MADISON, Wis. — The No. 12-ranked Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team is set to compete in the 2017 Big Ten Championships this Wednesday through Saturday at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The entirety of the championships — including the daily 10 a.m. (CT) preliminary sessions and 5:30 p.m. finals sessions — will be streamed live via BTN Plus, a subscription service which can be accessed on BTN2Go.com or the BTN2Go mobile app.
LOOKING BACK
Wisconsin finished sixth at last year's Big Ten meet, with four swimmers (Marissa Berg, Chase Kinney, Annie Tamblyn and Jess Unicomb) earning second-team All-Big Ten honors. Kinney and Unicomb are back for the Badgers this year.
RANKINGS RUNDOWN
Wisconsin enters championship season at No. 12 in the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Top 25, trailing only No. 6 Michigan among league teams. No. 15 Indiana, No. 21 Minnesota and No. 22 Ohio State round out the five ranked Big Ten clubs.
TO BE THE BEST...
Head coach Whitney Hite's philosophy of facing the best competition the nation has to offer for the entirety of the season was in play once again for the Badgers in 2016-17. UW competed in six dual meets, with five coming against teams ranked among the nation's top 20 in the latest CSCAA coaches poll: No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 USC, No. 7 NC State, No. 11 Auburn and No. 20 Minnesota. In addition, the Badgers took part in one of the nation's top multi-team events, competing in the Texas Invitational in December.
FROM RIO TO MADISON
The Badgers boast a pair of Olympians that competed at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in senior Matt Hutchins of New Zealand and sophomore transfer Cierra Runge of the United States.
Runge won gold as part of the Americans' 800-meter freestyle relay team, becoming Wisconsin's first gold medalist in the pool since Carly Piper won an Olympic title in the same event in Athens in 2004. Runge anchored the U.S. effort in the preliminary round of the 800 free relay, setting up Team USA for its gold-medal swim later that day. A transfer from California, Runge has already set four school records since joining the Badgers.
Hutchins competed for New Zealand in the 1500-meter freestyle in Rio, finishing third in his preliminary heat, and also swam a personal-best time of 3:48.25 to finish 19th in the preliminaries of the 400 freestyle. Hutchins was a two-time All-American for the Badgers last season and was named 2016 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, the first in program history.
ALL-AMERICA PROJECTIONS
Three Wisconsin swimmers were named preseason All-America by CollegeSwimming.com: Chase Kinney (50 freestyle), Beata Nelson (100 butterfly) and Cierra Runge (200, 500, 1650 freestyle).
RUNGE A RECORD-SETTER
It didn't take long for California transfer Cierra Runge to make an impact on her new team. Runge, who did not compete collegiately in 2015-16 while focusing on Olympic training with coach Bob Bowman, already owns four school records in her short time at UW.
Runge's first record-setting performance came while representing the Big Ten at the USA Swimming College Challenge in November, clocking a time of 1:45.64 in the 200 freestyle.
Runge then went 4-for-4 at the Texas Invitational in December, posting a school record on each day of the four-day event: individual marks in the 200 freestyle (1:43.18), 500 freestyle (4:35.55) and 1650 freestyle (15:52.22) and a relay record in the 800 free relay (7:05.42).
In addition to her four school-record marks, Runge also swam the Badgers' best 100-yard (49.02) and 1000-yard freestyle (9:38.45) times of the season in Texas.
All told, Runge is Wisconsin's seasonal leader in five individual events and two relays (400 free, 800 free). She holds automatic NCAA championships qualifying times in the 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free.
TOUGH TO CHASE DOWN
Senior Chase Kinney was the Big Ten runner-up last season in the 50-yard freestyle. She clocked in at 22.19 seconds to finish behind only Ohio State's Zhesi Li (21.80), who broke the Badgers' run of four consecutive titles in the event (Beckie Thompson in 2012 and Ivy Martin in 2013, 2014 and 2015).
Li is the Big Ten's seasonal leader at 21.70, with Kinney (22.40) standing No. 2.
Kinney holds NCAA provisional qualifying marks in both the 50 free (22.40) and 100 free (49.10) and also was the lead leg on Wisconsin's season-best efforts in the 200 free (1:29.20) and 400 free (3:17.78) relays that both rank No. 2 in the league heading into this week's championship meet. In addition, she's served as the anchor on UW quartets that rank No. 3 in the 200 medley relay (1:38.44) and No. 4 in the 400 medley relay (3:37.30).
BACKSTROKE BUDDIES
The duo of freshman Beata Nelson and sophomore Jess Unicomb give the Badgers plenty of upside in the backstroke events, with both swimmers holding provisional NCAA qualifying marks in both the 100- and 200-yard events.
Nelson, a four-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, enters the conference meet ranked No. 5 in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:54.86.
Unicomb, the reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week, holds down the No. 6 spot in the 100 back with her provisional NCAA mark of 53.39.
Unicomb also ranks seventh in the league in the 200 individual medley, leading the Badgers with a B-cut time of 1:59.13. Nelson isn't far behind as the Badgers' No. 2 swimmer in the event at 1:59.89 (also a "B" cut).
VALLEY'S VIEW
In addition to her strong marks in the distance freestyle events — she held UW's school records in the 500 and 1650 free before they were broken this season by Runge — senior Danielle Valley is the Badgers' seasonal leader in the 400 IM, with an NCAA "B" cut of 4:13.39.
Valley also holds provisional NCAA qualifying times in the 200, 500 and 1650 free.
BEST FOR LAST
Senior Maria Carlson is peaking at the right time, with her team-best times in the breaststroke events coming over the Badgers' final two regular-season meets.
Carlson swam to a win in the 100 breast during the Badgers' dual with Green Bay on Feb. 3, clocking in with an NCAA "B" cut of 1:00.39. Carlson's team-leading and NCAA provisional mark in the 200 breast (2:12.52) came a week earlier at Notre Dame's Shamrock Invitational.
SENIOR SEND-OFF
The Badgers also are led by seniors in the butterfly events, with Dana Grindall posting a "B" cut of 53.20 to show the way in the 100 fly and Grace Wold logging a "B" cut of 1:57.52 in the 200 fly.
DIVING WELL
Senior Ashley Peterson enters the Big Ten meet ranked among the league's top 10 in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
On the 1-meter board, Peterson's season-best score of 306.67 form the Badgers' dual meet with Auburn stands No. 9 in the conference.
Her effort of 338.95 on the 3-meter board from the Hawai'i Diving Invitational stands 10th best among league divers this season.
Peterson owns NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks in all three disciplines, with her team-high score on the 10-meter platform registering at 237.05.
