COLUMBUS, Ohio — Wisconsin's record-breaking ways continued on the second day of the Big Ten championships.
After logging a pair of school records in relay events on opening night, the Badgers saw marks fall in three individual events Thursday inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Seniors Cannon Clifton, Matt Hutchins and Brett Pinfold all set new standards to help the Badgers hold on to fourth place in the team standings. Indiana (562 points) leads the title race halfway through the four-day competition, followed by Michigan (461.5), Ohio State (430), the Badgers (276) and Minnesota (262).
"For a senior-laden team, these guys are our leaders and they certainly didn't disappoint," UW head coach Whitney Hite said of Clifton, Hutchins and Pinfold. "We're really excited about the team race that we're in against Minnesota, and we'll see what tomorrow brings."
Hutchins got the night off to a fast start for Wisconsin by repeating as runner-up finish in the 500-yard freestyle in a school-record time of 4:11.98 that also is good for an automatic qualifying spot in next month's NCAA championships. The Olympian swam third for most of the race before putting on a charge that allowed him to overtake Indiana's Marwan El Kamash with 50 yards to go.
However, there was no catching Michigan's Felix Auboeck, who won the title in 4:10.63. El Kamash settled for third in 4:12.11.
"Matt leading us off, 4:11 is a really great swim for him to get second and, you know, he's not completely rested," Hite said. "I thought he did a really great job of competing and racing."
The 500 was a highlight for the Badgers across the board, with junior Victor Goicoechea winning the "B" final with a time of 4:17.12 that ranks No. 4 all-time at UW and senior Sean Maloney (4:21.99) and freshman Eric Geunes (4:25.16) scoring out of the "C" final.
Clifton gave the Badgers another strong showing a freestyle race, sprinting to fifth place in the 50 freestyle with a school-record time of 19.39. It was the second record-breaking effort of the day for Clifton, who had already lowered his own school record to 19.44 during the morning preliminary round.
Senior Ryan Barsanti also climbed the Badgers' charts in the 50, finishing 12th in a time of 19.79 that ranks him third all-time.
Pinfold had just missed the Badgers' school record in the prelims of the 200 individual medley — his 1:43.76 was just two hundredths of a second off the mark — but finished the job in the final. He clocked in at 1:43.60 to grab a sixth-place finish.
Soon after, Pinfold set another personal-best mark when he split 46.25 on the opening 100-yard backstroke leg of UW's effort in the 400 medley relay. His swim propelled the Badgers to a season-best effort of 3:08.44 that ranks as the third-fastest in school history and gave Wisconsin a sixth-place finish.
Freshman Griffin Back provided the breaststroke leg in 54.00, Harrison Tran contributed a split of 46.68 for the butterfly segment and Clifton closed things out by covering the final 100 freestyle leg in 41.51.
UP NEXT
The Big Ten championships resume Friday with preliminary rounds in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke set for 10 a.m. (CT). Trials in 3-meter diving follow at 1:30 p.m. Finals in those events, as well as the 200 freestyle relay, get underway at 5:30 p.m.
QUOTABLE
Whitney Hite on UW's showing in the 500-yard freestyle: "The 500 for us was a great event. We won the first two heats with Sean Maloney, his performance was great. Victor (Goicoechea) was better than he was this morning and Eric Geunes, a freshman, to be able to score in the 500 in this conference is a hell of a job."
