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Panthers Look To Stay Perfect All-Time Against Valparaiso Saturday

Road trip to Indiana closes out November schedule

Nov. 19, 2008

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team closes out the month of November with yet another road trip, this time heading back to Indiana for a Saturday afternoon showdown at Valparaiso University. The Panthers and Crusaders will get action underway at 1 p.m., with UWM looking to keep its record against Valpo perfect all-time.

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SCOUTING THE MEET:
Milwaukee is 14-0 all-time against Valpo in a series that dates back to 1991. The Panthers have been in command in the series, not allowing VU to score more than 100 points in a dual since 1996.

First year head coach Howard Hunte takes over the Valparaiso program that finished in sixth place in the Horizon League one year ago. He returns seven letterwinners from last year's squad, including six of whom rank among Valpo's top-10 all-time in various events. He also has six freshmen, several of whom should make an immediate impact with the Crusader program. Adam Jajtner holds three individual school records in freestyle events and leads the way for the Crusaders.

They are 0-4 so far this season, falling to Wright State, 143-72, Nov. 15 in their only action since a 94-51 loss to Xavier Oct. 17.

LAST TIME IN THE POOL:
The men completed a near-perfect weekend in the pool on Saturday, winning all three dual meets in the second day of its weekend meet at IUPUI. The Panthers topped the host Jaguars, 90-21, defeated Saint Louis, 66-47, and also won against Xavier, 70-35. The two-day weekend meet featured two separate days of dual meets, with Milwaukee going 5-1 on the weekend to improve to 7-4 on the season. Friday, UWM recorded wins of 92-19 against IUPUI and 61-44 against Xavier, but fell, 58-55, to Saint Louis.

Sophomore Dan Heraly and freshman Sam Keele led the way with two individual wins each on the weekend. The Panthers also received first-place efforts from senior Andrew Belton, junior Jeremy Waldhart, freshman Jordan Diel and two relay teams.

LAST YEAR:
The men won all 16 events to defeat Valparaiso University, 186-77 to close out the 2007 portion of their schedule with four wins in their final five dual meets.

The list of multiple-event winners for Milwaukee included Chase Gravengood, Robby Leibold, Andrew Belton and Jeremy Waldhart. The victory moved UWM's all-time record against Valpo to a perfect 14-0. Other winners included both relay teams, PJ Rongitsch, Matt Kluczinske, Nick DeWitt, Bill McCarty and Jake Kalinowski.

Gravengood was the big winner, as the senior captain claimed three victories and put his name into the record book once again. He won the 100 butterfly in a season-best time of 50.78, eclipsing the former pool record of 50.87 set by Green Bay's Joey Weber in 2006. He swept the butterfly events with a time of 1:53.72 in the 200 fly and also claimed a first-place finish in the 400 IM in 4:07.17.

WINNING GETS CONTAGIOUS:
After going 5-1 at the IUPUI quad meet last week, the team is now 7-4 in dual meets on the season. The seven dual wins marks the most in a season since winning seven (7-4) during the 1998-99 season.

THE "STUDENT"-ATHLETE
Junior Jeremy Waldhart was named the U.S. Army Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week, the league office announced Nov. 7. It marked the second time he has been selected for the honor in his career.

In the classroom, he carries a 3.95 GPA as a business major and has been named to the Dean's List every semester. In addition, he has been selected for the Academic Winter All-Horizon League team and was named ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-District last spring.

UP NEXT:
Milwaukee closes out the semester slate with a weekend road trip to the Falcon Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn., December 5-6. The meet is hosted by UW-River Falls.