The University of Wisconsin swimming and diving program looked comfortable and loose opening its home schedule with a dual meet against Northwestern, as both the men and women earned victories at the Natatorium on Thursday.
Two pool records were broken on the day, and overall depth flaunted. Headlining for the men was Matt Hutchins' swim in the 500-yard freestyle, which broke a pool record and won the event with a time of 4:25.02. For the women, Ivy Martin broke her own pool record to claim first place in the 100-yard freestyle, touching in 49.55 to top her time of 49.75 from 2013.
The No. 19 Wisconsin men's team claimed 13 first-place finishes to defeat Northwestern, 186.5-125.5, while the No. 19 UW women won 10 events and earned their own victory over the Wildcats, 166.5-125.5.
"This team doesn't shy away from a challenge. I challenged them before the meet and they responded very well," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "Being at home is always great. We know this pool, we've got great fans, and the performances I think reflected that."
Wisconsin wasted no time setting the tone, opening with wins in both the men's and women's 200-yard medley relay. Annie Tamblyn, Anna Meinholz, Ivy Martin and Chase Kinney teamed up to win the event with a time of one minute, 41.18 seconds. For the men, it was Brett Pinfold, Nick Schafer, Drew teDuits and Cannon Clifton who clocked in at 1:30.67 for first place.
Seniors stepped up for the men and defended their home pool, as the group combined to claim five individual, first-place finishes. In the 200-yard freestyle, it was Sarasota, Florida, native Nick Caldwell who touched first in 1:38.50. teDuits dominated the backstroke events, placing first in both the 100 (48.51) and 200 (1:45.25). Rounding out the veteran group was Schafer, who won both the 100- (55.99) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:01.43).
The Badgers also swept the sprint events, as Pinfold touched first in the 100-yard freestyle (45.38) and Irving, Texas, native Clifton won the 50 free in 20.83. Pinfold, a native of Sugar Land, Texas, also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke (48.98), while Clifton tallied another first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (49.94). Fellow sophomore Harrison Tran won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:52.34, while freshmen Max Dolan finished second (1:52.59).
"I was really pleased with Nick Caldwell, who had a great 200 free and his 500 was great," Hite said. "Cannon Clifton was awesome. He's really stepping up and he won his events, so you can't ask for more than that. Brett Pinfold also did a nice job. Drew (teDuits) is back to being Drew and that's a good thing. Overall, it was really good."
For the women, Madison native Aja Van Hout won both the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.37) and 400-yard individual medley (4:18.13).
Jenny Holtzen continued her dominance this season in distance events, as the junior from Fayetteville, Arkansas, touched first in both the 500- (4:54.38) and 1000-yard freestyle (9:57.56) on Thursday.
UW women also had the breaststroke events on lockdown, as Maria Carlson won the 100 breast (1:03.55) and Meinholz claimed the 200 breast in 2:19.80. Meinholz also finished second in the 100 breast (1:03.58).
In diving, Ashley Peterson won both the 1-meter diving (267.90) and 3-meter diving (296.70) events to contribute 18 key team points.
"Ivy was pretty good and I thought Jenny Holtzen was good again, as she continues to have a good season," Hite said. "I thought with our relay, we started paying attention to some really important details like relay exchanges and turns. Maria Carlson's 100 breast was good. Ashley Peterson was great and won both boards, which was huge for us.
"Along with Dana Grindall in the 100 fly and Aja’s 400 IM and 200 back, it's starting to come from different people now. We're starting to get everybody involved in a lot of the events. For as hard as we're working, to perform like they did, it was pretty impressive."
Wisconsin heads next to the Ohio State Invitational for three days of competition beginning Nov. 21.
