Rossow Claims League Crown In 100 Breaststroke To Highlight Day Three
Feb. 22, 2008
AKRON, Ohio - Sophomore Kerry Rossow won a league title in the 100 breaststroke and the 800 freestyle relay team broke the school record to highlight day three for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming & diving team at the Horizon League Championships Friday in Akron, Ohio. The Panthers face a three-way battle for the league crown Saturday, sitting in third with 476 points. Green Bay currently leads the way with 569 points, with Wright State second with 505. Rounding out the team standings is UIC in fourth (274 points), Youngstown State in fifth (207), Valparaiso sixth (177), Cleveland State seventh (139) and Butler in eighth (103). Rossow won the closest and most exciting race (top three were within 29-hundredths of each other) of the night, as her and sophomore teammate Shannon Berndt were the top two finishers in the 100 breast for the second-straight season. Berndt was the champion last year, but it was Rossow who touched out the victory in a career-best time of 1:04.10 to take the Horizon League title and set a new pool record in the process. Berndt was just four-hundredths of a second behind, earning second team all-league honors in 1:04.14. The 800 freestyle relay team of freshmen Kelsey Ogle, Danielle Wenger, junior Molly Finn and freshman Ellie Gross set a new UWM record, but had to settle for third place when both Wright State and Green Bay broke the Horizon League record in the event. Milwaukee finished in 7:39.78, handily beating the UWM standard of 7:42.00 set by Lindsay Caldwell, Kristin Skiba, Finn and Jess Kelly in 2006.
The Panthers had two of the top four finishers in the 400 IM, with Finn the highest in the ranks at third place in a season-best time of 4:30.78. Wright State's Jessica Weidert won in a league-record time of 4:24.27, snapping Finn's two-year hold on the crown. Sophomores Bailey Nennig and Ali Winius also swam in the race and both posted season-best times. Nennig was fourth in 4:36.33 and Winius 11th in 4:45.53. Milwaukee did a solid job in the 200 freestyle, with four swimmers finishing in the top 10 in the race. Ogle continued her strong week with a new freshman record, taking fifth in 1:54.62 to lower the standard she had already broken earlier this season. Gross was just behind, taking sixth with her time of 1:54.71. Senior Jess Kelly was eighth, establishing a career-best time of 1:54.79 to break her former best of 1:55.87. Junior Kristina Hansen was also in the top 10, placing 10th in 1:55.66 while also topping her previous UWM best (1:56.39). Three Panthers swam in the 100 butterfly, with freshman Amanda Nelson leading the way. She finished eighth in a time of 58.88, just off the UWM freshman record of 58.85. Senior Briana Fergusson used a season-best 59.08 to take 10th and senior Heidi Goetsch was 17th in a season-best 1:01.25. Two Panthers scored in the 100 backstroke event, with Hansen taking ninth in 1:00.67 and Gross taking 11th in a season-best time of 1:00.81. The league title will be decided back at Ocasek Natatorium in Akron, Ohio, tomorrow due to the situation with the water main break at the Cleveland State pool. Slight adjustments to the schedule have been made, as the two diving events will start at noon EST and the timed finals will start at 4 p.m. EST. |
