Panther Women Cruise To Third-Straight Wheaton Invitational Crown
Dec. 1, 2007
WHEATON, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's swimming team won the Wheaton Invitational going away Saturday, claiming the team title for the third-straight season. The championship was also the fourth in five years at the event. UWM ended the meet with 902 points, almost 350 points ahead of runner-up Grand Valley State University (555.5). Rounding out the top five was Wheaton College in third (538), UW-Stevens Point in fourth (516) and Hope College in fifth (513.5). Milwaukee used a team effort for the victory, recording season-best times across the board in every event. Sophomore Shannon Berndt and freshman Danielle Wenger added individual wins, with the 400 free relay and 200 medley relay teams also coming through with victories to lead the way. "This was a great team effort this weekend," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "One of our biggest strengths this season is our depth and it showed this weekend." Berndt helped give the Panthers a one-two finish in the 200 breaststroke, topping the field in a time of 2:23.21. Sophomore Kerry Rossow was just behind in second, touching the wall in 2:23.82. Wenger won the 1650 freestyle in a time of 17:35.26 to top the rest of the field by over seven seconds and also take almost 20 seconds off her previous season-best of 17:53.50. The time also established a new UWM freshman record, breaking the former standard of 17:36.10 held by Emma McKeith. It was the 400 freestyle relay that provided the most thrilling end, as the team of freshman Ellie Gross, junior Molly Finn, sophomore Bailey Nennig and senior Jess Kelly won the event by the smallest of margins over Hope College. Kelly anchored and touched out the victory by .01 of a second, with UWM finishing in 3:33.49 and Hope in 3:33.50.
The 200 medley relay team of junior Kate Riebe, Rossow, senior Briana Fergusson and Kelly recorded a season-best time of 1:47.60 to claim the victory. "The 400 free relay was the highlight of the night," Griffore said. "It is now the midpoint of the season. We did well this weekend but we have a lot of things to do in order to improve. But, we are headed in the right direction." Other top finishers for the Panthers included Fergusson in the 100 butterfly, placing third in 1:00.05. Sophomore Kristina Hansen placed third in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.66 after winning the preliminaries. She also took sixth in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.65. In that race, freshman Kelsey Ogle was fifth in 1:56.73 and Gross third in 1:56.05. Kelly was the top finisher in the 100 free, with her time of 24.81 earning a fourth-place finish. Finn took over five seconds off her season-best in the 400 IM, taking second in 4:32.15. Nennig did the same, eclipsing her season-best by over four seconds in taking fourth at 4:38.93. Milwaukee will finally open the home portion of its 2007-08 schedule next weekend at the Klotsche Natatorium. The team will host South Dakota State Friday and then Valparaiso Saturday. Friday's action gets underway at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday's meet is slated for a 1 p.m. start. |
