Milwaukee Women Head To Madison For Season Opener
Oct. 9, 2007
Oct. 12 • at Wisconsin Badgers The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team begins the 2007-08 season with a dual against Big Ten competition this weekend. The Panthers and Wisconsin Badgers will hit the pool Friday, starting at 5 p.m. in Madison. LAST YEAR ON TAP 2007-08 UWM Women's Season Preview After being in contention until the final event of the league championships a year ago, and scoring the most points at the event in the history of the program, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team will have high hopes for its first league championship since the 2000-01 season.
The women broke eight records in February: two Horizon League, four school and two freshman records fell at the event. The team claimed 10 league championships, with Lindsay Caldwell leading the way with four titles (three individual/one relay). Replacing her contributions to the team (13 league titles/16 school or league records in her career) will be one of the challenges this year, but UWM head coach Dave Griffore thinks this team will be up to the task. "I think for us to be in the championship meet the whole time last year was phenomenal," Griffore said. "Coming into this year, we are already a much better program. We brought in a great freshmen class and we have a great group of returners. But more importantly, because of how well they did last year, they now believe that they can win. Because of that, they are already striving harder on their goals. I think the experience helps a tremendous amount." Besides Caldwell, the Panthers also graduated their two top divers in Crystal Szymanski and Emily Duesler, as well as Heather Sawatzki and Susan Harmsen. "This gives others a chance to step up," Griffore said. "The underclassmen and freshmen have an opportunity to fill some shoes. They don't need to be those people, but they need to step up in ways that can help the program. Bringing in our first class, we are excited to see who that is going to be. From a team standpoint, it's not just one person that wins it for you and we know that. We feel we have a strong core of kids and more depth than we did last year." SPRINTS "I think Jess Kelly is going to emerge as the leader - she is the fastest returner," Griffore said. "We don't have a very deep sprint group, but do have Megan Skiba and Jamilla Edwards coming back. The one I am not sure what to do with is (freshman) Elle Gross. She has shown us a lot in the first two weeks of practices. We recruited her as a backstroker, but she could emerge in the sprint events. It's a group that needs to be good for us to be successful and we are looking forward to seeing who emerges." MIDDLE DISTANCE/DISTANCE "Our kids went out and did an amazing job in the end and surprised me a lot with how well they performed," Griffore said. "They turned into a big loss for us after the championships that they had. However, I think we did a great job with the distance group. We bring in Suzy Paasch, Danielle Wenger and Kelsey Ogle. Those three alone have potential to be top three swimmers in those events. We are excited to see that group develop because that was an area we wanted to get better in." BUTTERFLY "Molly Finn has been a leader in this program and conference," Griffore said. "She is going to have some help in the addition of Amanda Nelson. She will come in and realistically be a top three girl in the fly events. That is not only going to help us, but will help Molly to have someone to train with. And then, we bring back Briana Fergusson, who was a top-eight in both, and Kelsey McDonough, who was in the finals in the 200 as well." BACKSTROKE "We are excited that Kate Riebe is eligible," Griffore said. "She is going to be one of the fastest in the conference and will also make our relays faster. We got Tina (Hansen) and Megan to round out the 200 back, but it's just an area where we don't have a lot of depth. We will need our kids at the top be good and work the other areas out." BREASTSTROKE "What a great year Shannon Berndt and Kerry Rossow had," Griffore said. "We never expected them to go that fast and I do not think they did either. But bringing a 1-2 punch back that are only sophomores, the breaststroke is strong. We don't go five-deep in it, but when you have the two best, you are pretty solid." INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY "I think Molly will lead this group along with Berndt and Nennig to round that off," Griffore said. "We hope to see Rossow be a bit stronger this year and add to the mix. I think our IM is very well-rounded and should have three in the top eight when all is said and done." RELAYS "I really want to challenge the girls this year and see if we can't break every relay record again," Griffore said. "I don't think it will be a matter of when the records get broke, but by how much." DIVING "We are extremely excited this year, even through we lost the divers we did," Griffore said. "We went out and got three freshmen, and when combined with McLoone, Hall and Grimm, we are going to bring six divers to the league championships - probably more than any other program. That will be a huge advantage for us and I can't wait to see what happens." |
