Jan. 29, 2011
Complete Results | Day 1 Recap
MADISON, Wis. – The dual meet portion of the 2010-11 season for the Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team is officially in the books.
In the final day of competition at the Big Ten Quad Duals in West Lafayette, Ind., the No. 16 Badgers retained their lead against Illinois (270-82), but fell to No. 13 Minnesota (203-150) and host-No. 20 Purdue (176.5-174.5).
Despite the final results, Wisconsin finished with wins in seven events, including in both of Saturday's relays.
The team of junior Beckie Thompson, senior Maggie Meyer, freshman Rebecka Palm and sophomore Ruby Martin began the second day of competition with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 1:31.65, good for an NCAA 'B' qualifying time, is the fastest in the event in a dual meet this season.
Meyer finished the 2010-11 dual meet season undefeated in individual events by picking up a win in the 200-yard backstroke. She finished with a time of 1:56.51, the fastest dual-meet time among the Badgers this season.
Junior Ashley Wanland won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.85, her eighth NCAA 'B' qualifying time in the event this season.
Thompson, Meyer and Palm joined sophomore Laura Miller for a win in the last event of the two-day competition, the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:21.44). Despite finishing three seconds ahead of the second-place relay team from Purdue, it was not enough for the Badgers to secure a win against the Boilermakers.
The depth in how the Badgers finished once again proved to be the difference in Saturday's action, including cutting Purdue's lead against Wisconsin to seven points before the relay.
Palm recorded a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (55.17), while senior Karlyn Hougan and Miller tied for fifth, winning the first heat of the same event. Their time of 56.90 is a season-best for Miller.
Thompson finished .31 second behind Purdue senior Ariel Martin in the 100-yard freestyle with her time of 50.78, while redshirt sophomore Monika Stitski was runner-up in the 400-yard individual medley (4:25.20).
Overall, 14 Badgers finished in the top 10 of their respective events, and no relay team finished lower than fifth.
Wisconsin falls to 5-4 in dual meets this season.
The Badgers are back in action in three weeks at the Big Ten Championships, Feb. 16-19, at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on the campus of Indiana.
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Caissa Casarez
UW Athletic Communications
