WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Over the last decade, the 200-yard medley relay has been a strength for the Wisconsin women's swimming team when championship season rolls around.
The same was true Wednesday, but the Badgers also made their presence felt in a second race as the 2017 Big Ten Championships got underway at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
Wisconsin's entry in the 800-yard freestyle relay used a school-record effort to secure a runner-up finish and give the 12th-ranked Badgers a strong starting point for the four-day championship meet.
The Badgers quartet of Abby Jagdfeld, Jess Unicomb, Emmy Sehmann and Cierra Runge knocked more than five seconds off the school standard in the event, clocking in at 7:00.05 to edge rival Minnesota (7:00.61) and set the stage for what should be a competitive meet among the league's best teams.
Michigan won the race in a Big Ten-record time of 6:55.34.
UW's performance came on the heels of a third-place effort in the 200 medley relay, with Unicomb, Marissa Berg, Beata Nelson and Chase Kinney finishing in a blistering 1:36.41.
Together, UW's relay showings have the Badgers sitting third in the team standings with two events in the books. The Badgers amassed 110 points on the meet's opening night, trailing only Minnesota (118) and Michigan (114).
The times also earned Wisconsin automatic qualifying marks in both events for next month's NCAA championships.
"It was really fun to be a part of the energy of the team this evening," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "It was just overall a really good session for us, a good way to start the meet."
The record-setting swim in the 800 free relay improved on the previous mark of 7:05.42 that the same foursome turned in at the Texas Invitational in December. Once again it was Runge that brought things home, clocking her 200-yard anchor leg in 1:43.20.
"I think it's a product of our hard work and our mental focus coming into this meet," Runge said of the time drop. "Just the excitement that we have for a conference championship, and we're all just having fun and swimming fast — and I think it's just that, it's excitement."
Jagdfeld's opening split of 1:46.10 marked a lifetime best for the 200 freestyle and equaled the fourth-fastest effort in school history.
"We had some great splits," Hite said. "The encouraging part is we can be a little bit faster at NCAAs here in about a month."
In the 200 medley relay, the Badgers trimmed a full two seconds off their previous season best, clocking the third-fastest time in school history and the seventh-best in Big Ten annals. It marked the fastest swim by a Badgers quartet since the 2011 outfit set the school record of 1:35.71.
That mark had also stood as the Big Ten record until Minnesota turned in a winning effort of 1:35.55 on Wednesday. Indiana took runner-up honors in 1:35.74, joining the Gophers and third-place Badgers in posting automatic NCAA qualifying marks.
Unicomb opened with a 50-yard backstroke split of 24.43, the best leadoff effort of her career, and Kinney anchored with a swim of 21.28 on the final 50-yard freestyle leg.
"Chase is a hammer," Hite said of Kinney's anchor. "She's just really clutch."
UP NEXT
The Badgers are set for the first full day of competition on Thursday, with preliminary rounds of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle beginning at 10 a.m. (CT). Finals in those events, as well as the 400 medley relay and the 1-meter diving competition, begin at 5:30 p.m.
A live stream of both sessions is available via BTN Plus.
QUOTABLE
Jess Unicomb on her double duty in swimming both relays Wednesday:
"I actually only found out last night that I was swimming both events. The 200 medley I thought for sure I was going to be on, but for the 800 free I knew we had a lot of girls vying for that position and we have so many good freestylers, so I was kind of surprised finding out that I was on that one but I was really happy that I got to swim both."
