UWM Men Bring Home First Place Honors From Coers InvitationalNov. 19, 2005
MUNCIE, Ind. - Freshman Robby Leibold and sophomore Chase Gravengood combined for victories in five individual events over the weekend, helping the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team to first place honors at the Second Annual Doug Coers Invitational on Saturday at the Lewellen Aquatics Center. Leibold won the 400 IM, 500 freestyle and the 1650 freestyle en route to being named the Swimmer of the Meet, while Gravengood claimed wins in the 100 and 200 butterfly to help Milwaukee to 646 points, topping host Ball State (547) for the top team honors. Rounding out the scores of the remaining squads, IUPUI was third with 340, Baldwin-Wallace fourth with 259 and Valparaiso fifth with 219 points. "This was definitely a team effort," Milwaukee head coach Dave Clark said. "It wasn't really one person this weekend. Everyone had their share of good swims and dives." Leibold paced two team efforts in distance events, topping the field in the 500 and 1650 free. He won the 500 in a time of 4:47.64, as UWM placed five swimmers among the top seven finishers in the event. Sophomore Jeremy Seibel was third (4:60.74), freshman David Adams fifth (4:57.31), sophomore Dana Elzea sixth (4:57.31) and senior Joe Vermeulen seventh (5:01.11) in the field of 32 swimmers. The Panthers had seven of the top 10 in the 1650 free, with Leibold winning in a time of 16:35.35. Adams (third), Vermeulen (fifth), Elzea (sixth), Seibel (seventh), junior Karl Winderl (ninth) and sophomore Paul Lewis (10th) rounded out the UWM finishers.
"The distance events were really a strong point for us this weekend," said Clark. "We were able to take a lot of top places in those events." Leibold also added a victory in the 400 IM, touching the wall in a time of 4:17.08. Gravengood completed a strong showing over the weekend with first-place showings in the 100 and 200 butterfly. In the 100, he won with a time of 52.62. Sophomore teammate Ross Bittner gave UWM a 1-2 finish in the event. In the 200, it was more of the same, as Gravengood won in 1:57.92 with freshman Andy Barborich placing second. Gravengood also played an instrumental role on Milwaukee's relay teams. He helped the 200 free relay team to a third-place effort and the 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams to victories at the event. The 200 medley relay team also claimed a victory on the weekend. Other top finishers included sophomore Tyler Jefferson and seniors Tim Watt, Kyle Fyock and Jeff Jasinowski. Jefferson nearly swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 in a season-best time of 54.02 before finishing second in the 200 back event. Watt placed second in the 200 free, with his time of 1:47.14 less than a second behind the winner. He also took third in the 100 free, touching the wall in 48.98. Fyock placed third in the 100 breast (1:01.84), just seven-tenths of a second off the winning time. Jasinowski led the Milwaukee diving team, taking second on the three-meter board and third in the one-meter event. Junior Klye Luska was fourth on the one-meter board and fifth on the three. The men's team will have a week off before the team splits up at the start of December. The divers will head to the Notre Dame Diving Invitational (Dec. 1-3) while the swimmers compete at the Wheaton Invitational (Dec. 2-3). |
