Feb. 25, 2009

Results

BROWN DEER - Senior Ashley Hall and sophomore Danielle Wenger each claimed a league championship to lead the way for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team Wednesday night at the 2009 Horizon League Championships. After day one at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center, the Panthers lead the meet with 180 points, followed by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in second-place with 111 points.

Wright State University sits in third (120), UIC fourth (111), Youngstown State University fifth (69), Cleveland State University sixth (58), Valparaiso University seventh (48) and Butler University (44) rounds out the field in eighth.

Records fell in nearly every event, as UWM saw school marks in the 1000 freestyle, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay and 500 free get broken on the night.

Wenger repeated as the Horizon League champion in the 1000 freestyle in record-breaking fashion, setting new conference and league records in the race with a time of 10:06.65. That broke the conference championship record of 10:16.60 set by Catalina Martinez (2005) and also bettered the all-time league mark of 10:14.43 that Wenger set earlier this season.

Her split time in the first 500 of the race of 4:57.23 also broke the record which she set earlier this month of 5:04.01.

"Danielle Wenger's 1000 free was just unbelievable and amazing," Milwaukee head coach Erica Janssen said. "Everything has really come together for her this year and she had a phenomenal swim. She works hard, she trains hard ... she deserves it."

Hall led the diving contingent with a league title on the three-meter board, topping the field with 295.90 points. UWM placed first, third, fifth, sixth and ninth in the event to help propel it to the lead.

"I feel really good about where we are today, especially with the amazing performance by the diving team," Janssen said. "Every diver was `on' and that is why we have the lead we do."

Hall topped her previous season-high of 293.10 to place first, easily beating the 277.05 point-total of last year's champ, Green Bay's Lauren McGraw, who placed second.

"This was the way Ashley was supposed to finish her three-meter career," UWM diving coach Todd Hill said. "She had the meet of her life. To go 1-3-5-6-9 overall, you cannot ask for more. We scored a lot of points for the team tonight and it was a great start."

In addition to Hall, sophomore Kelsey George was third (274.70), junior Rachel Grimm fifth (241.65), sophomore Lauren Roy sixth (240.70) and freshman Morgan Hearn ninth (208.20).

Despite placing third, the Panthers' 200 medley relay team of Wenger, junior Kerry Rossow, senior Molly Finn and freshman Sarah Wardecke broke the school mark with a time of 1:44.88, eclipsing the former standard of 1:46.35 set at last year's championship (Wenger, Rossow, Am. Nelson, Kelly).

The 200 freestyle relay team of Wardecke and freshman Danielle Chapman, sophomore Ellie Gross and junior Bailey Nennig also placed third, less than a half-second behind second place. Their time of 1:35.33 was also good enough for a school record, toppling the time of 1:35.56 set back in 2007 (L. Caldwell, M. Skiba, Edwards, Kelly). Green Bay won the event with a league-record time of 1:32.59.

"The women's relays did not finish at the top tonight but we broke school records," Janssen said. "What more can you ask for than to go lower than any time before in school history?"

Also in the 1000, junior Alex Nelson was sixth in 10:28.18, which was almost 10 seconds faster than her previous career-best time of 10:37.20. Junior Jenny Westfall was ninth in 10:33.28, three seconds lower than her previous-best of 10:36.22. Senior Kelsey McDonough also topped her career-best of 10:45.63 with a 15th-place effort of 10:38.94.

The championship continues Thursday with the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 400 medley relay and the men's one-meter diving event.