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Panthers Take Second Place At Swimming & Diving Championships
Feb. 28, 2009
BROWN DEER - Senior Molly Finn won a league title in the 200 butterfly for the fourth-straight season and sophomore Danielle Wenger and freshman Sarah Wardecke each added their second league crowns of the meet to highlight the action of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team Saturday night at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center. The Panthers finished in second-place, with Green Bay capturing its fifth-consecutive Horizon League title at the 2009 Horizon League Championships. The Phoenix women won with a score of 859 points, followed by UWM with 737. Wright State University was third (564) and UIC fourth (546). Coming in fifth was Youngstown State University (300), followed by Cleveland State University (290), Valparaiso University (214) and Butler University (134). "It would have been nice to win and we were in it for a long while, but Green Bay is an amazing team right now," Panther head coach Erica Janssen said. "For us to compete with them like we did this year was really great. The future will be bright based on how our younger swimmers performed, but we are happy with the week and a move up from third place last year." Finn closed out her career in the 200 butterfly in style, winning the event for the fourth-straight season. That marks the first time a UWM swimmer has ever won four-consecutive league titles in one event in program history. She broke the school and league records - which she already held - in the preliminaries with a time of 2:02.63 (record was 2:03.79). That record lasted all of eight hours as she went 2:01.37 in the finals to reset it once again. "Molly is just one of those phenomenal people, you cannot describe how hard she works and how big her heat is and what she meant to the program," Janssen said. "To watch her win four-straight titles is something that just melts your heart. To do that for four years, when everyone is gunning for you, is just so hard to do."
Wenger defended her title in the 1650 freestyle, winning in a school-record time of 16:53.14. That topped the former mark that she set a year ago at this meet with 17:13.65. The league championship was her second of the meet (1000 free). At the end of the night, Wenger was also named league athlete of the year, just the second women to earn the award in program history (Lindsay Caldwell, 2006). Wardecke became the second Panther to claim a pair of league crowns, winning the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:17.86. She did that one better in the morning preliminaries, breaking the former league, school and freshman record of 2:19.82 set by Shannon Berndt in 2007 with a time of 2:16.73. "It was just phenomenal," Janssen said. "We knew Wardecke had the talent all year to do this. Wenger and Wardecke just work so hard. For Danielle to get the Athlete of the Year, she deserves it. You want to see those kids that work hard, never complain, try and do everything right ... you want to see them have success and they totally deserve everything they got this week." Joining in on the awards was senior Ashley Hall and sophomore Kelsey George, who were named Co-Divers of the Meet. Todd Hill was named the Women's Diving Coach of the Year, the fourth time in six years he has been tabbed for the honor. "I could not ask for much more," Hill said. "Everyone on the team had a very good meet. It is especially great when you can get two different conference champions in one meet. It will be a big loss to see Ashley move on, but I think the time that she had here at UWM has really set a precedent for the next ones coming through and really shows them how to work and how to become a champion." The team broke yet another record to close out the meet, with the squad of freshman Heidi Niespodzany, junior Bailey Nennig, Wenger and Wardecke taking second in the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:28.50. That broke the former standard of 3:28.93, set in 2006 by Lindsay Caldwell, Heather Sawatzki, Molly Finn and Jess Kelly. In the 100 freestyle, Niespodzany was eighth in a season-best 52.46, while sophomore Ellie Gross was 14th in a time of 53.53. Joining Wardecke in the finals of the 200 breast were juniors Nennig and Kerry Rossow. Nennig placed third in a career-best 2:20.21 and Rossow was sixth in 2:21.85. UWM added two more in the consolation heat, both in career-best times. Junior Ali Winius was 11th in 2:24.95 and freshman Taylor Jozwiak 13th in 2:27.79. Senior Kelsey McDonough swam in the consolation finals of the 200 fly, placing 13th in 2:10.78. All five women that swam in the mile set career-best times, with junior Alex Nelson coming in fifth when she knocked over 20 seconds off her former best time. Nelson touched the wall in 17:22.30 to beat her former mark of 17:42.07. Junior Jenny Westfall was 11th in 17:48.77 (career-best was 18:13.00), McDonough 12th in 17:49.28 (18:00.58) and freshman Maggie Pease took 17th overall in 18:35.16. The Panthers placed four women in the finals of the 200 backstroke, with freshman Danielle Chapman taking sixth in the championship heat. Her season-best time of 2:05.45 was just off the UWM freshman record of 2:05.01. In the consolation heat, senior Kristina Hansen was 10th in a career-best 2:08.77 (topping her former mark of 2:09.24), freshman Jennifer Schober 11th in 2:10.39 and Pease 16th in 2:13.72. 2009 HORIZON LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING AWARD WINNERS Women's Newcomer of the Year : Molley Pipkorn, Wright State WOMEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES |
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