Feb. 28, 2004

Complete Results

CHICAGO, Ill. - The 2004 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Saturday night at the campus of Illinois-Chicago. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women closed out the finals by finishing third overall (676 pts.) while the men finished fifth (494 pts.) Wright State was crowned this year's champion by sweeping the women and men's competition.

The Panther women had some encouraging performances in the championships' final night with Hannah Burgard, Julie Olson, Kari Kinney and Jen Kedinger leading the way. Burgard scored the highest finish in the finals for the Panther women by finishing second (431.95) on the 3-meter diving board. Olson (2:06.52) finished third in the 200-yard backstroke while Patricia Frank (2:07.06) placed fourth. Kinney (2:09.10) also scored a third-place finish for the Panther with her efforts in the 200-yard butterfly. Heather Sawatzki placed sixth in the event. Kedinger led the way for the Panthers in the mile by finishing fourth (17:46.96).

The Panther women had another bright spot on the night from freshman Lindsay Caldwell. Caldwell took home the consolation championships in the 100-yard freestyle, but more importantly swam to a school record time (52.64). Caldwell broke her own record (52.66) in the event which she set earlier this year.

"I really felt our women did well," Panther head coach Dave Clark said. "We have a good core of athletes coming back next year and that's definitely something to look forward to."

While the Panther men saw their team standing drop from fourth-place after the second day to finish in fifth, but had a few good performances during the final day. Michael Belting (16:11.04) finished fourth in the mile while Kyle Fyock (2:06.14) finished fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke. Josh Baseheart and Adam Steffes finished sixth and eighth in the 100-yard freestyle to close out the performances.

"It's tough to win a meet when you're top swimmers are having a hard time," Clark said. "We needed a few different finishes during the week to make this meet a different story for us. Either way, it's in the past and we'll just look to move on."

The Panthers finish off the 2004 championships with having broken five school records (four women's records and one men's) throughout the event.