INDIANAPOLIS — The longest race resulted in the highest finish for Matt Hutchins and the Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team.
Hutchins capped his collegiate career with a fantastic finish in the 1650-yard freestyle Saturday at the NCAA championships, breaking his own school record on the way to earning first-team All-America honors. The senior clocked in at 14 minutes, 31.19 seconds to take fifth place, knocking nearly two full seconds off his previous standard of 14:33.09.
Along the way, Hutchins also broke his own school record in the 1000 free, splitting 8:49.86.
"That was a heck of a swim," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "For him to finish his career with those fast times, I'm so proud and so happy for him. It's just really awesome. He just embodies that Badger spirit, clawing and scratching and fighting for every point."
Junior Victor Goicoechea took 26th in the race with a time of 15:00.67.
Hutchins, who was third in the event at last year's NCAA meet, became Wisconsin's first two-time All-American in the 1650 free to go along with the first-team laurels he earned last season in the 500 free.
Saturday's effort marked his third top-10 finish over the course of the four-day NCAA championships, adding to his 10th-place showings in the 500 free and 800 free relay.
Along with Brett Pinfold's first-team All-America performance Friday in the 200 freestyle, Hutchins' swim helped the Badgers secure an 18th-place finish in the team standings for the second straight season, with 63 points. Texas won its third-consecutive national title, posting a dominant total of 542.
"I was really proud of the guys," Hite said. "We didn't have a perfect meet by any means. This meet is very difficult to score any points in. It's the fastest meet ever, and across the board you saw American records, NCAA records, unbelievably fast swimming and it was really exciting. So I was really proud that our guys hung in there all throughout and fought hard and again, we were just Badgers and I thought we did a great job of finishing."
The Badgers finished fourth among Big Ten teams, trailing seventh-place Indiana, 13th-place Purdue and 17th-place Michigan.
"To kind of pull away from Ohio State and finish where we did right behind Michigan, it's really an outstanding job," Hite said. "I really couldn't be more proud of the men on the team. They just did an outstanding job."
Wisconsin wrapped up the meet by taking 12th in the 400 free relay, with the team of senior Cannon Clifton, junior Ryan Stack, senior Ryan Barsanti and Pinfold posting a time of 2:50.89 after logging a preliminary-round effort of 2:50.75 that ranks as the second-fastest in school history.
Clifton also took 11th in the 100 free, clocking in at 42.37 after a swim of 42.06 in the preliminary session.
