Banquet Caps Off 2003-04 Swimming and Diving Season
April 22, 2004 PEWAUKEE, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee swimming and diving program put a cap on the 2003-04 season with its end-of-the-year banquet. Held on Sunday, April 18 at the Western Lakes Golf Club, the program celebrated a successful year of swimming and diving in which the program saw nine women's school records fall, one men's school record and while qualifying two divers for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships (3/13). This year's banquet consisted of 10 awards including the team's Most Valuable Performer, Rookie of the Year, Diver of the Year and Most Improved. Captains Jen Kedinger and Josh Baseheart were the toast of the afternoon by being named the Most Valuable Performers for the program this year. Kedinger, a steady senior, owns the school's 1000-yard (10:37.26) and 1650-yard freestyle (17:41.69) records. Lindsay Caldwell and Matthew Howard captured Rookie of the Year award with solid first-year performances. Caldwell practically rewrote the school record books by setting three freshman records, five school records and two Klotsche Center Pool records. Howard didn't have such a bad year himself, registering 15 top-10 finishes during his freshman campaign. Three Panther divers shared the Diver of the Year award. Hannah Burgard, Erin Blemberg and Jeff Jasinowski all put together solid seasons to achieve the recognition. Burgard and Blemberg each qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships this season, while Jasinowski contributed with two first-place finishes and a third-place finish at the league championships (2/28). This year's Most Improved Athlete award was given to Julie Olson for the women, and Michael Belting on the men's side. Olson, who suffered through shoulder injuries last season, rebounded nicely to set two more school records. Belting also added a strong season by improving his time in the 500-yard freestyle by four seconds and writing his name under the 1000-yard freestyle in UWM's record books. Other award recipients on the day were Amanda Schmitt, Kyle Crow, Becky Rubel, Emily Holcomb, Becky Rubel, Justin O'Keefe, Kim Bach, Karl Winderl, Cathy Honeyager, Heather Sawatzki and John Batty. Schmitt and Crow were the recipients of the Captains' Award while Rubel, Holcomb and O'Keefe were given the Coaches' Award. Bach and Winderl were named the Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year by Chuck Serpa and Honeyager, Sawatzki, Batty and Jasinowski were given the team's Workhorse Award. Head coach Dave Clark took a moment to announce that UWM's men and women's swimming and diving team had been named Academic All-America by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. The Panther women finished with a team grade point average of 3.089 while the men added a GPA of 2.964. Following that, Clark announced the team's scholar athletes in Sarah Caldwell and Tim Watt. Both athletes have achieved a GPA over 3.7. The Senior Awards capped off the afternoon as the coaches gave a final thanks to Ben Creydt, Danielle Bradley, Kari Kinney, Kristin Lewis, Amanda Schmitt, Sarah Valley, Baseheart, O'Keefe, Caldwell, Kedinger and Rubel. "This years Seniors have meant a lot to the program," Clark said. "The women earned a conference championship, while the men gave UWM its first academic all america and first NCAA provisional standards. The classes and teams that follow will have the imprint of this class on them for a long time. This class set high standards for themselves and their team. It will sadden me to see them depart." UWM finished the year with the women finishing third in the Horizon League and the men finishing fifth.
2003-04 UWM Swimming and Diving Award Recipients Most Valuable Rookie of the Year Diver of the Year Most Improved Captains' Award Coaches' Award Strength and Conditioning Athlete Workhorse Award Scholar Athlete Senior Awards
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