UMW Men Take Third For Second-Straight Season At League Championships
Feb. 23, 2008
AKRON, Ohio - Senior Chase Gravengood's record-breaking performance in the 200 butterfly highlighted day four action for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team at the Horizon League Championships Saturday at Ocasek Natatorium. The Panthers finished up competition in Akron, Ohio, taking third-place for the second-straight season. Milwaukee concluded the meet with 632 points, Cleveland State was second with 675 and Wright State won its second-straight league title with 794 points. UIC placed fourth overall at the meet with 572 points, Green Bay was fifth with 545.5 and Valparaiso rounded out the field in sixth with 193.5. In addition to a repeat, the league crown for the Raiders was also their sixth in the past eight seasons. "It was great to see the kids battle all week," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "They went out and gave it a great effort." Gravengood was involved in one of the closest and most entertaining races of the night, setting a new school record in the 200 butterfly. The top three swimmers in the race finished within less than a half-second of each other (.47), with Wright State's Warren Thompson taking first in a new league record time of 1:47.93 and UIC's Andrew Schmitt second in 1:48.04. Gravengood was third in 1:48.40, lowering his own school record in the event which he set at 1:49.17 in 2006. "I thought Chase's swim was awesome ... just a great swim," Griffore said. "And the 400 free relay was a great race to end the meet." Sophomore PJ Rongitsch followed his second-place effort on the three-meter board with Second Team All-Horizon League honors on the one-meter as well. Rongitsch had a solid week, taking second on both boards to Male Diver of the Meet Dan Baiko of Cleveland State. Rongitsch recorded a point total of 291.70 in the event. Freshmen teammates Nick DeWitt and Josh Lindquist took 10th and 12th, respectively. DeWitt had a point total of 221.55 and Lindquist 204.80.
Senior Jeremy Seibel was the only Panther to swim in the 200 breaststroke but made it interesting with his attempt at the school record of 2:05.16 in the event. He went out in just over a minute and finished in 2:05.33. He missed Jared Sobszak's 1997 record by just 17-hundredths but did finish in fourth place overall. The Panthers finished three-four-five in the 1,650 freestyle, with junior Robby Leibold leading the way in third with a time of 16:00.56. Freshman Dan Heraly swam a season-best time of 16:11.81 to place fourth and junior David Adams posted a career-best time of 16:20.86 to take fifth. Milwaukee had plenty of swimmers in the scoring column of the 200 backstroke, with several career-bests set in a race that saw UWM place five in the top 11. Senior Tyler Jefferson was third in a career-best 1:50.47, topping his former mark of 1:52.74. Sophomore Jeremy Waldhart was fourth in 1:51.20, topping his previous best of 1:51.33. Senior Ross Bittner was eighth in 1:53.91, sophomore Dennis Knipfer 10th in a career-best 1:54.10 (1:55.62) and freshman Matt Kluczinske 11th in 1:54.33. The team of freshman Bill McCarty, Gravengood, Kalinowski and Jefferson closed out the meet with a fifth-place showing in the 400 freestyle relay in a season-best time of 3:03.25. Wright State won the event over UIC by just four-hundredths of a second. The Panthers were unable to place anyone in the top 16 of the 100 freestyle, with freshman Jake Kalinowski the top finisher in 17th in a season-best 46.78. Senior David Yugo did set a career-best, taking 19th overall in 47.09 to eclipse his career mark of 47.32. That concludes the season for the Panthers and Griffore, his second at Milwaukee. 2008 HORIZON LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING AWARD WINNERS Men's Newcomer of the Year : Deni Gasparin, Cleveland State MEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES |
