Men's Swimmers Move Into Fifth at Big Tens
February 28, 2003 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The Wisconsin men's swimmers moved up a spot Friday at the 2003 Big Ten Conference Championships and trail fourth-place Northwestern by just four points (252-248). Junior Matt Marshall led the Badgers with second-place finishes in the 200 medley relay, 100 fly and 100 back.
'We swam well tonight,' coach Eric Hansen said. 'Props to Matt Marshall. He has been our workhorse.'
The Badgers' 200 medley relay kicked off Friday's finals' action with a second-place finish behind Minnesota. Adam Mania and Kevin Zakrzewski started things off for the Badger quartet and Marshall and Dale Rogers helped finish in 1:27.89.
In the 100 fly, Marshall went wire-to-wire with Eugene Botes, but came up .01 seconds short of the Big Ten title. Botes touched at 47.40, edging Marshall 's 47.41. In the 100 back, Marshall took second behind Todd Smolinski, who defended his 2002 title in the event. Last year, Marshall took fourth in the 100 fly and sixth in the 100 back at Big Tens.
Swimming alongside his teammate, Mania placed third in the 100 back, touching in 48.04. His first individual event finals at the conference meet, Mania edged out Purdue's Louis Paul, who finished in 48.07. The Badgers' 800 free relay of Wiesner, Dale Rogers, Pat Torpey, and Matt Zuiderhof also finished third in a time of 6:31.64.
Sophomore Tim Liebhold, swimming in his first Big Ten finals race, took eighth in the 400 IM (3:55.85). Rogers also placed eighth (1:39.46) in his finals event, the 200 free.
Brink Ciferri, swimming in the consolation finals of the 400 IM, finished 13th overall. In other consolation finals, Eric Wiesner took 11th in the 200 free (1:38.32) and Mania placed 16th in the 100 fly (50.12).
The Badgers look to catch the Wildcats tomorrow on the final day of the 2003 Big Ten Championships. Prelims start at 11 a.m., while finals begin at 6 p.m.
