Badgers fight hard in loss to No. 3 Arizona
October 31, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The Wisconsin men's swimming and diving put up a strong fight, but it wasn 't enough as the team fell to the third-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 173-126. The loss drops the Badgers to 1-2 in dual meets this season, while the Wildcats are now 1-0.
Wisconsin captured first in six of the evening's events, including two individual wins by senior Scott Rice (Des Moines, Wash.) and two overall by senior Kyle Sorensen (Palatine, Ill.) and junior Phil Davies (Rye, N.Y.).
Rice continued his impressive 2008 campaign with victories in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. After finishing the events in times of 50.15 and 1:50.28, respectively, Rice upped his season win total to seven in just three meets.
Sorensen and Davies each notched a victory in an individual race as well as in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Sorensen garnered his first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.00, while Davies picked his up grabbed his in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 45.55.
The two then teamed up with freshman Wes Lagerhausen (Fontana, Wis.) and sophomore Conner Andrews (Nashotah, Wis.) to win the relay race with a mark of 1:22.78.
Wisconsin's other top finish came in the 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Brett Nagle (Portland, Ore.) posted his third victory of the season as he finished the race in a time of 4:37.02. Nagle had another strong outing in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second with a time of 1:41.73.
The Badgers also saw strong performances from junior Derrick O' Donnell (McFarland, Wis.) who finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and senior Mike Hopkins (Wilmington, Del.) who finished second in the 200-yard backstroke.
In the two diving events of the evening, sophomore Caleb Percevecz (Scottsdale, Ariz.) led the way finishing second in both the 1 and 3-meter dives. He posted a score of 346.27 on the 1-meter board and a 352.05 on the 3-meter.
The men's swimming and diving team will compete again on Thursday, November 13 when it hosts Northwestern.
