Printer-friendly format Email this article Head coach Dave Griffore

UIC And North Dakota Up Next For Milwaukee Men

Panthers back on road again this Saturday

Nov. 7, 2007

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team continues its season with another road trip this weekend. The Panthers head to Chicago, Ill., to swim against host UIC and North Dakota Saturday. The meet is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start at the UIC Natatorium.

Complete Release in PDF Format

SCOUTING THE MEET:
The Panthers have traditionally done very well against this weekend's opponents in dual meets. UWM has gone 14-3-1 in its NCAA Division I history against UIC and also hold a 1-0 mark over North Dakota (a 171-72 victory in November of 2005). Butler will also be swimming at the meet, but the school dropped its men's program after last season. The Panthers had gone a perfect 7-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.

LAST TIME IN THE POOL:
The men won 10 of 11 events against Wheaton College to record their first victory of the season, 147-57. Junior Robby Leibold posted three wins and senior Chase Gravengood and sophomore Jeremy Waldhart each had two victories to lead Milwaukee to its sixth-straight victory over the Thunder. UWM improved its all-time record against Wheaton, an NCAA Division III school, to an impressive 17-1.

Leibold continued his fast start to the season, adding three more victories at the meet, topping the field in the 500 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 200 IM. Gravengood won the 200 free and 200 breaststroke, while Waldhart posted wins in the 1,000 free and 200 backstroke.

The Panthers had a great team effort overall, earning a 1-2-3 finish in three different events. One of those was the 500 free, with Leibold first in 4:43.56. Freshman Dan Heraly was second (4:50.92) and junior David Adams third (4:57.93).

Gravengood earned his first two individual wins of the season, leading a 1-2-3 finish for UWM in the 200 free. His time of 1:46.19 touched out Heraly (1:46.39) for the win, with sophomore Matt Mahoney third in 1:51.38. Gravengood also won the 200 breast in 2:15.11.

FAST START ... AND SMART - PART 2:
Junior Robby Leibold is off to the best start of his UWM career and has been rewarded outside of the pool for it as well. Two weeks ago, he was named the Horizon League Scholar Athlete of the Week for the third time in his career. This week, he one-upped that honor by earning league scholar-athlete of the month for October. In 11 races so far this season, Leibold has posted seven victories and four second-place finishes.

LAST YEAR:
Robby Leibold won three events and Chase Gravengood won twice to highlight the afternoon for UWM as it defeated both Butler and UIC to cap a 3-0 weekend. The Panthers defeated UIC by a 151-148 score and also routed host Butler, 227-57.

Leibold was impressive all meet, winning the 500 and 1000 freestyles in addition to the 400 IM. He led a 1-2 finish for UWM in the 1000 free, winning in 9:47.74. He then recorded a season-best time of 4:44.68 to win the 500 free. Lastly, he topped that with a personal-best of 4:13.51 (his old best was 4:13.65) in the 400 IM to give him three wins on the night.

The Panthers had the top two finishers in two of Leibold's wins, with teammate David Adams taking second in the 1000 freestyle and Jeremy Waldhart second in the 400 IM.

Gravengood was touched-out of a win (by .01) in the 100 backstroke before going on to sweep the butterfly events with season-best times in both, winning the 100 in 51.91 and the 200 fly 1:56.19.

The other individual winner for UWM was Jeremy Seibel, taking first in the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:10.50.

UP NEXT:
Milwaukee will be off until the end of the month. The swimmers will head to the Wheaton Invitational and the divers will hit the road for the Miami (OH) Invitational at that time. Both of those meets are scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.