Badgers topple school, conference records in Texas
December 04, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
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When school records fell in the first two events Thursday, it was just the beginning to an outstanding opening round of the Texas Invitational for the Wisconsin men's and women's swimming program.
'It was a sign of things to come,' head coach Eric Hansen said.
The Badgers set a Big Ten Conference record, racked up a total of 21 marks that surpassed the 'B' qualifying standard for the NCAA championships and saw four school records eclipsed on the opening day of competition at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
The highlight came during the evening session, when freshman Beckie Thompson set a Big Ten record in the women's 50-yard freestyle with a split of 22.25 seconds on the opening leg of the Badgers' effort in the finals of the 200 freestyle relay.
Thompson's strong lead propelled the Badgers to a runner-up finish ' and NCAA 'B' cut ' in the race while nipping the previous conference record of 22.26 set last season by Northwestern's Andrea Hupman.
The mark also lowered the UW school record of 22.30 set by then-senior Jackie Vavrek in February.
'It was a shock,' Thompson said of the record. 'I didn 't know what my time was when I got out of the water, and I was really surprised to hear that it was a Big Ten record.
'I haven't even been to the Big Ten meet yet.'
Thompson followed that performance with another 'B' cut in the finals of the 50 free, clocking a 22.42 that was good for fifth place.
Then, she had her hand in another school record, anchoring the Badgers' entry in the 400 medley relay to a third-place finish in a time of 3:37.55. That knocked 1 1/2 seconds off the previous UW standard.
'It doesn't surprise me,' Hansen said of Thompson's performance. 'Nothing these freshmen are doing surprises me.
'They've been all business since day one.'
Not to be outdone by the team's newcomers, senior Scott Rice led the charge for the Badgers' upperclassmen with a record-breaking day of his own.
After senior Christine Zwiegers trimmed seven-tenths of a second off the school record in the prelims of the women's 100 butterfly ' the day's first event ' Rice set a new UW mark in the second event by clocking in at 46.64 in the men's 100 fly.
That mark had a stay atop the record book for just over nine hours, as Rice dropped another tenth in the finals to earn a runner-up finish in a new school-record time of 46.54.
'It felt pretty fast, but it didn't feel that fast,' said Rice, who. 'Those times are better than what I was hoping to be able to do at the end of the season.'
Rice also recorded a 'B' cut in the 200 individual medley with a sixth-place finish in 1:46.71, a time good for third-best in UW history, and was part of the Badgers' quartet that took fourth in the 400 medley relay.
That squad clocked in at 3:13.81 to also earn NCAA consideration with a 'B ' qualifying time.
'As a team, I think we did really well today,' Rice said. 'We had some really good swims.'
That included an outstanding day by junior Phil Davies, who was part of both men 's relays that hit NCAA qualifying standards and also posted the second-fastest time in UW history in the 50 freestyle with a 'B' cut of 19.90.
'We've pointed to this meet since Sept. 2, when we first got together as a team,' Hansen said. 'Today, we did some pretty amazing things. '
Also earning consideration for the NCAA championships were freshman Brett Nagle, who clocked the fourth-fastest 500 freestyle in school history (4:21.83), senior Jen Illescas in the women's 500 freestyle (4:49.21) and sophomore Maggie Meyer in the 50 free (22.50) and 100 backstroke (54.21 leadoff split from 400 medley relay).
'We were all really excited for the first day of the meet and we came out and had a great day,' Thompson said. 'Now we want to keep that going over the next two days.'
Competition continues Friday, with preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. and a finals session set for 6 p.m. Events to be contested on the second day of the meet are the 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay.
