Badgers Send Six to NCAA Championships
March 14, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team will send six first-time entrants to the NCAA championships this Thursday-Saturday at the University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Wisconsin has not been to the NCAA championships since 2005, where it placed 19th. The Badgers have never won the NCAA championships and have not had an individual NCAA champion since 1959. The Badgers top finish at the NCAAs came in 1960 when they took ninth.
Senior Tom Molzahn (Barrington, Ill.), sophomores Scott Rice (Des Moines, Wash.), Eric Johnson (Federal Way, Wash.), Mike Desautels (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Kyle Sorensen (Palatine, Ill.) and freshman Phil Davies (Rye, N.Y.) will all be making their first ever first appearances at the NCAA championships this weekend.
Molzahn, the team's captain and the only senior on the entire roster, will be competing on five relay teams this weekend. A member of the school-record 200-yard freestyle relay team, Molzahn will be apart of the 200- and 400-yard medley relays, and the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay teams.
Rice, who has twice been named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week, will be participating in six events this weekend, including three individual races. The owner of the school record in the 200-yard butterfly, Rice will swim in the 200-yard IM, 100- and 200-yard butterfly, 200- and 400-yard medley relays and 800-yard freestyle relay.
Johnson, owner of the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke, will compete in that event along with the 200-yard breaststroke and 200- and 400-yard medley relays.
Desautels, another member of the school-record 200-yard freestyle relay team, will be competing in the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays.
Sorensen, the third member of the school-record 200-yard freestyle relay team, will compete on two relay teams along with two individual events. Aside from the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, Sorensen will also swim in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.
The final member of that school-record 200-yard freestyle relay team is Davies. The freshman will be competing in the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay teams.
The NCAA championships run Thursday through Saturday with preliminary rounds starting at 11 a.m. each day and the finals are set to start at 7 p.m. each day. Fans can follow live stats by going to DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=717583&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=8400&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT="> --> gophersports.com .
--
For game notes, please click on the link on right side of the page.
