AUSTIN, Texas — The Badgers capped off an outstanding four-day stint at the Texas Invitational with another day of stellar performances Saturday.
A number of Wisconsin swimmers contributed to their team's success.
Wisconsin head coach
Whitney Hite was very encouraged by his team's performance throughout the weekend.
"I thought we had another great day," he said. "In typical fashion, our last day was our best day. Overall this was a really great meet for us.
"This is very encouraging for us. At the halfway point we have done a lot of things right, but we still have a lot to work on. Which is a good thing. We want to continually improve throughout the season so our best swims are at Big Tens and NCAAs."
Beata Nelson refused to end the weekend without adding another record-worthy swim to her collection. Nelson swam the women's 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.21, a personal-best time that is good for the fifth-fastest swim in the nation this year and the second-best in school history.
"She is starting to do things that she's capable of, and it's fun to see," Hite said. "Beata's progression is good. She still has a way to go to improve, but she's on the right track."
Junior
Jess Unicomb raced her way to a fourth-place finish in the women's 200 back, finishing in 1:54.90, and set a personal-best time in the 100 freestyle (49.31). She also participated on the second-place 400-yard free relay squad. Unicomb, Nelson,
Marissa Berg and
Emmy Sehmann finished with a time of 3:15.38.
"She's a Swiss Army knife for us," Hite said. "The best part about Jess is that if you ask something of her, she will give it her 100 percent. She's a great team player."
Wisconsin saw a number of other swimmers make their mark on the final day of the meet.
Katie Coughlin impressed, finishing 11th in the women's 200 back (1:57.63), just outside UW's all-time top 10.
Ari Saghafi wrapped up her successful meet by cracking Wisconsin's top-10 in the women's 200 fly, finishing in 1:58.17
The trio of
Megan Doty (1:58.05),
Alex Reddington (1:58.18) and
Ari Saghafi (1:58.17) each posted a top-10 time in the 200-yard butterfly.
"We've got three weeks of training before break, then we have our training camp," Hite said. "I'm excited to see how tough this team is; how willing they are to compete. We're in a great spot, we just need to keep moving forward."
Notable
- Megan Doty had a fantastic race in the women's 200 fly, finishing in 1:58.05. Alex Reddington finished the same event in 1:58.18, earning her the fifth-fastest time in school history.
- Senior Todd McCarthy posted a time of 1:44.65 in the men's 200 back
- Emmy Sehmann, Marissa Berg, Abby Jagdfeld and Unicomb finished 10-11-12-13 in the 100 free. Jagdfeld's time of 49.30 earned her the 10th-fastest time in school history.
- Ryan Stack placed 20th in the men's 100 free with a time of 44.03.
- The men's 400 free relay squad Ryan Stack, Griffin Back, Matt Novinski and Kevin Braun finished in 2:57.06, good for 11th place.
Up Next
The Badgers will have some time to catch their breath, with no competitions through the remainder of December. Their next meet will be in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, when they take on the USC Trojans following their annual training trip in Hawaii.
