Divers shine in 179-120 loss to No. 1 Arizona
October 31, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The No. 28 Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team fell in a hard fight to the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, losing 179-120 in Tucson, Ariz., Friday evening.
Even though the Wildcats won the meet, the Badger women took strides by beating out the top-ranked Wildcats in three swimming events, placing first in the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. Wisconsin also took the top two spots in all diving events.
Wisconsin sophomore Maggie Meyer grabbed first in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 54.76. Meyer also helped the 200-yard medley relay team to a third-place finish and the 200-yard freestyle relay to a second-place finish. In the 100-yard freestyle, Meyer took fourth, finishing in 51.73.
The 200-yard backstroke victory came from junior Candice Peak, who edged out Arizona 's Andrea Boritzke for first. After Peak, the Wildcats took the next five places. In the 100-yard butterfly, sophomore Molly Southworth took first with a time of 56.68, followed by teammate Christine Zwiegers. Southworth and Zwiegers were the only two Badgers swimming in the event.
Junior Gabby Maddalena finished the 1000-yard freestyle in second, clocking a time of 10:05.35, while freshman Danielle Beckwith, freshman Kelly Winkler and sophomore Abby Soderholm took fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The Badgers also put up strong finishes against Arizona in the breaststroke events.
Wisconsin freshman Ashley Wanland took second in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, and junior Libby Brooks finished right behind Wanland for third in both events.
Other swimming highlights for the Badgers included Peak's fourth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, second and third-place finishes by senior Jen Illescas and Maddalena, respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle, junior Rosie Morahan's second-place swim in the 100-yard freestyle and the third-place finish earned by freshman Beckie Thompson in the extremely tight 50-yard freestyle race.
In diving, Junior Emily Cheffins racked up a final score of 293.02 in the 1-meter to place first, followed by Sophomore Ciara Rinaudo with 278.32. The duo got first and second in the 3-meter as well, this time with Rinaudo in first and Cheffins in the number two spot with 314.55 and 294.68 points, respectively.
Wisconsin's next contest will be a Big Ten conference meet at home against Northwestern. They will host the Wildcats at 5 p.m. on Nov. 13 in the UW Natatorium.
