Day 1 Results
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Wisconsin swimming and diving team opened the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational on Friday by doing what its done all year long—competing.
The Badgers made their head coach,
Whitney Hite, proud.
"I thought we did a nice job racing today," Hite said. "Today was all about racing.
"This is our last meet before being shaved and tapered for the Big Ten championships. And we still have plenty of time to land the plane, so to speak, but it's important for us to continue to compete — which we did today."
The women's squad was led by a standout performance from freestyle specialist
Abby Jagdfeld. The senior was victorious in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.13) and the 500 free (4:47.68).
"Abby put together an outstanding race in the 200 free," Hite said. "We've come to expect that."
The men's side received a significant boost from two freshman swimmers,
MJ Mao and Matt Novinski.
Novinski paced the field in the 100 back, winning the event with a time of 48.78. Mao claimed a second-place finish in the 100 breast (55.12) and finished fifth in the 100 butterfly (48.81).
"MJ had a really nice morning and an even better evening session. I just think he did a nice job racing," Hite said. "Matt Novinski was also outstanding in that 100 back race. The future is bright for those two guys and for our team. We're excited, and proud of how hard that they've been working."
With another session of competition to come Saturday, the men's team is tied for third place with 430.5 points and the women's team stands fourth with 448.5.
"I'm looking forward for us to do some more of the same tomorrow," Hite said. "They will feel a little rough around the edges tomorrow moring, but it's all mental at this point.
"Attitude and effort are the two things we can control, and I expect our team to do just that."
Notable:
•
Beata Nelson (1:58.31),
Jess Unicomb (2:02.89) and
Marissa Berg (2:03.28) finished 1-3-5 in the women's 200 IM.
•
Ryan Stack finished second (1:38.36) and
Griffin Back finished third (1:38.58) in the men's 200 free.
• The women's 800 free relay squad of Jagdfeld, Nelson,
Emmy Sehmann and Unicomb finished in third (7:19.05).
•
Ido Haber, Stack, Back and
Victor Goicoechea took third place in the men's 800 free relay (6:34.92).
• Sehmann claimed fourth place in the women's 200 free (1:47.13).
• Unicomb finished in fourth in the 100 back (55.12).
•
Cooper Hodge added a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM (3:59.64)
• Nelson secured a fifth-place finish in the women's 100 fly (54.63).
•
Sydney Lofquist (4:25.47) and
Megan Doty (4:25.98) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 400 IM.
Up Next:
The second and final day of the Shamrock Invitational gets underway at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
