley, junior Rachel Smith and junior Beth Watt.

Up Next: UWM has a training trip to Florida scheduled for over the winter break. The Panthers will compete in the Ed Kennedy Relays on Dec. 31 and the Time Trial 100s on Jan. 4 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Milwaukee returns to the Klotsche Center Pool on Jan. 19, when Horizon League rival Butler comes to Milwaukee.