UWM Men In Position For Repeat At Wheaton Invitational
Nov. 30, 2007
WHEATON, Ill. - Senior Chase Gravengood and junior Robby Leibold each set meet and pool records to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming team to a lead after day one of the Wheaton Invitational Friday. The Panthers have 449 points for a comfortable lead over second-place Washington University, which has 325. "I am very pleased with our first day of performances," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "We are right where we want to be and are looking forward to tomorrow." Gravengood recorded victories in the 200 IM and the 200 butterfly, but it was his effort in the 200 IM that was record-breaking. His time of 1:50.66 set a new pool and meet record and was just off his school-record time of 1:50.06 as well. He was also victorious in the 200 fly with a season-best time of 1:50.80. Leibold continues his strong season, winning the 500 freestyle in a meet and pool-record time of 4:34.74, which was a season-best for him by almost eight seconds (4:42.26). Milwaukee had a great showing in the race, with freshman Dan Heraly third in 4:39.81 and freshman Bill McCarty fourth in 4:40.19. Both of those times were also season-bests. Leibold also gave UWM two of the top three finishers in the 200 fly, taking third in a time of 1:52.70. Sophomore Jeremy Waldhart also contributed with a first-place effort in the 200 backstroke, knocking over five seconds off his previous season-best of 1:56.26 by touching the wall in 1:51.56. The Panthers dominated that event, placing five swimmers in the top eight. Freshman Matt Kluczinske finished third, senior Ross Bittner fifth, sophomore Dennis Knipfer sixth and freshman Garett Dissmore was eighth.
Milwaukee's 800 free relay team placed second, while the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay squads were both third. The Panthers close out the weekend in search of a repeat tomorrow, starting in the morning with preliminaries at 10 a.m. |
