Feb. 27, 2004

Results

CHICAGO, Ill. -

Friday night's finals for the 2004 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships have concluded at the UIC Natatorium. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther women are in third (434 pts.) while the men dropped to fifth (332 pts.). Wright State currently leads the women's team standings (542.50) and leads the men's team standings (520 pts.)

Kicking off the finals, Kari Kinney (4:37.98) swam to a sixth-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley. Danielle Bradley (4:40.80) and Justin O'Keefe (4:14.50) claimed first in the consolation heat of the 400 IM for the women and men. In the 100-yard butterfly Julie Olson (58.74) finished seventh in the finals for the women. Rob Vergeer (50.63) finished eighth in the finals for the men. Next on the slate was the 200-yard freestyle.

Upon completion of the women's finals, senior Jen Kedinger (1:55.96) finished eighth. For the men, Josh Baseheart (1:43.44) and Tim Watt (1:44.27) closed out the men's 200-yard freestyle by finishing fifth and seventh. The next event was the 100-yard breaststroke. Freshman Lindsay Caldwell (1:06.36) placed the highest by finishing third while her sister Sarah Caldwell (1:07.90) finished seventh in the finals. Kyle Fyock (58.20) paced the way for the men by finishing fourth in the finals.

The final two events to wrap up the Friday night finals were the 100-yard backstroke and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Julie Olson paced the way for UWM in the women's 100-yard backstroke finals. Olson (57.78) finished third in the event and broke her own school record (57.81) with her time. Emily Holcomb (1:00.29) came in third for the consolation championship. In the men's consolation championship for the 100-yard backstroke, Matt Howard (53.36) and Ryan Frohmader (53.47) claimed first and second. In the 800-yard freestyle, the combination of Sarah Valley, Bridget Fargen, Holcomb and Kedinger (7:50.17) finished third. The men's combination of Watt, Frohmader, Baseheart and Michael Belting (6:53.81) finished fifth.

"We didn't swim our best on the men's side tonight," Panther head coach Dave Clark said. "Tomorrow could bring different results. I have a feeling that the women will make it a close race for second, but we will have to let it all play out."

Earlier on in the afternoon, the diving session consisted of the men's 1-meter diving and the women's 3-meter diving preliminary flights. In the men's 1-meter competition, sophomore Jeff Jasinowski (241.35) finished sixth and will represent the Panthers in the finals. In the women's 3-meter competition, the Panthers will have four competitors to cover the field of eight. Erin Blemberg (433.55), Hannah Burgard (420.35), Crystal Szymanski (413.05) and Becky Rubel (395.55) finished second, third, fifth and eighth to catapult themselves into the finals.

"I can't say enough about the divers and their performances," Panther diving coach Todd Hill said. "All of the divers have just been doing a fantastic job and are making the most of every dive."

The championships final preliminary round will start Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. with the women's 200-yard backstroke set to lead things off.