Milwaukee Men Head To Cleveland For Horizon League Championships
Feb. 18, 2008
Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 20-23 • Horizon League Championships The 2008 Horizon League Championships are next on the schedule for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team. The event will take place at Robert F. Busbey Natatorium on the campus of Cleveland State, starting Wednesday morning and concluding Saturday evening. Complete Release in PDF Format
SCOUTING THE MEET: HL Preview: On the men's side, last year's Swimmer of the Meet, Scott Lang of Wright State, returns after sweeping the 500, 1000, and 1650-yard freestyles last year. Lang's effort paced the raiders to the 2007 team title, WSU's fifth League crown in the last seven years. Cleveland State's Jakub Dobies, who was named the 2007 Newcomer of the Year, will also return after setting two Horizon League records at last year's championship in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events. Other top swimmers to watch include Chase Gravengood of Milwaukee, and Warren Thompson of Wright State, each of whom currently leads the League in two individual events. The schedule looks like this: Swimming Preliminaries: For more information: Also, new this year, the Horizon League will be providing fans that can't make the trip to Cleveland a chance to watch the action. The Horizon League Network (www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv) will be webcasting live coverage of the finals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-23), with coverage beginning at approximately 6 p.m. eastern each night. Sign up to watch for free. Registration is easy and takes just a few minutes. LAST TIME IN THE POOL: Gravengood helped lead one-two-three UWM finishes with wins in the 200 IM and the 200 butterfly while also helping the 400 medley relay team a win to open the meet. His time of 1:54.06 led the way in the 200 IM, with senior Jeremy Seibel second in 1:58.16, touching out freshman Matt Kluczinske, who was third in 1:58.50. Gravengood finished the 200 fly in 1:53.22, with junior Robby Leibold second in 1:57.02 and freshman Dan Heraly third in 1:57.69. Rongitsch added to his already impressive season, winning both boards against UWGB, including an NCAA Zone-qualifying total on the one-meter board. His winning totals were 308.48 on the one-meter and 295.80 on the three, giving him eight total wins on the year. Kalinowski stepped up big in the victory, grabbing two individual wins to go along with a spot on the winning 400 medley relay squad. He won the 50 freestyle in 21.73, the 100 freestyle in 47.49 and teamed with seniors Tyler Jefferson, Seibel and Gravengood for the victory in the 400 medley relay in 3:29.16. Other winners for UWM included Leibold (1,000 free), sophomore Jeremy Waldhart (200 back), Seibel (200 breaststroke) and the 400 free relay team. The Panthers won 11 of 13 events on the afternoon to extend their current win streak to five-straight, and six of seven on the season. LAST YEAR: Going from fifth to third in just one season was a complete team effort for the UWM men. To compare, the Panthers had 23 swimmers and divers in the finals of the championship events last year. Two years ago they had only 16. Chase Gravengood won two Horizon League titles and missed a third by five-hundredths of a second. He repeated in the 200 IM (school-record 1:50.06) and the 200 butterfly, but was touched out (49.64 to 49.69) in the 100 fly. In the 200 medley relay, Gravengood, Cody Smith, Ross Bittner and Tyler Jefferson finished in a time of 1:32.97 to establish a school record. That broke the former mark of 1:32.99 that was established in 1999. Other top finishers for the men included Jefferson (50 free consolation winner, third in 200 back, fourth in 100 back) and Robby Leibold (third in 1650 free, sixth in 1000 free). LEADING THE WAY: Junior Robby Leibold is also having a very strong campaign and currently holds top times in the Horizon League in the 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle and the second-fastest time in the 500 free. He has a staggering 19 wins and eight second-place finishes in 30 races on the year. Sophomore Jeremy Waldhart has 10 wins on the year as part of 19 top-three finishes overall and set a new Klotsche Natatorium record in the 200 back against Green Bay. He holds the top league time in the 200 back - an event he currently holds an eight-race win streak in. Junior Andrew Belton has been contributing in his first season at UWM as well, recording three victories and 11 top-five finishes in sprint events. GETTING IT TOGETHER: POLL TIME AGAIN: WHAT "SOPHOMORE SLUMP"?: He now has eight victories, four second-place finishes, and four third-place finishes this season, finishing out of the top three just once in 17 attempts. He holds the top score in the Horizon League on the one-meter and is second on the three-meter heading into the championships this week. UP NEXT:
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