Oct. 30, 2009
Complete Results | Complete Results 
MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin women’s swimming and diving team had the future in mind Friday, finishing their dual meet with Minnesota with new records, season-best times and several strong performances.
Sophomore Beckie Thompson had a lot of smile about, as she crushed the UW Natatorium’s 11-year-old pool record in the 50-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 22.94 for an NCAA championships qualifying mark.
“It was a pretty big shock,” Thompson said. “I didn’t expect that for another month yet, but I’m glad to be under 23 right now and it makes the future look even better.”
Thompson also swam a season-best time in the 100 free, just missing the NCAA qualifying mark, but her impressive time of 50.69 was enough to take the win and finish a sweep of the sprint freestyle events.
It was also Thompson who put the Badgers in contention to take the 400-yard freestyle relay. She followed lead leg Rosie Morahan, who had the Badgers in second, and gave UW a significant lead with her split of 50.76.
Freshman Laura Miller followed and kept the Badgers out front, with junior Maggie Meyer anchoring the effort with a split of 50.67 to bring the Badgers the win in 3:25.85.
“I love relays, they’re one of my favorite things to do,” Thompson said. “They help me get out and race more. I just tried to take over the lead and stick it.”
Meyer and Thompson also combined with Ashley Wanland and Karlyn Hougan to win the 200 medley relay with an NCAA qualifying time of 1:41.29. Minnesota’s Hannah Whitehead, Jillian Tyler, Kaylee Jamison and Alison Eggers took second in 1:43.38.
Thompson’s impressive split of 22.29 on the anchor helped UW secure the victory.
The Badgers hadn’t seen Minnesota since last year’s NCAA championships, when Minnesota placed 11th and Wisconsin took 14th, and the teams battled closely throughout the meet Friday.
In the end, this meeting ended the same as the teams’ matchup last season, when the Gophers halted UW’s streak of 45 consecutive Big Ten wins. Friday, the Gophers claimed victory by a score of 179-121.
In all, the Badgers won seven events – including two each by Thompson and Meyer – and posted a total of six NCAA qualifying performances.
“We had quite a few bright spots individually,” said UW head coach Eric Hansen, whose team was without several swimmers due to illness. “It was interesting how the meet was a reflection of the week we had, because it was a rough week in terms of our health and the way we practiced.”
The Badgers fell short of redemption as a team, but individually, Wanland managed to exact some revenge.
The national leader in the 200 breast, Wanland went head to head with Minnesota’s Jillian Tyler in the event, hoping to make up for the win Tyler grabbed from Wanland earlier in the night in the 100 breast.
At last year’s NCAA championships, Wanland placed third in the 100 breast (59.14) behind second-place finisher Tyler (58.53). Friday, Tyler narrowly edged out Wanland in the 100 breast to set a Natatorium record of 1:01.68.
Wanland finished second, but with a season-best time of 1:01.94, also an NCAA qualifying time.
Later on, however, Wanland retaliated in the 200 breast by taking first and topping Tyler with a time of 2:13.15. The swim did not top her nation-leading mark of 2:13.05, but it was another NCAA qualifying time to add to Wanland’s impressive early-season list.
Meyer kept her strong start to the season going, as well, and remained relentless in her primary events, winning both the 100 and 200 backstroke with a pair of NCAA qualifying marks.
She has won all nine individual events in which she has competed this year, and has posted an NCAA qualifying time in every backstroke race she has entered.
Candice Peak finished a strong second to Meyer in the 100 back and swam a season-best 57.80, a performance she followed up by taking third in the 200 back with a season-best time of 2:05.12.
In the 1,000 free, sophomore Danielle Beckwith took third with a season-best time of 10:02.58, topping her previous season best 10:10.48 set in the Badgers’ dual against Iowa.
Beckwith also took third in the 500 free, with a time of 4:55.57, beating her season best by five seconds.
Although Minnesota stole the first four places in the 200 free, Beckwith took fifth, swimming her third season-best time of the night at 1:53.77.
“I think we’re at a really good spot,” Thompson concluded. “Obviously we still have things to work on, still technical difficulties we need to clean up a little bit, but I think every meet we improve more and more.
“The goal is at the end of the season.”
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Lindsey Labelle
Wisconsin Athletic Communications
