Domination might be an understatement.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women’s swimming teams came back from the Wheaton Invitational with victories more lopsided than Quasimodo’s back.

The men finished with 832 points, over 150 more than runner-up Washington University, who finished with 662 points. Along the way, two individuals managed to break a few records.

Senior Chase Gravengood fielded a time of 3:59.32 in the 400 IM, breaking the old time of 4:03.29 set by Gravengood back in 2005.

Junior Robby Leibold also etched his name in school history by posting a time of 15:41.89 in the 1650 freestyle. That erased a record held for 17 years by more than 10 seconds.

“We had some really good things happen today,” said UWM head coach Dave Griffore. “Robby breaking the school record by over 10 seconds was amazing and Chase’s record in the 400 IM was great.”

As great as that may have been, the true manhandling was done by the women’s team. They finished the meet with 902 points. Grand Valley State University finished second with 555.5 points, almost 350 points behind UWM.

Sophomore Shannon Berndt and freshman Danielle Wenger won their individual events, and the 400 free relay and the 200 medley relay teams also finished ahead of the competition.

“This was a great team effort this weekend,” said Griffore. “One of our biggest strengths this season is our depth and it showed this weekend.”

The women showed their determination by scoring season-best times in every event, with the highlight coming the 400 free relay. UWM finished a mere .01 of a second ahead of Hope College.

The first place finish for both teams shows the improvement they are making. After both started the season 0-3, the men finished second in a previous invitational, and the women have won their past two meets.

"The goal as a coach is to get better every year and we continue to show that," Griffore said. "It is the midpoint of the season. We did well this weekend but have a lot of things we need to do to improve."

Both teams will finally get to show the UWM faithful what they can do this weekend, with their first home events of the season taking place at the Klotsche Natatorium starting South Dakota State will be in town on Friday with a match starting at 6:30 p.m. followed by the Panthers hosting Valparaiso on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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