Panther Women Drop Close League Meet To Wright State
Oct. 31, 2008
MILWAUKEE - Senior Molly Finn and freshman Sarah Wardecke each won two events to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team Friday night against Wright State University at the Klotsche Natatorium. Despite wins in six events, it was several close second-place finishes by the Panthers that eventually led to the 156-142 victory by the Raiders. Finn won both butterfly events and Wardecke took home victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle, setting a freshman record in the 100 free in the process. UWM also got individual wins from senior Ashley Hall and sophomore Kelsey George in both diving events, but WSU was able to edge out victories of less than a second in the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 IM to take the team victory. "I thought we swam very well overall tonight," UWM head coach Erica Janssen said. "It's tough to go up against a Wright State team that finished ahead of us at the league championships last year so early, but we competed hard and will look forward to getting them again in February. We had a lot of great swims tonight ... Sarah Wardecke, Molly Finn, Alex Nelson, Kelsey McDonough, Danielle Wenger ... everyone did a nice job."
After just missing school freshman marks in the 50 and the 100 in her first meet, Wardecke eclipsed Lindsay Caldwell's freshman mark of 52.64 in the 100 when she touched the wall in 52.25. She just missed the standard of 24.11 in the 50 as well, winning in 24.28. She had a great night overall, placing second in the 200 breast by six-hundredths when her time of 2:23.28 was topped by WSU's Hannah Jones in 2:23.22. Finn had a nice night in the pool as well, topping the field in the 100 fly in 58.59 and also taking the title in the 200 fly. She nearly made it three-for-three, taking second in the 200 IM by less than a second in 2:10.95 (Krystyna Wieczerzak won in 2:10.21). Milwaukee dominated the diving events, with Hall and George posting NCAA Zone-qualifying scores in both of their wins. Hall won the three-meter board with a total of 283.88 points, topping the zone standard of 280. Junior Rachel Grimm was second with 226.95. On the one-meter, George set a career-high with her point total of 269.03, eclipsing the NCAA score of 265. Hall was second with 252.15 and Grimm completed a solid night in third with 219.00. "Our diving team was just outstanding tonight," Janssen said. "For both of them to get zone scores was just a great accomplishment." Other top finishers for UWM included junior Kerry Rossow, sophomore Danielle Wenger and freshman Heidi Niespodzany. Rossow got touched-out in the 100 breast, with her time of 1:07.39 just behind the winning time of 1:07.30. Wenger had two second-place finishes on the night. One came in the 1000 free in a time of 10:32.49 and the other in the 200 backstroke. Niespodzany came four-hundredths of a second away from a win in the 200 free in a time of 1:55.51 and also took second in the 500 free. The team will not have much time to rest, as it is back in action tomorrow morning, hosting Wheaton College in an 11 a.m. dual meet at the Klotsche Natatorium. |
