Wisconsin Badgers
Notre Dame
Martin and teDuits capture spotlight in South Bend
November 16, 2013 | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 16, 2013
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Once again, junior swimmers stole the spotlight today as the Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in a dual meet against Notre Dame.
After stealing the 100-yard freestyle yesterday at Northwestern, Ivy Martin came out with an equally, if not more powerful performance today against the Fighting Irish with wins in the 50-yard (22.67) and 100-yard (50.55) freestyle races.
The Madison, Wis. native also swam the first leg of the women’s victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:24.87) and anchored a second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay (3:46.14).
Drew teDuits ran the show for the men, grabbing a pair of victories in the 100-yard (49.88) and 200-yard (1:48.91) backstroke races.
The Fitchburg, Wis. native swam the first leg of the men’s second place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:32.07) and took third in the 200-yard IM (1:52.92), just shy of his season-best time, to complement his individual victories.
The women’s squad fell 171-126, while the men finished behindthe Fighting Irish 191.5-108.5.
"I thought we were a little off today, both men and women," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "We’ve done a lot of racing this fall. It’s kind of just where we are in the season, you can tell by our performances, our splits and everything. We’re just a little off, and we need to be sharper.
"We’re just a little bit too inconsistent. We’re looking for more consistency out of everybody. This is a small team, and because of that we need to be more consistent, which is difficult at this time of the year. But it is what it is."
The Badger women garnered six total first-place and eight second-place finishes during the meet.
Junior Aja Van Hout continued to show leadership for Wisconsin, swimming to victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:08.40) and earning second in the 400-yard IM (4:25.97).
The Palm sisters also captured a first place finish in their respective events. Rebecka Palm, a senior, won the 100-yard butterfly (55.19), while her junior sister Caroline Palm raced to win the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:00.88. Rebecka also contributed to the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay win, swimming the second leg.
Chase Kinney closed out a strong weekend of performances with second place finishes in the 50-yard (23.45) and 100-yard (51.76), a season-best for the freshman.
Four first-place finishes highlighted the men’s performances. Aside from teDuits’ dominance in the backstroke races, the men also swam to a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:04.08).
Nicholas Caldwell, a transfer from Florida, added a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:25.73) while swimming a leg in the men’s relay victory. The junior from Sarasota, Fla., tacked on a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (4:33.11) to finish out his events.
Brett Pinfold continued to prove why he is a freshman to look out for, placing second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.89) and swimming the first leg of the squad’s relay victory.
"Moving forward, we’ll be better at the Texas Invite," Hite said. "We’ve got a young team. We’re learning, we’re fighting, and we’ve just got to continue to be consistent in our efforts day in and day out, at practice and at meets.
"These are important opportunities for us. We have to learn from them and get better."
The Badgers return to the pool in December as they head to Austin, Texas for a three-day invitational. Competition will take place Thurs. Dec. 5 – Sat. Dec. 7 against Texas and Arizona.
