The University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams cruised to victories in all but five events on the first day of competition of a triangular against Iowa and UW-Milwaukee Friday night at the UI Fieldhouse. The UW women lead the Hawkeyes 159.5-44.5 and UWM 176-29, while the UW men are leading 134-69 and 173.5-30.5, respectively.

“The team came together as I had hoped,” head coach Eric Hansen said. “A lot of growth was evident, especially for our young team. It was our first away meet, and I think we performed very well.”

On the women’s side, both Badger relay teams won*the 200-yard medley relay team of Susan Johnson, Yi Ting Siow, Christine Zwiegers and Jackie Vavrek took the title in a time of 1:45.15, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hannah McClurg, Johnson, Vavrek and Zwiegers was victorious in a time of 3:31.03.

Sophomore Jen Illescas added to UW’s dominance with victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.87) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.63).

In other triumphs, Gabby Maddalena won the 1000-yard freestyle (10:05.24), Johnson won the 100-yard backstroke (57.32), Siow won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.35), Vavrek won the 50-yard freestyle (23.87) and Andrea Wiesner won the 200-yard IM (2:06.17).

Both of the Wisconsin men’s relay teams also were victorious, as the 200-yard medley relay team of Tommy Gregory, Eric Johnson, Scott Rice and Kyle Sorensen came in first at 1:34.30, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Mike Desautels, Tom Molzahn, Sorensen and Phil Davies posted a winning time of 3:07.70.

Rice took home the title in two other events, the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.25) and the 200-yard IM (1:55.22). Meanwhile, Molzahn won the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.05), Mike Hopkins won the 100-yard backstroke (52.75) and Sorensen won the 50-yard freestyle (21.29).

The Hawkeye men were led by sophomore Nick Divan, who won the 1,000 yard freestyle (9:33.65) and placed fourth in the 200 individual medley (1:57.36). Junior Dragos Agache took home first in the 100 breaststroke in 57.34. Freshman Frank Van Dijkhuizen won both the men's one- and three-meter diving. His one-meter score of 283.00 topped teammate Michael Gilligan's score of 262.40. Van Dijkhuizen's score of 322.90 in the three-meter was well ahead of Gilligan's 238.10; the two placed first and second in both events.

In diving, freshman Jenny Hawkins won the 3-meter board with a score of 235.6, plus she took second on the 1-meter board with a score of 217.4. Sophomore Kelly Todd headed the men’s effort with third-place finishes on the 1-meter board (252.4) and the 3-meter board (217.8).

“I think it’s a step up from the last meet,” diving coach Tom Michaël said. “We’re moving in the right direction. The divers are doing everything I’ve asked of them.”