All-America relay has Badgers ninth at NCAAs
March 19, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
It may be two days ahead of schedule, but the Wisconsin women's swimming team is exactly where it wants to be following the opening day of the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.
An All-America performance in the 400-yard medley relay has the 14th-ranked Badgers sitting in ninth place after day one of the three-day national meet. UW's best-ever NCAA finish is the ninth-place showing the Badgers posted in 2006.
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'We're right where we want to be,' 10th-year UW head coach Eric Hansen said. 'We had an outstanding first day and I couldn't be more pleased with the way swam tonight in the finals.'
The opening evening at Texas A&M's Student Recreation Center Natatorium ended with the Badgers racing their way to a seventh-place finish in the 400 medley relay, the Badgers' best-ever showing in the event. It is UW's fifth All-America performance in the 400 medley relay in six seasons.
Sophomore Maggie Meyer led things off for UW on the backstroke leg, clocking a split of 52.88 seconds. Freshman Ashley Wanland followed on the breaststroke, covering her 100-yard leg in 58.81 to touch the wall with the Badgers in third place. Junior Karlyn Hougan followed on the butterfly leg in 53.27, with junior Rosie Morahan anchoring UW to the finish in 48.60.
The effort was one of four All-America finishes for the Badgers on the first day of the national meet and has UW sitting ninth in the team standings with 46.5 points, the best showing of any Big Ten Conference team. Arizona leads the way with a score of 141.5 after day one.
'The medley relay was four good performances coming together for us,' Hansen said. 'We don't have any divers here, so our finish is going to depend exclusively on what we do in the pool.
'We're off to the type of start we need to be and, now, it's a matter of continuing to perform at that level over the next two days.'
The Badgers' swim in the 400 medley relay also capped an outstanding night for UW's relays, as UW also scored a ninth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay and the quartet of freshman Beckie Thompson, Meyer, senior Christine Zwiegers and sophomore Kelsey Gergen earned honorable mention All-America honors.
The squad tied for the win in the consolation final of the event, clocking in at 1:29.21 to match Florida for the ninth spot overall. Arizona won the 200 free relay in an American-record time of 1:26.90.
Thompson started things off for the Badgers with a split of 22.55 on the leadoff leg, which Meyer followed up with a blazing 21.65 for her 50-yard segment. Zwiegers clocked a 22.70 on the third leg before Gergen brought the Badgers home with a split of 22.31 -- including a perfect 0.00 reaction time -- over the final 50.
Zwiegers has now earned All-America honors in the 200 freestyle in three consecutive years, including last year as part of the Badgers' fourth-place finish at the 2008 championships.
Meyer continued her career day in the freestyle sprint, as she backed up her career-best time of 22.18 from the morning prelims with a clocking of 22.29 in the finals of the 50 freestyle. The time earned the sophomore an 11th-place finish and honorable mention All-America honors.
The same went for Thompson, who clocked in at 22.78 to finish 16th overall. She had posted a time of 22.14 in the prelims and owns the Big Ten record in the event at 22.09.
Meyer and Thompson became just the second and third UW athletes to score All-America finishes in the 50 freestyle, while Meyer pushed her total of All-America citations to six in just two seasons. After the first NCAA championships session of her career, Thompson already is a two-time All-American.
The Badgers continue competition in the NCAA championships Friday, with Gabby Maddalena in the 400 IM, Zwiegers and Hougan in the 100 butterfly, Wanland and Libby Brooks in the 100 breaststroke and Meyer and Candice Peak in the 100 backstroke, as well as the Badgers ' 200 medley relay team, all seeing action in prelims beginning at 11 a.m.
