UWM Men Repeat As Wheaton Invitational Champions
Dec. 1, 2007
WHEATON, Ill. - Senior Chase Gravengood and junior Robby Leibold continued their weekend heroics on Saturday, each setting a new school record en route to victories that helped the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming team claim back-to-back titles at the Wheaton Invitational. UWM ended the meet with 832 points, over 150 points ahead of runner-up Washington University (662). Rounding out the top five was Grand Valley State University in third (556), Hope College in fourth (533) and UW-Stevens Points in fifth (520.5). Gravengood established new school, meet and pool record in the 400 IM, topping the field in a time of 3:59.32. That broke the school record of 4:03.29, which Gravengood set back in 2005. Leibold broke the oldest record in the UWM record book and did it handily. He set a new school mark in the 1650 freestyle, finishing in a time of 15:41.89. That broke the school mark set by Brent Boock in 1991 by over 10 seconds, as Boock's former standard was 15:51.68. His time was also a meet and pool record. "We had some really good things happen today," UWM head coach Dave Griffore said. "Robby breaking the school record by over 10 seconds was amazing and Chase's record in the 400 IM was great." The 100 backstroke was a strong event on the day for Milwaukee, placing three swimmers in the top six of the race. Senior Ross Bittner finished second, touching the wall in 52.96. Freshman Garett Dissmore was third in 54.28 and sophomore Dennis Knipfer sixth in 55.16. All three times were season-bests. Other top finishers for Milwaukee included Bittner in the 100 butterfly, placing fourth in a time of 51.55. Junior David Adams finished third in the 1650 free in 16:22.95, cutting over 30 seconds off his previous season-best. Freshman Jake Kalinowski was the top UWM finisher in the 50 free, recording a season-best time of 21.60.
In the 200 free, freshman Bill McCarty (fourth in 1:43.80) and senior David Yugo (fifth in 1:44.35) gave the Panthers two in the top five. In the relays, both the 400 free and 200 medley relay teams placed fourth. "The goal as a coach is to get better every year and we continue to show that," Griffore said. "It is the midpoint of the season. We did well this weekend but have a lot of things we need to do to improve." 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. |
