MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams faced a short turnaround, but UW's performance Thursday in a dual meet with rival Minnesota showed that the Badgers have come a long way since last weekend's season opener.
 
Less than a week after taking losses to Auburn in their own pool, the Badgers showed some strength in splitting this year's Border Battle at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
 
"We took the next step forward," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "I was pleased. Minnesota is a very good program and I thought we did a nice job moving forward, having learned our lesson from the Auburn meet.
 
The Wisconsin women came out on top against the Gophers, 158-142, marking their second-straight win over Minnesota, while the men fell, 185-115.
 
"We were more focused and there was more intensity in what we did," Hite said. "We were more like Badgers today: tough, scrappy, fierce. We were what we expect ourselves to be."
 
After the men dominated the freestyle events against Auburn, the roles were reversed as the women asserted their freestyle dominance against the Gophers, winning four of the five freestyle events.
 
Sophomore Cierra Runge and senior Chase Kinney led the Badgers' charge, each coming away with two individual wins.
 
Runge earned her first win as a Badger in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:49.07 while sophomore Emmy Sehmann (1:50.00) and junior Abby Jagdfeld (1:50.38) finished second and third to complete the 1-2-3 sweep for UW.
 
Later on, Runge picked up her second individual win in the 500-yard freestyle, posting a time of 4:47.81, which ranks third nationally in the season's early stages.
 
Kinney swept the sprints with wins in the 50 freestyle (22.62) and the 100 freestyle, where her time of 49.58 ranks fourth nationally and second in the Big Ten.
 
The 50 and 100 free were both highlighted by 1-2-3 finishes, as Sehmann finished second (23.23) and Berg third (23.44) in the 50 free while Jagdfeld and Berg completed the sweep in the 100 free with times of 51.45 and 51.59, respectively.
 
"Cierra hasn't swum short course in a long time and it showed a little bit against Auburn, but she's starting to figure it out and put it together," Hite said. "Chase was Chase. She's back to normal, and normal for her is exceptional."
 
Senior Danielle Valley and sophomore Maddie Tew also scored for the Badgers in the 500 free, with Valley coming in third (4:53.89) and Tew finishing fourth (4:56.45).
 
The Wisconsin women would also reign victorious in both relay events.
 
The team of Jess Unicomb, Berg, freshman Beata Nelson and Kinney opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:40.42.
 
To cap off the night, the Badgers scored an impressive 1-2 finish in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, with the 'A' team of Kinney, Runge, Sehmann, and Berg dominating the competition in 3:19.98, while the 'B' team of Nelson, Jagdfeld, senior Dana Grindall, and Tew came in second in 3:24.23.
 
The women also swept the backstroke events, with Nelson winning the 100-yard backstroke in 54.11, while Unicomb won the 200 back in 1:58.79.
 
Freshman Megan Doty also made strides for the squad, finishing runner-up in the 200-yard IM (2:03.14), just behind Minnesota's record-holder in the event, Brooke Zeiger.
 
"Whether it was Emmy Sehmann or Maddie Tew or Megan Doty, I thought we had several women step up and swim very well today," Hite said.
 
Despite the loss in the team race, the UW men once again showed strong performances in the freestyle events, with senior Matt Hutchins leading the way for Wisconsin.
 
"I thought he was really good," Hite said. "Coming off the Olympics there's usually a little bit of a lull, but he's doing some really good things."
 
Hutchins swept both the 500 and 1000 freestyle events, posting times of 4:28.16 and 9:16.28 that both rank in the top five nationally.
 
Junior Victor Goicoechea placed runner-up to Hutchins in the 1000 free, clocking in at 9:21.90.
 
Senior Brett Pinfold also picked up two wins, winning the 200 free (1:38.42) and the 200 individual medley (1:49.29).
 
Senior Harrison Tran had a strong showing, winning the 200-yard butterfly in 1:49.98, while also taking second in the 100 fly (48.32).
 
Freshman Justin Temprano earned his first collegiate win in the 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall in 1:49.84. Junior Todd McCarthy and freshman Cameron Tysoe completed the 1-2-3 sweep for the team, with times of 1:50.30 and 1:50.62, respectively.
 
"Justin Temprano had a heck of a meet," Hite said. "Throw in what Brett and Victor did, and a couple of the other guys that stepped up, and we definitely had some bright spots on the men's side."
 
Having already earning an NCAA zone automatic qualifying score on the 3-meter springboard against Auburn, freshman Kevin Pomeroy managed to improve upon his score, tallying 355.73 points to take third place on Thursday.
 
Next up? The Badgers continue their tough dual meet schedule by traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina, next weekend to take on a strong NC State program. The meet begins at 3 p.m. (CT) on Oct. 21, and continues Oct. 22, beginning at 9 a.m.
 
"I think with our team, men and women, our margin for error is very small," Hite said. "When we make a mistake or we're not on point – with the caliber of teams we're swimming against – it gets exploited. Today was a reminder of that. We learn from that and we get better.
 
"I guarantee by the time we get to championship season we will be battle tested and have gone through the things we need to that make you tough at the end."