Feb. 4, 2004

MILWAUKEE -

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

University of Wisconsin Double-Dual Meet
Location: UW Natatorium (Madison, Wis.)
Teams: UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay and Wisconsin
Date: Friday, Feb. 6, 2004
Time: 5:00 p.m.

Heading For The Capitol
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's swimming and diving program will head to the state capitol on Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 to compete in the University of Wisconsin Double-Dual meet. The Panthers will be taking on the host Badgers and the Phoenix from UW-Green Bay in a double-dual format. The Panther men and women have never defeated the Badgers in a dual meet, but the Panther women edged out the Phoenix for a win in the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational (1/24). The Panther men gave the Phoenix all they could handle and finished second behind them in at the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational.

Panthers Take It To Western Illinois
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's swimming and diving team has looked pretty solid all year long and that seems to be building a lot of confidence within the team. The Panther women have not lost a meet since the double dual meet (11/8/03) and the men continue to finish in the top tier of every meet they compete in. Saturday was no different from the rest of the season as the Panthers rode that confidence into Macomb, Ill. and drove out with even more after claiming a 145-94 victory on the women's side and a 138-101 victory on the men's side.

"Today's meet was a really good meet for us," Panther head coach Dave Clark said. "It was their senior day, their parents were all there and it was really important for us to make sure we swam the way we are capable to take a victory."

A victory it was. The Panther women, coming off a victory at the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational (1/24), swam away with nine first-place finishes during the meet. The group of Lindsay Caldwell, Sarah Caldwell, Kari Kinney and Heather Sawatzki claimed a win in the 400-yard medley relay (4:07.78), Amanda Schmitt swam to victories in the 500 (5:20.40) and 1000-yard freestyle (10:51.18), and Crystal Szymanski won on both the 1-meter (218.76 pts.) and 3-meter (231.38 pts.) diving boards. Kinney added two more individual wins with victories in the 200-meter individual medley (2:15.61) and the 200-meter butterfly (2:11.57). Lindsay Caldwell also swam to a victory in the 50-yard freestyle (25.43). With all the wins, it's hard for performers to stand out, but Panther senior Amanda Schmitt and her two victories seem to be raising her confidence and performances.

"Amanda Schmitt swam out of her mind in the 1650-meter freestyle last weekend in the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational and she's suddenly taking it to another level," Clark said. "Amanda has always been a solid swimmer for us, but it's great to see her coming on like this in her final season. It's a great way to wind off a good career."

The UWM men's swimming and diving team are in the process of ensuring that other teams keep them in the back of their minds. After just falling short of a huge comeback in last weekend's Bill Ritter Memorial Invite, the men seem took that sour feeling and turned it into 11 event victories against the Leathernecks.

The men got started when the combination of Ryan Frohmader, Kyle Fyock, Rob Vergeer and Adam Steffes swam to a victory in the 400-yard medley relay (3:39.46). Frohmader also added a victory in the 200-meter backstroke (2:01.05), Fyock added another in the 200-yard individual medley (2:03.30) and Vergeer tallied a win in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.59). Michael Belting and Josh Baseheart continued their own version of dominant swimming with Belting claiming wins in the 200 (1:45.30) and 500-yard freestyle (4:43.92) events while Baseheart swam to victories in the 50 (21.66) and 100 freestyle (47.03) events. Freshman Dana Elzea also joined the mix of wins with his winning time in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:24.40) while Joel Mauer claimed a win on the 1-meter diving board (206.75 pts.) and Corey Kupfer won the 3-meter diving board (219 pts.). Overall, there's nothing like a win.

"A dual meet victory is great especially when it's on the road," Clark said. "We need to keep getting better and better to really make a serious run from now until the end of the year."

Business As Usual
The UWM Panther divers have been quietly going about their business in the last couple of months. It's almost as if they've fallen off the radar screen. However, it's just business as usual for the Panther divers in that they just keep quietly taking care of business. After competing in the Notre Dame Diving Invitational on Dec. 4-6, 2003, the divers caravaned to Florida with the swimmers for a winter training session. After what seemed to be a long layover of major competition, the high-flyers returned fresh and strong to compete in the diving portion of the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational.

Sophomore Jeff Jasinowski scored two second-place finishes during the competition. Jasinowski scored 230.80 points on the 1-meter board and tallied another 387.00 points on the 3-meter board. Freshmen Joel Mauer and Corey Kupfer also added points on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Mauer placed sixth with 205.45 points on the 1-meter board and added an eighth-place finish while Kupfer finished seventh on the 3-meter board.

Senior co-captain Becky Rubel led the way for the women divers by placing second on the 3-meter board with a score of 397.30 and third on the 1-meter board by tallying 216.30 points. Senior Hannah Burgard added a fourth-place finish on the 1-meter board while Erin Blemberg finished sixth and placed fourth on the 3-meter board with 392.00 points. Crystal Szymanski placed seventh for the Panthers on the 3-meter board with 361.80 points.

"Our divers really push each other," Head coach Dave Clark said. "All of them are strong and each makes a case at every meet to be the top diver."

Diving In
Jeff Jasinowski won the Diver of the Year award after finishing seventh on both 1m and 3m at the league championships, despite missing a good portion of the season due to injury. He is back to lead a strong group of divers in 2003-04. Hannah Burgard was named Diver of the Year for the women after picking up a pair of top-three finishes at the league championships. Burgard was third on 1m and second on 3m, the highest finishes by a Panther diver at the meet.

Last Year At The Championships
The UWM men finished fourth at last year's Horizon League Championships in Cleveland, while the UWM women claimed a 3rd-place finish. At the championships, five school records, two freshman records and one Horizon League record were set by the Panthers. The Panthers lose just seven seniors from the two squads that competed at the championships a year ago.

Smart Kids
Three Panthers were named Academic All-District last season by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Peter Clark, who completed his eligibility last season, was joined by senior Josh Baseheart and Sarah Caldwell on the team. The only other Panther recognized with this distinction is now-assistant coach Heather Czappa, who was academic all-district in 1999.

Academics Are A Team Effort
The UWM men's and women's swimming and diving teams were named Academic All-American by the College Swim Coaches Association of America this past spring. This marks the 29th-consecutive semester the women's team has made the list, while the men's team made the list for the fourth-straight semester. The women's team finished the spring semester with a cumulative grade point average of 3.021, placing them 60th in Division I. UIC and Wright State also made the list out of the Horizon League. The men's team tied with Alabama for 15th among all Division I schools, posting a grade point average of 3.083.

Up Next
Coming up, the Panthers will head to two weeks of workouts before heading off to Chicago, Ill. for the 2003-04 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships. The championships are slated to be held at the University of Illinois-Chicago with start times yet to be anounced.