WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It turned out to be a winning combination.
Wisconsin shook up the order of its 200-yard freestyle relay team, a move that paid dividends as the Badgers swam to a conference title Friday at the 2017 Big Ten Championships.
UW's quartet of Emmy Sehmann, Chase Kinney, Jess Unicomb and Marissa Berg claimed the 200 free relay crown for the third time in four seasons, clocking in with a time of 1:27.90 that ranks fifth in school history and gives the Badgers an automatic bid to next month's NCAA championships.
"That's a relay that we've had success in in the past, it's part of a tradition that we've built here," Hite said. "They really did an outstanding job racing. It was a little bit of an upset and it was fun to have them get their hand to the wall first."
The performance helped the Badgers remain in a tight team race, with UW standing fourth with 741 points. With one day of competition remaining, Wisconsin finds itself trailing Michigan (805.5), Indiana (791) and Minnesota (753).
Long a leadoff specialist for the Badgers, Kinney was just what UW needed on the race's second leg. The senior split 21.47 on the heels of a strong opening leg from Sehmann, who clocked a personal-best time of 22.36 that ranks her sixth all-time at UW in the 50 free.
Unicomb, already part of top-four finishes for UW in the meet's first three relay events, was key once again with her split of 22.10. That set up Berg to bring the Badgers home in 21.97.
"There's a reason we put her last," Hite said of Berg. "She's a gamer and we know we can count on her."
"I've never been a part of the actual relay," said Berg, who also scored for UW with an 11th-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. "My freshman year I watched our relays win -- all four besides the 800 free relay – and I told myself that one day I wanted to be a part of that.
"Every day in practice I just thought about 'This is my time to be the Big Ten champ.' All year that relay has been doing so good so I had all the confidence in every single one of us up there."
The title marked the Badgers' eighth all-time in the relay, including five of the last eight championships, dating back to 2010.
Also Friday, school record-holder Cierra Runge turned in her second runner-up finish of the meet with a second-place showing in the 200 freestyle. Runge's time of 1:43.78 brought her to the all behind only Michigan's Siobhan Haughey, who turned in a Big Ten-record swim of 1:42.49.
Abby Jagdfeld (ninth place, 1:45.70), Sehmann (12th, 1:46.87), Kinney (15th, 1:46.96) and Maddi Tew (19th, 1:48.22) also scored for UW in the 200 free.
In the 400 individual medley, senior Danielle Valley blazed to a school record with her effort of 4:08.33 to take third place, knocking off the second-oldest record on the Badgers' books.
"I'm really proud of her," Hite said. "She is one of the toughest swimmers that I've ever coached. I'm so happy for her."
Freshman Beata Nelson brought home a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke after clocking the second-fastest time in school history, 52.11, during the morning prelims. Her finals time of 52.18 left her trailing only Minnesota's Tevyn Waddell (52.09) and Michigan's Clara Smiddy (52.11).
Unicomb continued her fantastic meet with a fifth-place finish in 52.63, the fourth-best effort in school history.
Nelson also turned in a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly, logging a time of 52.36 that ranks third all-time at UW. Right behind was teammate Dana Grindall with an effort of 62.65. Grindall posted a mark of 52.08 in the prelims to improve her own No. 2 position on UW's all-time list.
Senior Maria Carlson clocked in at 1:00.36 to take sixth place in the 100 breaststroke, a strong swim on the heels of her personal-best effort of 59.30 in the prelims – the second-fastest mark in school history.
In diving, senior Ashley Peterson qualified for the consolation final and posted a 13th-place finish on the 3-meter springboard with her score of 301.10. Hazel Hertting (277.75) took 17th and Alex Hafey (271.15) finished 20th.
"We had another great day," Hite said. "I'm really excited about how we've competed. It's been a great team effort."
UP NEXT
The Big Ten championships conclude Saturday, with prelims in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and platform diving scheduled for 10 a.m. Finals in those events, as well as the 1,650 freestyle and the 400 free relay are set for 5:30 p.m.
"Tomorrow morning is vital," Hite said. "We need to keep doing what we're doing. We've got to come out with a lot of energy and intent and focus."
QUOTABLE
On watching the 200 free relay go back and forth waiting for her anchor leg:
"That's how the (200) free relay is, it's really close," Berg said. "Even though someone's in the lead you never know who's going to touch and win. Focusing on other people is just going to take you out of your game, so I just focused on the things I needed to do to win and I let the adrenaline take over."
