Milwaukee Remains In Third Heading Into Final Day Of League ChampionshipsFeb. 24, 2006
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Freshman Molly Finn won a league championship with a school-record performance in the 400 IM and the 800 freestyle relay team also set a school record to highlight the efforts of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team on Friday at the Horizon League Championships. UW-Green Bay surged into the lead on day three with 563 points, moving from 41.5 points down to 22 points ahead of yesterday's leader, Wright State (541). Milwaukee remains with a firm hold on third place with 452 points, while UIC (332.5), Cleveland State (241.5), Youngstown State (144) and Butler (108) round out the leaderboard. "If you remember back to the Bill Ritter Invitational [where UWM overcame a near 100-point deficit to beat UW-Green Bay Jan. 20-21], our last day is better," head coach Dave Clark said. "They've (UWGB) got some real good 100-strokers and put three in the finals of the 100 breast and back. When we won the Bill Ritter, we came back on the last day ... we're not out of this yet." Finn shattered the school record in winning a league title in the 400 IM, coming in at 4:28.32, knocking over five seconds off the Milwaukee record of 4:33.41 that she set earlier this season. She took the lead in the breaststroke and widened the gap over UW-Green Bay's Danielle DeGrand in the freestyle to pull away. Junior Heather Sawatzki swam in the consolation heat, placing 10th in a season-best time of 4:42.77. "She was awesome," Clark said of Finn. "It was just a great race from start to finish. She was very controlled and knew just when to make her move." The 800 freestyle relay team of junior Lindsay Caldwell, Finn and sophomores Kristin Skiba and Jess Kelly finished in 7:42.00, breaking the old mark of 7:42.99 set in 2001. They nearly eclipsed the league championship record of 7:39.41 as well. Unfortunately for them, Green Bay and Wright State did just that, as the Phoenix won in 7:37.23 and the Raiders were second in 7:37.54.
Caldwell nearly had her second title of the championships, settling for second place in the 100 breaststroke. Caldwell and UW-Green Bay's Allison Kreb battled it out in neighboring lanes the entire way, with Kreb (1:04.69) touching out Caldwell (season-best 1:04.81) at the wall. Sophomore Briana Fergusson swam in the consolation heat, placing 14th in a time of 1:13.28. The UWM women had four swimmers in the finals of the 100 butterfly, with senior Julie Olson the top finisher at third with a season-best time of 58.54. Fergusson took sixth in 1:00.14, while junior Katie Green placed seventh in 1:00.25. Junior Breanna Ballweg was in the consolation heat, taking 13th in a time of 1:01.19. The Panthers also had four in the finals of the 200 freestyle, with Kelly placing sixth in the championship heat with a season-best time of 1:55.87. Three others swam in the consolation heat, with Skiba placing 11th (1:56.87), sophomore Heidi Goetsch 14th (1:57.41) and junior Bridget Fargen 16th (1:58.20). The times by Skiba and Goetsch were both season-bests. In the 100 backstroke, Olson was the top Panther finisher, taking third in a time of 58.07. Green took second in the consolation heat, placing 10th overall in a time of 1:01.79. The Horizon League Championships will conclude Saturday with the Panthers in search of their second league title in program history. Preliminaries begin at 10:30 a.m. EST and finals at 6 p.m. EST. |
