Celebrating the Wisconsin swimming and diving senior class with its final meet on the home pool deck, the Badgers shattered four pool records on their way to completing the sweep of in-state foe Green Bay at the UW Natatorium on Friday night.
“They deserve it for sure,” head coach Whitney Hite said of the senior class. “They epitomize what a student-athlete is. Great grades, great competitors and just good people. It’s fun to see them mature and grow into really great young adults. You feel good when that happens.
“We know that they made some great contributions to our team. They’ve come a long way in four years and this program’s come a long way in their four years here. It’s a great thing to be a part of.”
The Badger men started the record-breaking night off with a crown in the 200-yard medley relay, breaking a record set earlier in the season by Wisconsin at its first home dual against Minnesota.
The team of Austin Byrd, Jake Mandli, Harrison Tran and Ryan Barsanti clocked in at one minute, 28.38 seconds to surpass the previous record of 1:29.88. The team of Adam Mania, Kevin Zakrzewski, Matt Marshall, and Dale Rogers set the original record time of 1:29.94 in 2004.
Byrd kept things rolling individually, as the senior claimed a second pool record in the 100-yard backstroke. Byrd's time of 47.32 seconds bested former teammate Drew TeDuits’ record of 47.45 seconds set in 2015. Byrd’s time also marked a season-best.
In only her second time swimming the event this season, Danielle Valley demolished the UW Natatorium pool record time in the 1,650-yard freestyle set by former Badger and Olympian Carly Piper. Valley clocked in at 16:14.76, shattering the old pool record of 16:24.93 by over 10 seconds.
Cannon Clifton broke the final pool record of the evening by claiming a title in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 43.32 seconds, which tied his previous season-best mark set at the Texas Invitational.
Clifton rewrote the pool record that had long been held by Olympian Garrett Weber-Gale, who swam a 43.49 in the men’s 100-yard freestyle in 2003 while he was in attendance at Nicolet High School.
In his final meet at the UW Natatorium, senior Jake Mandli set season-best marks in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke to win crowns in each event. Mandli touched the wall at 55.51 seconds in the 100-yard event, while clocking in at 1:58.92 in the 200-yard event.
Following suit to Valley’s impressive performance in the mile, Sean Maloney won the event on the men’s side with a season-best time of 15:46.92.
The pair of Anna Meinholz and Ryan O’Donnell claimed titles in the women’s and men’s 200-yard backstroke with season-best times of 2:01.73 and 1:48.00, respectively. Meinholz’s time also stood as a career-best for the senior.
“The main focus was getting ready for Big Ten championships and I thought they did a nice job of that tonight,” Hite said. “We had some fast times. We’re just trying to build that confidence and be ready for the next step. Once we get to conference, we then get ready to build on that for the next step, which is NCAAs. That’s what matters most.”
The Badgers now look ahead to championship season, as the women’s Big Ten championship begin in less than two weeks in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The women will compete February 17-20, while the men’s Big Ten championship will take place in West Lafayette, Indiana, February 24-27.
“The only thing that we need to do now is rest and take care of ourselves,” Hite said. “I think that as long as we keep doing what we’re doing, the only people that can stop us are ourselves.
“We’re in a good spot. I like the team, I like the energy and I like the way it’s coming together. We just need to do what we do.”
