Badgers to Tangle With Wildcats
November 09, 2006 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The University of Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams resume conference action when they take on Northwestern at 4 p.m. Friday at the Norris Aquatics Center in Evanston, Ill. The meet will mark the return of former NU diving coach Tom Michael, now with Wisconsin.
Both the UW men's (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) and 19th-ranked women's (3-1, 1-0) teams started the season on a tear before falling to Arizona last week. In 2005, the Wisconsin women defeated their NU counterparts 147-75, while the men lost 125-99.
The Wildcats' teams are having contrasting results so far. The men's team (2-0), ranked No. 7, opened its season with a victory over then-No. 12 Indiana, and followed that up with a triumph against No. 18 Purdue last week. The women (0-3), however, have not been as fortunate. They were routed by California to start the year, then lost to then-No. 17 Indiana and Purdue.
But team scores aside, the focus of Friday's dual meet will be the homecoming of Michael, who was with the 'Cats from 2000-06. Among his accomplishments, he coached several Big Ten championships finalists and NCAA Zone Diving qualifiers, including 2006 3-meter diving champion and honorable mention All-American Chelsea Davis.
Davis set pool records on both the 1- and 3-meter boards last year against Wisconsin, and then-sophomore Ryan McIntosh swept the boards on the men's side. Fortunately for the Badgers, Davis has since transferred, but Northwestern is not without their diving talent, since the returning letterwinners were recruited and trained by Michael.
'I have mixed feelings. It will be exciting and weird at the same time, to see my former divers but not to be coaching them,' Michael said. 'However, I 'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. It should be a great meet, and we need our divers to step up.'
Michael, who will have a large contingency of fans and diving alums at the meet, will counter with his current divers, such as freshman Jenny Hawkins and sophomore Kelly Todd. The former has led the women's squad in every meet this year; she won the 1-meter board and took second on the 3-meter board against Arizona. Todd took second on the 3-meter board in the same meet.
---
For game notes, please click on the link on the right side of the page.
