Caldwell Wins 50 Freestyle At League Championships For Third-Straight YearFeb. 22, 2007
CHICAGO, Ill. - League titles from senior Lindsay Caldwell and the 400 medley relay team highlighted the performance of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team Thursday at the Horizon League Championships in Chicago, Ill. Caldwell defended her title in the 50 freestyle, while the relay team won by just six-hundredths of a second to keep UWM in second place overall. Wright State continues to lead at the midway point with 324.5 points. Milwaukee is a close second with 313.5; UW-Green Bay is third with 294 and UIC fourth at 210. Cleveland State (97), Youngstown State (97) and Butler (55) round out the field. "We are having a lot of fun so far," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "The girls swam awesome and we had a great day. Down 11 is great - that means we outscored everyone today." Caldwell won the league championship in the 50 freestyle for the third-straight season. Her time of 23.37 also gave her an NCAA "B" cut in the race for the third year in a row as well. Junior Jess Kelly was also in the championship heat, taking sixth in 24.28 after setting a career-best in the preliminaries at 24.00. Milwaukee finished one-two in the consolation heat as well, with freshmen Jamilla Edwards and Megan Skiba touching the wall in season-best times to take eighth (Edwards in 24.70) and ninth (Skiba in 24.77). In the closest finish of the night, Milwaukee's 400 medley relay team of sophomore Kristina Hansen, freshman Shannon Berndt, sophomore Molly Finn and Caldwell claimed a league title in 3:51.89, less than a second off of the school record of 3:51.09. They beat UW-Green Bay (3:51.95) by the slimmest of margins.
"Lindsay swam un unbelievable anchor to come back and win that relay," Griffore said. "It was great to see that." Finn earned second team all-league honors in the 200 IM for the second-straight season, taking second in a season-best time of 2:07.46. Berndt helped out as well, knocking over three seconds off her season-best, taking fifth in 2:08.27. The Panthers had the top two finishers in the consolation heat of the 200 IM, with freshman Bailey Nennig winning the heat in a season-best 2:12.00 and senior Heather Sawatzki taking 10th in 2:12.61. Junior Emma McKeith was UWM's lone representative in the finals of the 500 freestyle, finishing in eighth in a season-best time of 5:07.86. Senior Susan Harmsen also scored for Milwaukee in the event, taking 10th in a career-best 5:09.96, knocking exactly four seconds off her previous-best. Day three of the championships takes place Friday, with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m. |
