WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A pair of dynamic duos in the freestyle races gave the Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team a lift on the second day of the 2017 Big Ten Championships.
The Badgers climbed to second place in the team standings as the four-day meet hit its halfway mark Thursday at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. Wisconsin has amassed 378.5 points to trail only leader Indiana, which holds a score of 393. Not far back are third-place Michigan (363) and fourth-place Minnesota (361).
"We were very good today," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "We had a really good morning session and backed it up at night."
In the 50-yard freestyle, sprinters Chase Kinney and Emmy Sehmann gave the Badgers a big boost, with Kinney finishing runner-up for the second-consecutive season and Sehmann grabbing an impressive fourth-place finish.
Distance specialists Cierra Runge and Danielle Valley piled up points in the 500 freestyle, with Runge claiming runner-up honors and Valley finishing sixth.
Kinney also brought home the Badgers' fourth-place effort in the 400 medley relay, which clocked in at 3:31.89 to register the second-fastest time in school history. The relay got off to a strong start thanks to Jess Unicomb, who blazed to a split of 52.72 on the opening 100 backstroke leg to lower her own third-place mark on UW's all-time list in that event.
Maria Carlson and Beata Nelson also contributed to the relay, which earned an automatic berth to next month's NCAA championships.
"It was little bit of a surprise just because it was the first time all year our relay kind of clicked," Hite said. "For all of our relays and for all of our performances, I know that there's gas in the tank, so to speak, that we can be better in a month (at the NCAA championships)."
In the 50 free, Kinney clocked in at 22.14 seconds and trailed only repeat champion Zhesi Li of Ohio State, who posted a Big Ten-record time of 21.48. Kinney had already lowered her season-best mark in the event to 22.08 seconds during the morning prelims. Sehmann climbed to sixth on UW's all-time list with a personal-best swim of 22.33 to take fourth.
"I was pretty pumped," Kinney said. "I know (Li) is super fast and I just wanted to be competitive and I was really happy with second place. It was really cool for me to get second and Emmy to get fourth.
"We got a lot of points in that event so I was really excited."
Marissa Berg also scored for the Badgers in the 50 free, coming home 10th with a time of 22.59 after matching her personal best of 22.55 in the prelims.
In the 500 free, Runge hit the pool having already qualified automatically for next month's NCAA championships with her school-record time of 4:35.55. Her effort of 4:37.38 in Thursday's final was enough to hold off everyone but Michigan's G Ryan, who claimed the win in a meet-record time of 4:34.40.
Valley came home sixth in a personal-best time of 4:38.21.
"The race was pretty hard," Runge said. "The Michigan girls have been having a great meet and to fight back and forth with those girls was pretty fun."
Also scoring points for the Badgers were finalists Maddi Tew (16th place, 4:50.93), Abby Jagdfeld (19th, personal-best 4:42.54) and Grace Tierney (20th, personal-best 4:45.41).
Before her relay effort, Unicomb used a third lifetime-best swim of the day to record a sixth-place finish in the 200 individual medley, clocking a time of 1:58.31. She had previously lowered her best to 1:58.82 during the morning preliminary session.
Teammates Megan Doty and Grace Wold also showed well in the 200 IM, with Doty taking 10th place in a personal-best 1:58.99 and Wold finishing 11th in 1:59.00 – just off the best of 1:58.98 she recorded during the morning prelims.
Diving competition got underway Thursday with the 1-meter competition, and the Badgers got scoring performances from Hazel Hertting (17th place, 257.60) and Ashley Peterson (T-19th, 254.90).
UP NEXT
Friday's slate includes preliminary rounds in the 100 butterfly, 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 3-meter diving beginning at 10 a.m. (CT). Finals in those events, as well as the 200 freestyle relay — in which the Badgers hold the No. 2 seed time — are set for 5:30 p.m. Live coverage will be available via BTN Plus.
"We try not to look ahead or behind," Hite said. "As far as the team race we just want to go out and do what we do best and have fun and swim fast and dive well."
QUOTABLE
Cierra Runge on how the Badgers can maintain their strong start: "I think we just need to really get the excitement going. We've been really good about the energy, keeping each other really excited when we're going up and then bringing it back down and relax when we're not swimming. It's about just maintaining our energy, and I think it will be really good all the way through our last day."
