Iowa, Wisconsin Earn Split

Men's Meet:

The competition against the Iowa Hawkeyes certainly brought a rowdy crowd to the Natatorium Friday, but it wasn’t enough to bolster the Wisconsin men’s swimming and diving team to a win, as the Badgers fell to Iowa, 138-162.
 
While the loss was the Badgers’ second-consecutive defeat at the hands of the Hawkeyes, there were several impressive performances for UW this time around.
 
Most notably, junior Chuck Allison helped Wisconsin start the meet off right in the 200-yard medley relay. Allison, along with teammates Derrick O’Donnell, Eric Johnson and Phil Davies beat Iowa by less than a second with a time of 1:32.61 for a first place victory.
 
Allison also took first in the 100 and 200 butterfly, followed by teammate Kyle Thompson who took second in the 200 and third in the 100. In the last event of the meet, Allison and teammates Phil Davies, Wes Lagerhausen, and Chris Nemeth took second with a time of 3:04.28, falling to Iowa’s winning time of 3:03.24.
 
In the 200 free, a pivotal point in the meet, freshman Michael Weiss helped the team by taking third place in front of fourth-place finisher and sophomore Brett Nagle.
 
After the 200 breaststroke, freshman Sam Rowan helped close the score gap, leaving the Badgers behind by only 23 points. Rowan came from behind with 50 yards left to win the race with a time of 2:07.95.
 
 “I’m happy with where we are in terms of depth,” head coach Eric Hansen said, “We have a few holes but, all in all, I’d say we are a better team than we were last week.”
 
The men’s team continues to grow each week, and has proven to be a very dynamic group with great team chemistry between newcomers who are ready to step in and succeed, as well as veterans from previous seasons.
 
“As a whole, I was really pleased with how the guys came together,” Hansen said. “Iowa was better than us today, but we’re looking towards the end of the season.
 
“We’re not going to let anything get in the way of what our ultimate goal is, to be great at the NCAAs and Big Tens.”

Women's Meet:

Three UW Natatorium records tumbled Friday as the Wisconsin women’s swimming team picked up wins in 12 swimming events and both diving competitions, cruising to a 216-83 win over Iowa in a Big Ten Conference dual meet.
 
Junior Maggie Meyer and sophomore Beckie Thompson picked up four victories each, while sophomore Ashley Wanland claimed wins in three events to help lead the Badgers to victory. Senior Rosie MOrahan, sophomore Danielle Beckwith and freshman Laura Miller also were multiple-event winners for UW.
 
“I think our team performed really well tonight,” Meyer said. “We’ve been training really hard and our coaches haven’t been letting up on us it all, so it was fun to come out here and have a couple good races.”
 
“I’m happy with where we are in terms of depth,” UW head coach Eric Hansen said. “We have a few holes but, all in all, I’d say we are a better team than we were last week.”
 
Meyer took credit for two of the pool records that fell Friday, beginning with her dominant performance in the 100-yard backstroke. The U.S. national team member clocked a time of 54.36 seconds to win by nearly three seconds and shave more than a full second off the previous facility mark.
 
In the process, Meyer clocked an NCAA championships consideration time in the event for the second time in as many weeks.
 
“We’re not really focused on times right now, we’re totally trying to train hard and get a good base,” Meyer said. “We’re already talking about working on details.”
 
Meyer followed that performance with a time of 1:58.17 in the 200 backstroke, winning the race by more than seven seconds and sliding in below the previous pool-record mark of 1:58.77 set two years ago by Susan Johnson.
 
The time also qualifies Meyer for NCAA consideration in the 200 back.
 
“I thought Maggie, especially, was really sharp tonight,” Hansen said. “She is doing a great job of preparing herself for success at the end of the season.”
 
Wanland, a teammate to Meyer on the U.S. national team, toppled the Badgers’ third pool record of the night by breezing to a win in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.45, also an NCAA consideration mark. The sophomore then went on to claim top honors in the 200 breast, as well, with an NCAA cut of 2:15.86.
 
Meyer and Wanland also helped the Badgers open the meet on a strong note, as they swam the first two legs of UW’s winning entry in the 200 medley relay, which clocked in at 1:43.08. Miller and Thompson helped anchor the effort home for the first of their multiple event wins on the evening.
 
Both also were part of the Badgers’ winning squad in the 400 freestyle relay, combing with Meyer and Rosie Morahan to clock in at 3:24.96 and narrowly miss NCAA championships consideration.
 
Thompson also claimed victory in both sprint freestyle races, taking the 50 free in 23.33 seconds and then backing that performance up with a time of 51.13 to win the 100 free, as well.
 
Morahan, meanwhile, brought home the top spot in the 200 free, clocking in at 1:53.24.
 
The distance freestyle events went the Badgers’ way, as well, with Beckwith sweeping the 500 free ( in a time of 5:00.97) and the 1,000 free (10:10.48).
 
In the 1-meter diving competition, junior Ciara Rinaudo took the top spot with a score of 271.28, while freshman Roxanne Fitter picked up the first win of her career on the 3-meter board by totaling 269.85 to narrowly edge out Rinaudo’s runner-up effort of 267.45.
 
“Our women are very strong this year,” Meyer said. “We’re about to do something that Wisconsin swimming hasn’t done before on the women’s side.”