Badgers Finish Eighth at Big Ten Championships
February 18, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
On the third and final day of the Big Ten championships, the Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team recorded four NCAA 'B' times and four top-eight finishes en route to an eighth place finish at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.
Sophomore Scott Rice had the top individual mark on the day for Wisconsin. Rice, the Badgers' leading scorer on the weekend with 31 points, came in fourth in the 200-yard butterfly with an NCAA 'B' time of 1:45.64. Rice finished the weekend with four NCAA 'B' times.
Also placing in the 200-yard butterfly were juniors Tommy Gregory who came in 14th (1:48.99) and Brett Koerten who finished 19th with a time of 1:50.04.
In the 200-yard backstroke, sophomore Mike Hopkins recorded a time of 1:46.41, which was good for not only eighth place but also an NCAA 'B' time. Two other Badgers recorded top-20 times in the event as sophomore Ben Bruce finished 16th (1:48.04) and fellow sophomore Nick Fulton placed 18th (1:49.78).
Sophomore Eric Johnson notched his third NCAA 'B' time of the weekend as he finished eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke. Johnson finished in a time of 1:59.52. Freshman Derrick O' Donnell earned 13th place with his time of 2:00.93, just .13 off of an NCAA 'B' time.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Junior Mike Swanson nabbed 20th place with his time of 46.17, while senior Tom Molzahn finished 24th (51.96).
Junior Taylor Mathis was the lone Badger to compete in the 1650-yard freestyle. Mathis, who was later named as a Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree, came in 27th place with a time of 15:48.64.
In the only relay race of the day, The Badger team of sophomore Kyle Sorensen, freshman Phil Davies, Molzahn and sophomore Mike Desautels came in fifth with an NCAA 'B ' time of 2:56.29.
Two Badgers competed on the platform diving board Sunday. Freshman Tim Feyereisen finished in 19th place with a score of 198.75 while fellow freshman Al Morrison followed one spot behind him by earning a 20th place finish with a score of 190.65.
Minnesota came back from a two-point deficit following day two to capture first place with a score of 612.5. Michigan came in second with a score of 608.5. The Badgers finished in eighth place for the third day in a row with a final score of 245.5.
From here, the Badgers will wait to see if any of their NCAA 'B' times will qualify for the NCAA championships which will be held March 15-17 in Minneapolis.
