Dec. 5, 2003

Final Stats

WHEATON, Ill. - After nearly three weeks off, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther's swimming and diving teams are having early success with the swimmers closing out day one at the Wheaton Invitational and the divers finishing off day two at the Notre Dame Diving Invitational.

In Wheaton, Ill., the Panthers had record-setting races on the women's side and strong performances on the men's. The Panther women are currently in first with a team score of 547 points and the men find themselves in second with 458 points.

The UWM women's team had many strong performances throughout day one of the competition. Freshman Lindsay Caldwell had a strong showing by finishing second in the 100 breaststroke and in the 100 freestyle events. Caldwell's time of 1:06.51 in the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke set a new UWM freshman record. Lindsay also set the UWM freshman and school record in the 100 freestyle with her time of 52.66, breaking Kelly Goetsch's record times of 53.51 and 53.19. Later on in the day, Caldwell would team up with Bridget Fargen, Julie Olsen and Heather Sawatzki for a record setting performance in the 200 freestyle relay with a school record time of 1:38.74. The previous record was 1:38.83, set in 1989.

Joining in on the action for new records were Emily Holcomb and Julie Olson. Emily Holcomb placed first in the preliminary round for the 200 backstroke with a school record time of 2:07.21, breaking Panther assistant coach Heather Czappa's old record of 2:07.34. However, Holcomb's record didn't last long. Julie Olson broke the record in the finals by placing first with a time of 2:05.95.

The Panthers also received a top finish in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:58.98. Kari Kinney added second-place finishes in the 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly. Kinney added a third-place finish in the 200 IM. Rounding out the day, Sarah Caldwell added a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke and the Panthers second relay team took third in the 400 medley relay.

"Our women are really displaying their skills and I'm very happy with the performance they've shown," Panther head coach Dave Clark said. "We're usually down in team points going into the second day, but we're ahead and still have our best events coming up so it should be exciting."

The men's team currently finds themselves going into the Saturday in second, but had strong performances throughout the day.

Junior Michael Belting continues to become a strong distance swimmer by winning the 500 freestyle event with a time of 4:36.94. Senior captain Josh Baseheart swam a 45.25 in the 100 freestyle, finishing first in the event. Kyle Fyock added a second-place finish in the 200 IM and Ryan Frohmader added a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke, swimming a time of 1:57.47. Adding to the mix, were excellent performances in the relay department. Ryan Frohmader, Michael Belting, John Batty and Josh Baseheart all joined in to win the 800 freestyle relay. Fyock and Frohmader later teamed up with Tim Watt and Adam Steffes to finish second in the 200 freestyle relay, swimming a time of 1:24.38.

"The men had some great swims today," Clark noted. "We had some mental errors that stopped us from having some better finishes, but those are things that are all correctable. I really believe we'll have a great showing tomorrow to make up for some of those lapses."

The Panthers will return to action Saturday, December 6 with preliminaries set to start at 10 a.m. and the finals to start at 5:30 p.m.

The UWM Divers took part in day two of the Notre Dame Diving Invitational. Today's round featured only the men's 3-meter diving. Freshman Corey Kupfer led the way for the Panther by finishing seventh with 405.40 points. Sophomore Jeff Jasinowski placed 8th with 399.35 points. Joel Mauer, finishing 13th, and Kyle Luska, finishing 18th, rounded out the performance.

The Panther women divers will finish on the 1-meter board tomorrow at 1 p.m.