Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee swimming and diving team participated in the first day of IU Indy's House of Champions Invitational on Thursday. The women's team is currently in fourth place with 210 points, while the men's team is tied for sixth with 158 points.

Events on the opening day included various relay races, backstroke, freestyle, individual medley, and diving competitions. Following the morning preliminaries, Milwaukee had 24 athletes qualify for the finals, ensuring representation in each event.

The men's 200 freestyle relay team, consisting of Charlie House, Caleb Carlisle, Jackson Ahrens, and Ben Lorenz secured second place with a time of 1:19.88. On the women's side, Julie Rebek also achieved a runner-up position.

In both the women's 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays, Milwaukee narrowly missed podium finishes by placing fourth.

Mara Freeman delivered a strong performance in the 50 backstroke with a fourth-place finish at 25.57 seconds. Carly Plate also performed well in this event by finishing seventh with a time of 25.92 seconds.

Erika Thomas led Milwaukee's effort in the women's 200 individual medley by finishing seventh at 2:04.02. Jay Jensen achieved eighth place on the men's side with a time of 1:50.93.

Charlie House recorded Milwaukee's best individual finish for men in the finals of the 50 freestyle with a seventh-place result at 20.41 seconds.

In diving events, Julie Rebek finished second in the women's one-meter dive with a score of 247.45 points. Kristina Wittmann placed sixth scoring 233.20 points while Ben Stitgen ended up eighth in the men's three-meter dive scoring a total of 280.60 points.

The Panthers will continue their participation on day two of this three-day Invitational tomorrow starting at 9:00 a.m., followed by finals at 4:30 p.m.