Newcomers and veterans lead men's swimming over UW-Milwaukee
October 10, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team opened its 2008-09 season on Friday night with a big victory over UW-Milwaukee. The Badgers won all 13 of the events en route to a 156-70 win over the Panthers.
Wisconsin got off to a quick start with a win in the night's opening event, the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of senior Nick Fulton (New Brighton, Minn.), junior Steven Wiesner (Montrose, Colo.), sophomore Conner Andrews (Nashotah, Wis.) and freshman Chris Nemeth (Highland Hills, Ohio) swam the event in a time of 3:27.88.
It was then time for the much-heralded freshman class to take over. The group was ranked ninth entering the season and it did not disappoint.
Freshman Brett Nagle (Portland, Ore) was the next victor in the evening as he won the 1000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:37.52.
Fellow freshman Wes Lagerhausen (Fontana, Wis.) took first in the 200-yard freestyle. He swam it in a time of 1:43.58.
Later in the evening, another freshman scored a win as Jeff Morris won the 500-yard freestyle. The Fort Thomas, Ky. native won the race in 4:43.95.
Andrews added his second win of the season when he claimed first in the 50-yard freestyle. He won the race with a time of 21.79.
Senior Scott Rice (Des Moines, Wash.) showed why the Badgers are counting on him for veteran leadership as he won two events on the evening. He won the 200-yard IM in a time of 1:55.67 and then captured first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.07.
Fellow senior Kyle Sorensen (Palatine, Ill.) proved that he will be one of the team 's top contributors as he won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 46.21.
Like Rice before him, junior Derrick O' Donnell (McFarland, Wis.) also won two races on the evening. He got his first win in the 100-yard backstroke as he won the race in a time of 51.06 and then added another first place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. He did so with a time of 59.35.
The last race of the night was an exhibition in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The race had an interesting twist as each Wisconsin foursome represented a class. On this night, the sophomores prevailed as Andrews, Fraser Roberts (Richmond, British Columbia), Luke Lengfeld (Cross Plains, Wis.) and Kyle Thompson (New Berlin, Wis.) won with a mark of 1:24.59.
Two diving events took place on Friday night and sophomore Caleb Percevecz (Scottsdale, Ariz.) took home first in each. On the 1-meter board, he won with a score of 333.98 and then recorded a score of 334.73 on the 3-meter board.
The men's swimming and diving team returns to the pool next Friday, Oct. 17 when it travels to Iowa City, Iowa for a dual meet against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
