Feb. 17, 2010

Results | Results | Thursday Heat Sheets | Video: Day 1 Wrapup

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team is off to a hot start at the 2010 Big Ten Championships after scoring a win in the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet Wednesday at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

The Badgers grabbed the victory -- their second-consecutive Big Ten title in the event -- by clocking a pool-record time of 1:37.34 to finish over a second ahead of runner-up Minnesota.

The time, recorded by the foursome of junior Maggie Meyer, sophomore Ashley Wanland, junior Karlyn Hougan and sophomore Beckie Thompson, is the fourth-fastest mark in school history and automatically qualifies the Badgers for next month's NCAA championships.

The performance also propelled the Badgers into a tie for third place after the first night of competition, with a total of 62 points. Indiana holds the early lead with 72 points.

"We've had a lot of momentum throughout the season winning races that we weren't expecting to win," Meyer said. "We knew coming in this was one of our more solid relays, so we expected to put together some great swims."

Meyer staked the Badgers to an early lead by splitting a 24.16 on the opening 50-yard backstroke leg. Wanland followed with a strong swim of 27.50 on the breaststroke leg, and the Badgers owned a lead of nearly a second over Minnesota at the halfway point.

Hougan followed with a split of 23.82 to keep the Badgers out front, and Thompson anchored the winning effort home in an outstanding time of 21.86.

The title is the third-career Big Ten championship for Meyer, Thompson and Wanland, and the first for Hougan.

"We haven't all raced together yet this season, so to put it all together and have a great race was really exciting," Meyer said.

Meyer, Wanland and Thompson combined with then-senior Christine Zwiegers to set the all-time Big Ten record in the 200 medley relay at 1:36.29 on their way to the title at last year's conference meet.

That trio has been part of each of the six fastest 200 medley relays in school history.

"It's a step in the right direction for what we want to accomplish at the end of the year," said head coach Eric Hansen. "I'm very pleased that they're on track to do what we want to do.

"It's always nice to have four All-Big Ten swimmers on the first night, and it sets them up to have a great meet."

The Badgers closed the short program on the meet's opening night by taking eighth place in the 800-yard freestyle relay, finishing in 7:16.77.

Thompson jumped right back in to compete in that event, combining with senior Rosie Morahan, freshman Laura Miller and freshman Ruby Martin to form the quartet.

The Big Ten championships continue Thursday, with preliminaries getting underway at 10 a.m. and the finals session set for 5:30 p.m.

Thursday's schedule includes the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and the 1-meter diving competition.