Feb. 18, 2011
Results
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women’s swimming and diving team had a successful day at the 2011 Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., Friday, winning two titles and punching two more tickets to the NCAA Championships next month.
The Badgers earned their first championship and their first NCAA automatic qualifying time of the day in the first event of day three, the 400-yard medley relay.
Senior Maggie Meyer, junior Ashley Wanland, freshman Rebecka Palm and junior Beckie Thompson won their second Big Ten title as a team of the championships with a time of 3:32.47, which is a new school and pool record.
“That was great,” Meyer said. “We were using the relay to think about NCAA’s and how we are going to feel with having people to race and the competition, and I think we succeeded in that and didn’t let the competition faze us.”
Head coach Eric Hansen was proud of the team’s performance.
“The highlight of the day was definitely the medley relay,” he said. “To finish with the fastest time in three of the four relays (contested so far) is great.”
Meyer then added to her trophy case and remained undefeated in the 100-yard backstroke event in 2011, winning her second-straight Big Ten title with a time of 51.99.
“It feels good,” Meyer said. “I had a goal coming into tonight to have two swims under 52 seconds and I did that with one on the relay and one in the individual, so :51.99 is under :52. I’m glad I achieved my goal tonight.”
Junior Amie Osten, meanwhile, finished second in the consolation final of the 100 back with her personal-best time of 53.85.
Wanland scored the third NCAA automatic qualifying time of the day for the Badgers.
After finishing third with a time of 1:00.38 in the preliminaries, she swam the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.65, good for second place. Sophomore Paulina Gralow won the bonus final with her season-best time of 1:02.04.
Overall, 10 Wisconsin swimmers qualified for the finals in five events Friday.
In addition to the 100 back, another strong event for the Badgers was the 100-yard butterfly, with both representatives qualifying for the championship final.
Freshman Rebecka Palm and senior Karlyn Hougan finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with two NCAA ‘B’ qualifying times. Palm finished in 53.30, while Hougan touched in 53.65.
Redshirt sophomore Monika Stitski led Wisconsin in the 400-yard individual medley, finishing in 4:14.84, good for fifth overall. She swam to a season-best time of 4:12.16 in the preliminaries to qualify for the championship final. According to Hansen, both times are fast enough among those of other Big Ten swimmers for Stitski to possibly qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Freshman Jennah Haney, winner of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for Wisconsin, finished fifth in the bonus final with a time of 4:20.87 after qualifying with a season-best 4:20.63.
Junior Danielle Beckwith finished 21st overall in the 200-yard freestyle with a season-best NCAA consolation time of 1:48.74. Sophomore Laura Miller was not far behind, finishing 23rd in 1:48.91.
The Badgers finished day three with four NCAA ‘A’ times and 15 NCAA ‘B’ times, more than in the past two days of competition combined, bringing their total to five ‘A’ times and 24 ‘B’ times.
Although Wisconsin is still in seventh place in the team standings with 226.5 points, Hansen is satisfied with his team’s progress.
“After coming off of yesterday, the finishes hurt our team rankings,” he explained. “But in terms of preparing for the NCAA Championships, we’re right on schedule. I’m really happy with where we’re at right now.”
The Big Ten Championships conclude Saturday with preliminary rounds at 10 a.m. and finals in six swimming events at 5:30 p.m. Among those events, the Badgers have the fastest time among Big Ten teams in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard backstroke.
