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UWM Men Battle Defending League Champ Wright State Friday

Swims at Eastern Michigan Saturday, dives at UIC Sunday

Oct. 16, 2007

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team will have a busy weekend, competing in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. Friday will be the Horizon League opener, taking on defending champ Wright State before heading to swim at Eastern Michigan Saturday. Then, it's off to Illinois on Sunday for the UIC Diving Invitational.

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SCOUTING THE MEETS:
Friday's meet will present quite a challenge, as Wright State is coming off a Horizon League Championship last season. Scott Lane (swimmer of the meet at the championships last year) is back for his senior year and league coach of the year Sion Brinn will have his team ready to defend its title.

Saturday will make for an interesting storyline, as UWM head coach Dave Griffore returns to Eastern Michigan, the school he spent six successful years in roles of graduate assistant, associate coach and assistant coach for the Eagles.

AGAINST WISCONSIN:
Junior Robby Leibold won the 1000 freestyle and sophomore P.J. Rongitsch recorded NCAA Zone-qualifying scores in both diving events to lead the men in their season opener Friday. The Panthers fell to the Badgers, 154-85.

Leibold won the 1000 handily, touching the wall in 9:41.69 to beat Wisconsin's Mike Swanson (9:53.30) by over eight seconds. He also took second in the 500 free in a time of 4:44.31. Rongitsch started the new season off right, recording second-place finishes in each diving event. On the one-meter board, he recorded a point total of 318.75, topping his career-high from last season of 277.60. On the three-meter, he scored 335.70 points, easily topping his former best in the event of 270.40. Both scores were above NCAA Zone qualifying standards.

LAST YEAR:
Senior Kyle Luska and junior Tyler Jefferson highlighted the efforts of the team in its home opener. Despite their results and three other second-place finishes, the Panthers dropped the meet to Wright State, 151-86.

Luska topped the field on the one-meter board, recording 227.18 points to give the Panthers their lone victory on the night. He also took third place on the three-meter board. Jefferson nearly had two victories to his name, taking second in the 100 freestyle by eight-hundredths of a second. His time of 48.38 was touched out by Micah Belew (48.30) in the closest race of the evening. In the 50, his time of 21.99 came up just short of Wright State's Zach Fisher, who touched the wall in 21.31.

Other second-place finishers for the Panthers included junior Chase Gravengood in the 200 IM, sophomore Robby Leibold in the 1000 freestyle and freshman Jeremy Waldhart in the 200 backstroke.

UP NEXT:
Milwaukee hits a slight break in its schedule, next swimming at Wheaton College November 2nd.