Relays and Depth Aid Badgers In '02-03
October 08, 2002 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The story of the men's swimming and diving 2002-03 season will again be the Badgers ' relay teams and their ability to fill the void left by senior co-captains, UW record holders and All-Americans Brendan Coyne and Lance Jones. The Wisconsin men 's and women's swimming and diving team opens its 2002-03 season Saturday with a dual meet versus UW-Stevens Point at 10 a.m.
Coyne's and Jones' relay teammates from last year, juniors Matt Marshall and Dale Rogers, are up to the challenge and have a deep cast to help them lead the Badgers to a third-consecutive top-20 finish at the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers finished 18th at the 2002 NCAA Championships for the second-straight year and tallied 41.5 points behind the strength of their relays. The 200 medley relay swam the No. 1 time in the preliminaries before finishing seventh in the finals.
'Our quartet from last year set a precedent by qualifying first in the prelims of the 200 medley relay at the NCAA championships,' Hansen said. 'Although they didn't bring home the NCAA title, they broke new ground for our team to build on in the future.'
Relays
'Our men's season will be focused and centered around relay development, relay improvement,' head coach Eric Hansen said. 'The strength in our men's relay is currently our medley relays and will continue to be although we're hoping to add a solid 800 free relay.'
Last year, the Badgers were led by mainly four swimmers in the relays: Lance Jones, Dale Rogers, Matt Marshall and Brendan Coyne. Look for that to change this year with the Badger depth working into the equation.
Hansen will be looking to Adam Mania, Kevin Zakrzewski and Chris Anderson and others to fill relay spots.
Freestyle
Junior Dale Rogers leads the Badgers in the freestyle events, holding the school record in the 100 free. Matt Marshall will also be heavily relied upon in the freestyle events.
Junior Chris Anderson has come on strong and he will also add to the individual freestyle events as well as the free relays. Anderson shares the 400 free relay school record with Marshall, Rogers and Lance Jones.
Freshman Michael Hamm and sophomore Andrew Ackely will head up the distance freestyle. Tim Liebhold is also developing into a distance freestyler.
Backstroke
The Badgers will need to fill the void left by UW record holder in the 100 back and All-American Brendan Coyne.
'Our main focus here is development,' Hansen said. 'The quicker some of our freshmen and sophomores can develop the better off our backstroke will be.'
Freshman James Wike is one of the rookies who will be called upon in the event, while Matt Marshall and Adam Mania give the Badgers experience in the 100 backstroke. Marshall finished sixth at Big Tens in the 100 back.
'Backstroke looks to be a much improved aspect of the Badgers men's swimming team,' Hansen added.
Brink Ciferri and Tim Liebhold will aid in the 200 backstroke.
Breaststroke
The Badgers look to replace UW record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and All-American Lance Jones with Kevin Zakrzewski.
Zakrzewski had an excellent summer training with Wisconsin Aquatics and swam in the 2002 Phillips 66 Summer Nationals after qualifying in the 100 breast at the Janet Evans Invite.
'Kevin is coming off a huge summer and has established himself as one of the best college breaststrokers in the country,' Hansen said.
'We expect him to play a vital role in both our relays and individually,' added coach Geoff Hanson.
Senior co-captain Brian Neuman will be the main contributor in the 200 breast. Neuman finished 14th in the 200 breast at the 2002 Big Tens.
Butterfly
The Badgers lose Coyne's fly experience, but Marshall steps in will be our primary sprint butterflyer. With it being a secondary event for Adam Mania but yet a strong event. Our 200 fly got significantly stronger this summer with the improvement of Pat Torpey and Matt Zuiderhof.
Zuiderhof took sixth at the 2002 Big Tens in the 200 fly, while Torpey finished in 10th.
Eric Wiesner also looks to be a factor in the 200 fly.
Individual Medley
Brink Ciferri, Tim Liebhold and Brian Neuman return as Wisconsin 's main IM core from last year. Ciferri placed 11th in the 400 IM and 16th in the 200 IM at the 2002 Big Tens.
Freshman James Wike will add some new talent into the lineup for the Badgers.
'James Wike is a huge talent that should step in and be an impact swimmer from the very beginning,' Hansen said.
Diving
With the loss of the UW's lone male diver in 2001-02, Kevin Engholdt, the Badgers turn to freshman Matt Smith. A high school All-American, Smith will aid the Badgers on the board.
