By Emily Leclair

The UW-Whitewater men’s and women’s swimming/diving teams began its seasons with wins over Carthage College on Saturday in Kenosha, Wis. Both teams are looking forwards to a successful 2013-14 season.

The men’s team defeated Carthage, 150-112, winning nine of 16 events. The team took the top three spots in two events and the top four spots in one event.

Seniors John Devroy and Ben Wynn and sophomore Anthony Heilberger took the top three spots in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshmen Alex Gidlow and Josh Kanute and junior Ryan Stuart repeated the result in the 100-yard freestyle.

The ‘Hawks continued to dominate the pool in the 200-yard backstroke. Junior Joe Devroy, senior Devroy, freshman Dan Bielski, and junior Jake Shackelford took the top four spots.

The team brought home gold in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 50-yard individual medley and 400-yard freestyle relay. UW-Whitewater had swimmers finish in the top two spots in every event of the meet.
The women’s team also had a successful day in the pool with a 147.5-114.5 win over Carthage and set a school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The 400-yard freestyle team of freshmen Margaret Lotzer and Grace Devine, sophomore Stacey Kincade and junior Kelsey Kohlbeck finished the race with a time of 3:46:55, beating the school record of 3:52:01, set in 2012.

Junior Amy Spaay, the reigning NCAA Division-III national champion won the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke. She also met the ‘B’ cut for the 2014 NCAA Division-III swimming and diving qualifying times in the 100 with a time of 1:05:95.

The team went 1-2-3 in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly and placed in the top sports in the 200-yard medley relay, 1000-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 500-yard freestyle, and 200-yard individual medley.

The men’s and women’s teams are looking to the freshman class to contribute to a sucessful 2014 season.
“I think we have an excellent freshman class,” Joe Devroy said. “These guys are training really hard and are looking really good in the water.”

The girl’s team has the same talent coming in from the freshman class.

“We have a really awesome freshman class,” Spaay said. “They bring a lot to the team.”

Head coach Joel Rollings is looking for seniors Ben Wynn and Devroy to lead the team for the men. The women’s team is looking to Amy Spaay, Sierra Becker and Katie Hausman.

Spaay went to the swimming and diving national championships last year and won the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke. (Add history)

The team also has the whole junior class, who went to nationals last year, and is returning again.

“The women should be even stronger than they were last year,” Rollings said.

Rollings also said he thinks the divers are phenomenal this year, including Becker, who qualified for the NCAA Division-III diving championship last season.

“She’s a very talented diver and works hard in the offseason,” Rollings said.

Both teams have high expectations this season.

“There’s a high standard for both men’s and women’s team to do well at conference, which is the ultimate goal,” Spaay said.

The ‘Hawks will continue their 2013-14 season against Luther College at 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 in Whitewater in the Williams Center.