Wisconsin Badgers
Northwestern
Relay wins power Badgers to victory over Northwestern
November 13, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 13, 2009
Complete Results | Complete Results 
MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team jumped ahead early with a relay win and then held off a charge by Northwestern by winning another to secure a 153-144 win over the Wildcats in a Big Ten Conference dual meet Friday in Evanston, Ill.
The Badgers scored their second-consecutive win over the Wildcats after Northwestern had won four straight in the series from 2004 to 2007. The victory also gave UW its first Big Ten victory of the season and improved the Badgers to 2-4 overall in dual meets.
A win to start the night in the 200-yard medley relay gave the Badgers an early lead, and a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay gave them the lead for good.
After the foursome of Derrick O'Donnell, Eric Johnson, Chuck Allison and Phil Davies clocked a time of 1:32.32 to win the 200 medley relay, the Badgers led for most of the meet. The Wildcats rallied, however, to tie the score at 140-140 with one event remaining.
That race, the 400 free relay, also went the Badgers' way, as Wes Lagerhausen, Chris Nemeth, Conner Andrews and Davies combined to claim the win in 3:02.37 and secure the meet victory in the process.
The relay victories were two of the eight recorded on the night by the Badgers, including four contributed to by Davies.
The senior also claimed victory in the 50-yard freestyle, with a season-best time of 21.22 seconds, and in the 100 free in a season-best 46.14.
O'Donnell also scored a pair of individual event wins, taking the 100-yard backstroke in 51.31 and claiming a narrow win in the 200 back with a time of 1:52.22.
UW's other wins came on the springboard, with junior Al Morrison scoring 315.08 in the 3-meter diving competition - his second-best mark of the year - to claim top honors ahead of teammate Caleb Percevecz's mark of 307.20.
On the 1-meter board, Percevecz came out on top with a score of 320.33 to hold off freshman teammate Michael Ross and his mark of 313.35.
The Badgers' swimmers will now have three weeks to prepare for their next competition, the Texas Invitational, which is set for Dec. 4-6. UW's divers, however, return to action next weekend in the Arizona Diving Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
