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UWM Women Head To Chicago For Midwest Invitational

Panthers close out regular season schedule this weekend

Feb. 14, 2006

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team heads to Chicago, Ill., for the Midwest Invitational, its final meet of the 2005-06 regular season. Action starts at the two-day meet on Friday at 6 p.m.

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LOOKING AT THE WEEK AHEAD:
Milwaukee closes out the regular season slate with the Midwest Invitational at the University of Chicago. The event is an NCAA "Last Chance" meet that will feature up to 20 teams, but only a few swimmers per school. Teams currently scheduled to appear include the Panthers, Carroll College, College of DuPage, Grinnell, Marquette, Wheaton College, DePaul and IIT. The meet gets underway Friday at Myers-McLoraine Pool.

LAST YEAR:
Six swimmers led UWM to a fifth-place finish at the 11-team Midwest Invitational field a year ago, led by Katie Green and Jessica Thibodo-Johnson. Green won the 200 IM and 200 backstroke, while Thibodo-Johnson won the 1650 free for the second-straight season and placed third in both the 200 and 500 freestyle.

TRAVELING ROSTER:
Head coach Dave Clark will be taking a small squad of just three swimmers to the meet: junior Stephanie Karis and freshmen Amanda Joppe and Monica Loy will all be making the trip south.

LAST TIME OUT:
Senior Erin Blemberg won both diving events and junior Lindsay Caldwell recorded two victories and a second-place finish to lead the women in their home dual against UW-Green Bay Feb. 10. The Phoenix won the meet by a score of 143.5-99.5 to give Milwaukee its first dual meet loss since Nov. 12.

Blemberg dominated the diving action winning both boards with NCAA Zone Diving qualifying totals. She scored 279.90 points to win the one-meter event and 288.52 points on the three.

Caldwell won the 200 freestyle in 1:54.49 and the 100 freestyle in 52.61, easily outdistancing the field in both to extend her consecutive win streak to 26-straight races on the year. Amazingly enough, Green Bay's Allison Kreb (2:23.64) defeated Caldwell (2:29.28) in the 200 breaststroke near the end of the meet to end the long streak. The last time Caldwell had lost was Oct. 21, a span of nearly four months.

DIVING CLINIC AT UWM:
The divers have been strong this season, and last week was no different as UWM took the top three spots on the one-meter and 3-of-4 on the three-meter versus UWGB. Erin Blemberg, Emily Duesler and Crystal Szymanski hold the top three spots in the Horizon League in one-meter scoring and three of the top five on the three-meter board.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END:
Junior Lindsay Caldwell had her 26-race win streak snapped versus Green Bay Feb. 10 when she finished second in the 200 breaststroke. She does, however, still have win streaks going in these events: a nine-race win streak in the 50 free, eight-straight in the 100 free and five-consecutive in the 100 breaststroke. She holds the top time in the Horizon League in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 breaststroke, and has the third-best time in the league this season in the 200 breast.

A PANTHER "IN THE CROWD":
Caldwell also made national news recently, appearing in the Jan. 30 issue of Sports Illustrated as one of their "Faces In The Crowd".

ON TAP:
The team is set to compete in the Horizon League Championships Feb. 22-25.