Swimming & Diving Championship Review

March 3, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -

Complete Release in PDF Format

SWIMMERS OF THE MEET

Mark deSwardt
Cleveland State
Freshman
Durban, South Africa


deSwardt dominated the distance events as he won the 500, 1000 and 1650-yard freestyle events at the Horizon League Championships. During his mile swim, he broke both the 1000 and 1650 League records by posting times of 9:01.64 and 15:02.06, respectively. deSwardt also posted a time of 4:26.00 in the 500 freestyle, narrowly missing the record of 4:24.65. He accumulated 60 total points for the Vikings and qualified for an NCAA "B" cut in the mile.

Danielle DeGrand
Green Bay
Senior
Green Bay, Wis.


DeGrand earned Swimmer of the Meet honors after charting wins in the 200-yard individual medley (2:01.92) and 100-yard backstroke (56.03). She set League records in the 200 IM final and 100 backstroke as the lead-off leg of Green Bay's victorious 400-yard medley relay (55.43). DeGrand added a runner-up finish in the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.11) and participated in four of the five record-breaking relays won by the Phoenix women.

DIVERS OF THE MEET

Daniel Pogue
Green Bay
Freshman
Chisholm, Wis.


Pogue won both the one-meter and three-meter diving events at the Horizon League championships with Zone Qualifying totals. He posted a score of 300.25 on the one-meter and 320.25 on the three-meter to dominate both boards.

Kelsey George
Milwaukee
Sophomore
Middleton, Wis.


George was named Co-Diver of the Meet after winning the one-meter event and coming in third on the three-meter. She posted an NCAA Zone Qualifying Score of 280.45 to edge last year's winner Lauren McGraw by just over one point. George also scored a 274.70 on the three-meter.

Ashley Hall
Milwaukee
Senior
New Berlin, Wis.


Hall was named Co-Diver of the Meet after winning the three-meter event and placing third on the one meter. She qualfied for NCAA Zones with a score of 295.90 to win the three-meter and tallied 245.80 points to place third on the one-meter board.

OTHER MEN'S AWARD WINNERS

Newcomer of the Year:Mark deSwardt, Cleveland State
Diver of the Meet:Daniel Pogue, Green Bay
Swimmer of the Meet:Mark deSwardt, Cleveland State
Athlete of the Year:Mark deSwardt, Cleveland State
Diving Coach of the Year:Tom Stover, Green Bay
Swimming Coach of the Year:Paul Moniak, UIC


OTHER WOMEN'S AWARD WINNERS

Newcomer of the Year:Molley Pipkorn, Wright State
Co-Divers of the Meet:Kelsey George, Milwaukee & Ashley Hall, Milwaukee
Swimmer of the Meet:Danielle DeGrand, Green Bay
Athlete of the Year:Danielle Wenger, Milwaukee
Diving Coach of the Year:Todd Hill, Milwaukee
Swimming Coach of the Year:Jim Merner, Green Bay


Green Bay women, UIC men earn 2009 Horizon League Swimming & Diving titles

The University of Illinois at Chicago men's swimming and diving team nabbed their first-ever Horizon League championship while the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women's team picked up their fifth-consecutive Horizon League championship last weekend in Brown Deer, Wis.

On the men's side, the Flames (703) were followed by runner-up Wright State University (685), third-place University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (647), with Cleveland State University (612), Green Bay (583) and Valparaiso University rounding out the field (183).

The Phoenix women won with a total of 859 points, followed by Milwaukee (737), Wright State (564) and UIC (546). Coming in fifth was Youngstown State University (300), followed by Cleveland State (290), Valparaiso (214) and Butler University (134).

The men's Newcomer of the Year honoree, Mark deSwardt of Cleveland State, was also the Athlete of the Year and Swimmer of the Meet. He won the 500, 1000 and 1650-yard freestyle events. The Women's Newcomer of the Year, Molley Pipkorn of Wright State, won the 200 and 500-yard freestyle (4:54.65) events, while setting a new League record in the 200 (1:49.91). Athlete of the Year Danielle Wenger was second in the 500 (4:55.29) and the champion in both the 1000 (10:06.65)and 1650 (16:53.14).

A total of 28 Horizon League championship records were set at this year's meet, double what was set in 2008. Thirteen of those occurred on the men's side while the women set a total of 15, as all ten relay records were shattered.