By: Ryan Hartwig (@RyanHartwig)
GreenBayPhoenix.com

BROWN DEER, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The Green Bay swimming and diving teams concluded the 2012 Horizon League Championship Meet on Saturday night, with the women's squad finishing third and the men's squad finishing fifth at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis.

Milwaukee took the team titles on both sides, ending the Phoenix women's run of seven consecutive league championships.

"We had a lot of good things that happened this week," Green Bay head coach Jim Merner said. "A lot of kids stepped up and swam very good races. I thought our performances were excellent on our women's side, and on our men's side we had several underclassmen earn top-eight finishes. I think our future is bright and I'm very excited about that."

Kendra Rottier (Green Bay, Wis.) won her third conference title of the week on Saturday, dominating the 1650-yard freestyle race with a time of 16:47.23 - nearly 30 seconds ahead of second place. The sophomore's time broke the school record of 17:06.15 held by Phoenix junior Melissa Killpatrick (Elk River, Minn.), who placed fourth in Saturday's race with a time of 17:22.67.

Rottier finished the four-day meet with three individual titles and four school records to her name, as the sophomore standout also won the 1000 free (10:03.70) and 500 free (4:52.88) and swam on Green Bay's record-breaking 800 free relay squad, which placed second in 7:27.18.

Senior Amber Bartholomew (Alexandria, Minn.) closed out her Phoenix career with a strong showing in the 200 backstroke, finishing fourth in 2:02.04. Fellow senior Lauren Caruso (DeForest, Wis.) also earned a fourth-place finish on Saturday, touching in at 2:19.83 in the 200 breaststroke.

On the women's 3-meter board on Saturday night, sophomore Carrie Dinelli (Northbrook, Ill.) posted the top score for Green Bay, placing fourth with a total of 247.90.

On the men's side, Phoenix sophomore Robert Wolf (Wind Lake, Wis.) turned in an impressive performance in the 1650, placing seventh with a personal best time of 16:08.58.

Green Bay wrapped up the four-day meet with six individual championships and nine school records. The Phoenix also took home some hardware, as senior diver Daniel Pogue (Chisholm, Minn.) earned Horizon League Men's Diver of the Meet, freshman Amanda Walker (Sun Prairie, Wis.) won Co-Newcomer of the Year and diving coach Tom Stover won Men's Diving Coach of the Year.

Pogue earned Diver of the Meet honors for the second straight year after winning the 1-meter board on Friday with a score of 379.15 and placing second on the 3-meter board on Wednesday with a total of 352.20 - both school records.

Walker had an outstanding day on Friday, placing third in the 200 freestyle with a school-record time of 1:50.53. The freshman also swam on Green Bay's record-setting 800 free relay, which placed second in 7:27.18.

For Stover, it marked the seventh time in his Green Bay coaching career that he won Coach of the Year honors.

For more information on the 2012 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships, visit the Championship Central Page on GreenBayPhoenix.com.

Final Women's Team Scores
1 - Milwaukee 759.5
2 - Cleveland State 675.5
3 - Green Bay 631
4 - UIC 566.5
5 - Wright State 402.5
6 - Youngstown State 364
7 - Valparaiso 137
8 - Butler 124

Final Men's Team Scores
1 - Milwaukee 901
2 - Cleveland State 726.5
3 - UIC 701.5
4 - Wright State 475
5 - Green Bay 432
6 - Valparaiso 148

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