UW-Milwaukee’s Emily McClellan, Natalie Johnson Set Pool Records in Wheaton Dual

WHEATON, Illinois, November 1. EMILY McClellan and Natalie Johnson each set a pool record Friday night to lead the Wisconsin-Milwaukee swimming and diving team to a sweep of Wheaton College. Johnson broke a 33-year-old pool record in the 1,000 free, while McClellan continued her dominance of the breaststroke events with a pool record in the 100 breast. The UW-Milwaukee men’s squad won all 11 events en route to their victory.

UW-Milwaukee Press Release

Natalie Johnson broke a freshman record, Emily McClellan posted another NCAA B-cut time and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee continued to post impressive results early this season in a 113-88 win over Wheaton College at the Chrouser Aquatic Center Friday evening.

“We had a good night tonight,” Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. “It was nice coming off the weekend from last weekend. We posted a lot of best times and I’m really happy. You could definitely tell the difference between the long trip last weekend and the short one this weekend. We came off a really good week of practice and we were really focused tonight.

“We only swam the one meet so far, but this was a good jumping off point leading heading into UIC tomorrow. I’m really happy with how all the events from today. It was just a beginning for when we put our full lineup in against UIC.”

Johnson again grabbed headlines in her first event, lapping the field in the 1000 freestyle with an outstanding time of 10:14.58, taking first by more than 40 seconds and breaking Danielle Wenger’s freshman record of 10:17.43 set back in 2008. Johnson also broke the Wheaton pool record that had stood since 1980. It is also the fastest time in the Horizon League this season and one of the top-100 times across the nation this year.

McClellan took the top spot in the 100 breaststroke Friday, posting her second NCAA B-cut time of the season of 1:01.80 to cruise to victory and was just shy of her sixth-place standing in the national rankings. The senior’s time also was a pool record.

Sierra Townsend posted the fastest time in the Horizon League in the 50 free by touching the wall first in an impressive 24.18 seconds. Freshman Emily Roche was second in 25.17 and Lindsey Verhulst was third in 25.42.

Kristin Zablocki won the 400 IM with a winning time of 4:38.29.

Erika Pliner took first in the 100 backstroke with a season-best time of 1:00.56, just beating out teammate Kiersten Seidel at 1:00.59.

Anna Yontz was a winner in the 100 free, edging out Wheaton’s top swimmer to take first in 53.82. Yontz also took second in the 200 free in 1:56.86.

Both Panther relays also won on the day. Becky Yokosh, Nicole Hutchins, Abby Duke and Townsend teamed up to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.71, just beating Milwaukee’s B-team of Diana Diel, Sarah Grieve, Emily Dean and Verhulst in 1:39.71.

In the 200 medley relay, Kelsey Abbas, McClellan, Roche and Townsend combined to swim the event in 1 minute, 46.83 seconds for another convincing win on the day.

The Panthers have a quick turnaround, taking on conference rival UIC tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the Flames Natatorium.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s swimming team won all 11 of its events in a convincing 133-72 win over Wheaton College Friday at the Chrouser Aquatic Center.

Ryan Finke, Tim Halverson and Nic Halverson all posted multiple victories to help lead the Panthers to the convincing victory.

“We had a lot of really positive individual performances. It’s great to have, but we need it against conference, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to look back at the whole weekend be proud of what we did.”

Finke first posted an impressive victory in the 200 freestyle, cruising to the win in 1:45.02. Joe Chokran came in second in 1:47.16. Finke then won the 100 free, touching the wall first in 53.17.

N. Halverson claimed his first win in the 400 IM with a time of 4:08.31, the second fastest time in the league so far this season in just his first time swimming the event. Kenny Stelpflug was second for Milwaukee in 4:10.35. Halverson also claimed a win in the 500 free with a winning time of 4 minutes, 46.53 seconds.

T. Halverson started his day with a win in the 1000 free, touching the wall first in 9:45.93. Chris Jenkyns was right behind in 9:47.29 for second and Jeff Maxwell took third in 10:02.64. Halverson showed his versatility by also taking first in the 100 free in 47.74, just touching out Stelpflug at 47.75.

Jenkyns also took home a win on the day, taking the top spot in the 100 backstroke in 52.58.

David Chokran won the 100 breaststroke in 58.92. Mike Lucchesi took the top spot in the 50 free in 21.54, the fastest time by a Panther in the event this season.

UWM also won both of its relays on the day. Nick Menninga, Erik Wahlgren, Collin Heitfeld and Lucchesi teamed up to post the fastest time in the 200 free relay in 1:25.79.

In the 200 medley relay, John Kangas, David Chokran, Rob Miller and Lucchesi combined to post a time of 1:36.69, two seconds ahead of the next closest team.

The Panthers have a quick turnaround, taking on conference rival UIC tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the Flames Natatorium.

Wheaton Press Release

The Wheaton women’s and men’s swimming teams opened their 2013-14 season on Friday by hosting UW-Milwaukee, a NCAA Division I opponent. The UW-Milwaukee women’s team defeated Wheaton 113-88 and the UWM men’s team defeated the Thunder men 133-72. Wheaton will return to action on Saturday when the Thunder hosts University of Chicago at 11 AM in the Chrouser Aquatic Center.

Thunder sophomore Kirsty Nitz won two events for the Wheaton women tonight. The returning National Champion won the women’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.65-seconds that earns her NCAA Championship consideration, finishing under the consideration time (57.73) by more than one-second. She also won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.95, a time that is under the NCAA Championship consideration time of 1:53.53. Carlie Herich won the women’s 500-yard freestyle in 5:15.36 and she finished third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:58.33. Sarah Coley took second in the 100-yard freestyle in 53.82-seconds and Emma Rogers posted a time of 1:03.16 to finish second in the 100-yard backstroke.

Wills Francis took second place in two events for the Thunder men’s team. Francis posted a time of 21.87 for second place in the 50-yard freestyle and he was second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.70-seconds. Timothy Walker posted a time of 49.83 seconds to take second in the 100-yard freestyle and Will McCauley was second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:46.53. Jon Lait took second place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.97 and Jack Raymond posted a time of 55.00-seconds to take second place in the 100-yard butterfly.

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