The UW-Whitewater men’s and women’s swim teams wrapped up their regular season against UW-Eau Claire on Senior Day. The women’s team lost to UW-Eau Claire 234-59, and the men’s team lost 211.5-77.5 to the Blugolds. The seniors gave their all as it was their final home meet of their careers.
“Today was super special for me,” senior Emily Connell said. “I cried maybe at least four times. It’s such a special day, especially for a senior. Previously, I didn’t know how emotional it was gonna be, and looking back on it, I can now relate to other seniors who have put so much time and effort into their season and then having this big meet leading up to the end of the season, it was really special. Everyone had fun at this meet. We played a bunch of songs that everybody likes, senior wise, and I feel like going into this, everybody just had amazing energy, which definitely added towards the meet.”
“Everybody’s been working hard,” head coach Elise Knoche said. “But to kind of recognize all the work that the seniors specifically have put in, not just this season, but over their time here, there seemed to be a lot of good energy on the team today.”
It wasn’t just the seniors who laid everything out there Saturday; everybody gave their all for the seniors. First-place finishers for the Warhawks were Jenna Denton in the women’s 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.04 seconds, Dom Schlueter in the men’s 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.09, Ethan Bergman tied for first in the men’s 100 meter freestyle, and the men’s 200 freestyle relay team made up of Bergman, Ethan Schmohe, Donny Gramer and Schlueter with a time of 1 minute 26.19 seconds.
Other notable results were the women’s 200 meter medley team made up of Izzy Doczy, Amelia Davey, Jenna Denton and Grace Linstroth placed third, the men’s 200 meter medley team made up of Schmohe, Gramer, Bergman, and Schlueter placed second, Brady Peetz placed third in the men’s 1000 yard freestyle. Nikolina Gallo placed second in the women’s 200 yard freestyle, Izzy Doczy placed second in the women’s 100 yard backstroke, Owen Phillips placed third in the men’s 100 yard backstroke, Jalen Stimes placed second in the men’s 200 yard butterfly and third in the men’s 200 yard backstroke, Schmohe placed third in the men’s 50 yard freestyle, Brookelyn Kelpfer placed third in the women’s 1 meter dive, Jenna Denton and Emily Connell took second and third in the women’s 100 yard freestyle, Izzy Doczy placed third in the women’s 200 yard backstroke, Caleb Weis placed second in the men’s 500 yard freestyle, Isaac Schroder placed third in the men’s 200 yard IM, and the women’s 200 yard freestyle relay team made up of Denton, Addi Sanow, Grace Linstroth and Connell placed second.
Both men’s and women’s swim and dive teams will start postseason swim when they travel to Milwaukee for the WIAC Championships Wednesday, Feb. 19 and the championships will conclude Feb. 22.
