Panthers Battle Badgers In Season Opener This Weekend
Oct. 9, 2007
Oct. 12 • at Wisconsin Badgers The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team will open the 2007-08 season on the road Friday against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Panthers start the year with a dual against their Big Ten foe Friday at 5 p.m. in Madison. LAST YEAR ON TAP 2007-08 UWM Men's Season Preview After placing fifth at the Horizon League Championships for three-straight seasons, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's swimming & diving team opened eyes around the conference with a strong third-place showing a year ago - its best since 2000.
Going from fifth to third in just one season was a complete team effort for the UWM men. To compare, the Panthers had 23 swimmers and divers in the finals of the championship events last year. In 2005-06, they had only 16, a near-50 percent increase. "Our men needed confidence that they could compete in this conference," head coach Dave Griffore said. "And, being fifth for the last few years, they needed to make a run. I challenged them at the start of the year and told them they needed to be a top-three team before you can start thinking about winning. I didn't think they could do it and they did. And now, after taking third in the conference, they know they can compete and know they can win." Milwaukee will bring back an experienced team, as it did not lose too many athletes to graduation, and also welcomes a large cast of newcomers. "We didn't lose a lot, so they are very excited to see what they can accomplish," Griffore said. "We also lost a few underclassmen that aren't coming back that scored some points, but when it comes down to it, when we head to Cleveland in February, we are going to bring a group of kids that feel like they have a chance to compete for a conference championship." SPRINTS "We have to be better there," Griffore said. "You have to have people in the top eight [at the league championship]. Consolations are not going to get it done. We had to go out and get people that could be top eight." They welcome Jake Kalinowksi from Minnesota, a newcomer who is going to come in and help instantly. Junior Andrew Belton, a transfer, is another swimmer that is going to help UWM in the sprints. Alex Haegar, a division II state champion in Wisconsin, is another Griffore will look at to fix that area up. MIDDLE DISTANCE/DISTANCE "Robby has come in much better this year than last year," Griffore said. "His attitude is better and he has realized that he has the potential to be a league champion - something I have been trying to get through to his head that he can do." The distance group was one of highest-scoring areas last season for UWM and will be counted on to do the same in 2007-08. "Our distance group is very strong and very solid this year." Griffore said. "With Robby Leibold and David Adams coming back and the addition of Dan Heraly, we are very confident that we will have a great group. David Yugo is very talented and we look for him to go out on a high note. Overall, our freestyle events are deeper and much faster at the top." BUTTERFLY "Chase wants to have his best year and we [the staff] want that to happen as well," Griffore said. "We want him to not only continue to win championships, but also get closer to NCAA cuts. He is very talented and has some support this year." BACKSTROKE "I think Jeremy Waldhart in the 200 backstroke is a guy I feel like will have a chance to win a conference championship," Griffore said. "He is extremely talented and a hard-worker and he is going to be leading a group of backstrokers that is deeper than any team in this conference. We have Tyler Jefferson - who will be our go-to 100 guy - Ross Bittner, Dennis Knipfer - guys that scored at the championships." The team also added Garett Dissmore and Matt Kluczinske, two swimmers that come in flirting with top-eight times. Griffore considers the backstroke as probably the deepest and best event out of all the strokes. BREASTSTROKE "We lost Kyle Palmer and Lucas Tanel from last year," Griffore said. "But, we bring back Jeremy Seibel. I look for big things from him and Cody Smith. We are going to be using guys like Chase (Gravengood) and Jeremy (Waldhart) to try and win dual meets and come up with some alternate plans in those areas." INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY "We will also be deep in the 400 IM," Griffore said. "We are pretty solid in the individual medley and do not have too many weaknesses there." RELAYS "This year, we will be good enough to contend," Griffore said. "We broke one school record last year, but that is not what we want. We want to break school records as often as possible because that shows the direction the program is moving." DIVING "We are going to look for big things from PJ (Patrick Rongitsch)," Griffore said. "He is a former state champ who has had a year to develop and learn. We will look for him to lead this diving team. We do add Josh Lindquist - an inexperienced diver who has worked with Todd Hill over the years. We also hope we can get some good things from Nick DeWitt so that we have three solid divers at the end. We need to be better and I think we have three kids that will fill those holes and make us a better program." Griffore led the men to a 5-4 dual record last year, giving the squad a winning dual record for the first time since going 7-4 in the 1998-99 campaign. They also enjoyed their first five-dual winning streak since the 1999-2000 season. After a solid first season, expectations will be high and Griffore expects his team to be ready to meet them. |
