Swim Teams Shine During Day One of Texas Invite
December 04, 2003 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened the first day of competition at the Texas Invitational with some impressive performances despite swimming under some adverse situations.
After swimming the preliminary rounds in the morning on a short course, it was decided that the finals would be swum on a long course. The Badgers opted not to participate in the finals on the long course and instead chose to compete in time trials on a short course in the diving well.
'I felt under the given circumstances that we swam well, ' Wisconsin head coach Eric Hansen said. 'We had some impressive breakthroughs and some really solid relay performances which are a sign of good things to come for the rest of this meet. Adam Mania, Carly Piper and Bethany Pendleton continue to impress.'
Pendleton, a senior, and Piper, a junior, topped the performances on the women's side, earning UW's first NCAA 'A' cut performances of the season. Both swimmers automatically qualified during the prelims and then bested their times during the evening session. Piper posted a season-best time of 4:43.72 in the 500-yard freestyle, while Pendleton finished the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:00.05.
Wisconsin closed out the meet with a school-record performance in the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Molly Buhrandt, Amalia Sarnecki, Susan Johnson and Piper posted a time of 3:41.50 to best the previous mark of 3:42.58 set in 1998.
In addition to Pendleton's effort in the 200 IM, Anna Trinidad (2:01.34), Emily Pisula (2:01.88) and Susan Johnson (2:02.37) each earned 'B' cuts in the event. The Badgers also got 'B' cuts from Sarah Hernandez (23.27) and Buhrandt (23.50) in the 50-yard freestyle, Johnson in the 100-yard butterfly (54.41) and the 200-yard free relay team of Hernandez, Buhrandt, Shannon VanCuren and Pendleton (1:32.06).
On the men's side, junior Adam Mania continued his outstanding season by setting a new school record in the 200 IM. Mania's time of 1:46.99 was a 'B' cut mark and bested UW's previous record of 1:47.37 set by Brendan Coyne in 2001. Tim Liebhold also provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet with a time of 1:47.84.
UW's 400 medley relay team of Mania, Kevin Zakrzewski, Matt Marshall and Dale Rogers posted a time of 3:12.88 in the preliminary round to earn a 'B' cut and set a new meet record.
The Badgers also got 'B' standard efforts from Marshall in the 100 fly (48.05), Rogers in the 50 free (20.33) and the 200 free relay team of Marshall, Mania, Eric Wiesner and Rogers (1:19.31).
Competing against some of the country's top talent in one of the nation's fastest pools, Wisconsin will continue its competition at the invitational on Friday and Saturday. Preliminary rounds are slated for 10 a.m. with time trials set for approximately 8:30 p.m.
