UW Drops Dual Against No. 4 Arizona
November 02, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The UW men's swimming and diving team was handed its first loss of the season on Friday, falling to No. 4 Arizona, 172-116. The meet was completed on Friday in Tucson, Ariz., at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
The loss dropped the Badgers to a 3-1 record, as they were able to pick up victories in their first three duals against UW-Green Bay, Iowa and UW-Milwaukee.
For Arizona, the competition was the team's first of the season. Prior to Friday, the Wildcats hadn't competed since their third-place finish at the NCAA Championships back in March.
Though Wisconsin was unable to record a victory, the meet was not without several UW highlights.
After the Badgers failed to pick up a top-three finish in any of the first five events, junior Scott Rice (Des Moines, Wash.) put forth a wonderful effort in the 200-yard butterfly, notching first place with a time of 1:49.99, over three seconds ahead of second place. Senior Brett Koerten (Sevierville, Tenn.) picked up third place (1:53.33) in the same event.
Sophomore Derrick O'Donnell (McFarland, Wis.) was the next Wisconsin swimmer to crack the top-three, finishing third in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:09.08).
With the Wildcats failing to play point-eligible swimmers in the final few events, junior Mike Hopkins (Wilmington, Del.) came first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:46.94) while Scott Rice compiled two more first-place finishes, this time in the 100-yard butterfly (49.97) and 200-yard IM (1:53.11).
The Badgers also displayed their great young talent in the diving events.
Freshman Caleb Percevecz (Scottsdale, Ariz.) notched second place from the 1-meter board (281.10 points) with sophomore Al Morrison (Fenton, Mich.) following right behind in third (271.05 points).
The rookie Percevecz again flashed his great potential in the 3-meter event, finishing third with 278.62 points.
The dual against Arizona was UW's last one-on-one matchup of the year. Wisconsin will participate in a triangular against Northwestern and Michigan in two weeks and then compete in the Texas Invite Prelims at the end of the month.
