Panthers Finish In Third Place At Horizon League Championships
Feb. 23, 2008 AKRON, Ohio - Junior Molly Finn and freshman Danielle Wenger each won league titles on Saturday to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming and diving team to a third-place finish at the Horizon League Championships in Akron, Ohio. The Panthers finished with 732 points, behind Wright State at 771 and 2008 league champion Green Bay with 832. UIC finished the championship meet in fourth place with 393 points, Youngstown State fifth with 295 points, Valparaiso sixth with 260, Cleveland State seventh with 187 and Butler in eighth at 143. The team title for the Phoenix was the fourth-consecutive. "It was great to see the kids battle all week," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "They went out and gave it a great effort." Finn won the Horizon League title in the 200 butterfly for the third-straight season, this time setting a new school and league record with her winning time of 2:03.79. That eclipsed the league standard of 2:04.45 by Brittiany Czoch in 2005 and lowered her own school mark in the event that she set in 2006. She became just the second-ever UWM women's swimmer to win three-consecutive league titles, joining Lindsay Caldwell on that short list. Senior Briana Fergusson added a ninth-place showing of 2:12.37, freshman Amanda Nelson was 11th in 2:13.08 and junior Kelsey McDonough was 14th in 2:13.80. Wenger earned her second league title of the week when she smashed the school record in the 1,650 freestyle. Her time of 17:13.65 topped Susan Harmsen's school-record effort from 2007 of 17:31.71 by over 18 seconds. It was a great race for Wenger, who overtook last year's champ - Catalina Martinez of Wright State - early in the race and then jumped ahead of UIC's Kelly Hashoian at the 9:22 mark. She then held off a late charge by WSU's Cara Briggs to set the mile record and earn the crown.
"Molly and Danielle both had great swims," Griffore said. "I was very happy to see it because they deserved it." Three of Wenger's teammates also scored in the mile, with McDonough and sophomores Alex Nelson and Jenny Westfall all setting career-best times. Nelson placed ninth in 17:42.07, Westfall 11th in 17:48.38 and McDonough 14th in 18:00.58. It took a new Horizon League record to spoil what would have been another one-two finish by sophomores Kerry Rossow and Shannon Berndt in a breaststroke event. Wright State's Jessica Weidert won her third event of the week with a new league mark of 2:18.63 in the 200 breast. Rossow earned second team all-conference honors in the race for the second-straight season, touching the wall in a career-best time of 2:20.33 (topping her previous best of 2:20.92). Berndt was right behind in third, finishing in 2:21.52. Sophomore Bailey Nennig was seventh, recording a time of 2:25.89. The Milwaukee women dominated the top 10 in the three-meter diving event, taking third place as well as fifth through ninth. Junior Ashley Hall was the top finisher, taking third with 236.30 points. Sophomore Rachel Grimm (fifth place, 226.90 points), senior Megan McLoone (sixth, 218.70) and freshmen Kelsey George (seventh, 217.10), Lauren Roy (eighth, 214.40) and Michelle Kornder (ninth, 198.30) rounded out the list. Senior Jess Kelly paced Milwaukee in the 100 freestyle, setting a new career-best time in taking fourth. She touched the wall in 52.33 to break her former mark of 52.60. Senior Heidi Goetsch also set a new career mark with her 53.55 clocking, breaking her former best of 53.58 to take 15th. Freshman Ellie Gross finished 16th in 54.43. Junior Kristina Hansen was the lone Panther to compete in the 200 backstroke, taking 10th in 2:11.61. Wenger also exhibitioned in the event, just missing the freshman record of 2:07.72 with her time of 2:07.81. In the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay team of freshman Kelsey Ogle, Wenger, Goetsch and Kelly took fifth in a season-best time of 3:32.40. The championship meet concludes the season for UWM, the second for Griffore. 2008 HORIZON LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING AWARD WINNERS Women's Newcomer of the Year : Krystyna Wieczerzak, Wright State WOMEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES |
