|
Milwaukee Women In Position For Run At League Title
Feb. 27, 2009
BROWN DEER - Sophomore Kelsey George and freshman Sarah Wardecke each won league titles to highlight the action of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team Friday at the 2009 Horizon League Championships. Records continue to fall for the Panthers, who did drop to second place overall, but are still in position to challenge the four-time defending champion in the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for a league title tomorrow. Milwaukee has a point total of 534 after three days, while the Phoenix jumped ahead at 622. Wright State University has 411 in third, UIC is next at 404, Cleveland State University fifth at 214, Youngstown State University sixth with 197, Valparaiso University seventh with 152 and Butler University next with 99. "We expected to be down a bit, given the strong day we knew Green Bay was lined up for events-wise," UWM head coach Erica Janssen said. "We still feel very confident about our potential tomorrow and know that finishing in the top two at this meet will be a great accomplishment." George moved from third in the preliminaries up to a league championship in the finals, topping the field with a career-best, NCAA zone-qualifying score of 280.45 that was less than four points off the league record of 284.00. George led the UWM contingent, as four more made the finals tonight. Senior Ashley Hall was third (245.80), sophomore Lauren Roy fifth (227.70), junior Rachel Grimm sixth (218.70) and freshman Morgan Hearn rounded out the efforts with a 12th-place showing in the consolation round (186.80).
Wardecke stole the show in the 100 breaststroke, claiming a Horizon League title with a new league record time of 1:02.49. She actually broke it the first time in the morning prelims as well with a time of 1:03.19. That broke the former standard of UWM's Shannon Berndt, who went 1:03.81 in 2007. The amazing thing about the accomplishment is that Wardecke had only competed in the race twice during the course of the regular season (winning both). It also set new Milwaukee school and freshman marks. "She was kind of our secret weapon," Janssen said. "It was just an awesome swim and a very impressive race considering how few times she swam it during the season." Junior Bailey Nennig added a second-place showing in the 400 IM, with the winner (Wright State's Krystyna Wieczerzak) breaking the Horizon League record in 4:20.85. Nennig's runner-up time was 4:26.94, while she broke the school record in the preliminaries, taking over two seconds off Molly Finn's 2008 standard of 4:28.32 when she touched the wall in 4:26.05. Junior Ali Winius also had a spot in the championship heat, placing seventh in a time of 4:36.86. That broke her career-best of 4:39.76. Freshman Jennifer Schober swam in the consolation finals, placing 13th overall with a career-best time of 4:40.71. Finn came up less than a second away from a league crown in the 100 butterfly, taking third in 55.95. Her time of 55.94 in the prelims broke the school record, which Finn already held at 57.87 set earlier this season. Not to be outdone was the 800 freestyle relay team of sophomore Ellie Gross, Nennig, sophomore Danielle Wenger and freshman Heidi Niespodzany, as they combined to smash the school record in the event with a time of 7:32.15. That broke the former mark of 7:39.78 (Ogle, Wenger, Finn, Gross; 2008) and was good enough for third place on the night. In the 200 freestyle, the women had three in the championship finals. Gross was the top finisher, taking fifth in a career-best time of 1:52.80. Right behind was Niespodzany in sixth with a time of 1:54.24. Earlier in the day, Niespodzany lowered her Milwaukee freshman record in the race to 1:53.57. Senior Kristina Hansen was also in the last heat, placing eighth in 1:54.94. Junior Kerry Rossow also had a spot on the championship heat, placing sixth in 1:05.06. The Panthers placed just two in the 100 backstroke and they both competed in the consolation heat. Freshman Jennifer Schober was 14th in 1:00.53 while Hansen was 15th in 1:00.72. The championship concludes Saturday with the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, men's three-meter diving and 400 freestyle relay. Day Three Women's Team Totals: Green Bay 622 |
|
