Freshmen continue record pace at Texas Invite
December 05, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
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The Wisconsin swimming team twice topped another Big Ten Conference record, and another UW freshman twice set a new school mark to highlight the Badgers' efforts in Friday at the Texas Invitational.
Freshman Ashley Wanland had her hand in all four record-setting performances on the day, as she twice improved the UW school record in the 100-yard breaststroke and also was part of a 200-yard medley relay team that twice lowered the school and Big Ten standards in that event.
In the morning preliminaries, Wanland took nearly a half-second off the previous school standard by clocking a time of 1:00.87 that has her seeded second for the event final. She backed that up with a runner-up finish in the evening session, shaving off another eight-tenths of a second to improve her UW record to 1:00.07.
She is the second freshman to set a school record for the Badgers in as many days, as fellow rookie Beckie Thompson earned a spot atop the record book in the 50 freestyle Thursday.
Wanland's times, which both surpassed the 'B' standard for NCAA championships consideration, narrowly missed the automatic qualification mark of 59.99.
'I was really surprised, because I made a couple of mistakes during the race, ' said Wanland, a three-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier and former U.S. junior national team member, of the first record. 'I wasn't expecting it to be that fast, but I was happy to see the time when I got out of the water.
'It's a great feeling, no doubt. This meet has been great for a lot of us.'
Wanland also contributed in the 200 medley relay, as the Badgers clocked a Big Ten-record time of 1:38.00 in the prelims, The quartet of sophomore Maggie Meyer, Wanland, senior Christine Zwiegers and Thompson then improved their mark in the final, finishing second in 1:37.91.
The clockings, both 'B' cuts, improved the previous conference and school record of 1:38.89.
'The fact that Beckie Thompson has been part of three Big Ten records and Ashley Wanland has been part of two of them is something that really speaks for itself, ' said UW head coach Eric Hansen. 'I've really been impressed with how our freshmen have come out and competed.'
Also for the UW women, Meyer clocked the second-fastest time in school history in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA 'B' cut of 53.62 during the preliminary session. She then finished seventh in the finals with a 54.54.
On the men's side, junior Derrick O'Donnell moved into fifth on the Badgers' all-time list in the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.84 that earned him an eighth-place finish in the event.
Junior Jesse Stipek was right on O'Donnell's heels, posting the sixth-fastest mark in school history with his 48.88 that was good for ninth.
The Badgers also hit the NCAA 'B' standard in the men's 200 medley relay, with O'Donnell, junior Dan Koenig, senior Scott Rice and junior Phil Davies clocking a 1:28.39 in the prelims that ranks sixth in school history. The squad backed that up with another, although slower, 'B' cut in the finals, a 1:28.52 that earned the Badgers a fourth-place finish.
Sophomore Kyle Thompson, Davies, senior Kyle Sorensen and freshman Brett Nagle also posted a 'B' cut in the men's 800 freestyle relay, earning a runner-up finish in 6:31.71. The time ranks No. 7 all-time for the Badgers.
'The men got some `B' cuts, which is always a good thing,' Hansen said. 'We know we still need to be better in order to be effective at the end of the year, though.
'We've done some great things so far, but we certainly have some other things we can really improve upon.'
The third and final day of the Texas Invitational begins with preliminaries at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by a finals session that gets underway at 6 p.m. at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Events to be contested are the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 1,650 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay.
