MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.– The Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team opened the Big Ten championships Wednesday evening with a pair of fast relay times.
 
The squad of Matt Novinski, Chris Wills, MJ Mao and Tyler Zelen finished the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 26.40 seconds, a time that stands as the third-fastest in school history.
 
"I thought we were really solid tonight," said Wisconsin head coach Whitney Hite. "We were just off the school record for that medley relay, and we did it with two freshmen. Those two guys put up some of the fastest splits in the heat. 
 
"Their performance bodes well for the future, but it also bodes well for the now."
 
In the second and final event of the evening, Ryan Stack, Ido Haber, Victor Goicoechea and Griffin Back raced to a fourth-place finish in the 800 free relay in 6:20.75, claiming the eighth-fastest time in Badgers history.
 
Opening the relay with a split of 1:34.75, Stack now holds the sixth-fastest 200 freestyle time in school history.
 
"Fourth place in the Big Ten, that's a solid swim," Hite said. "Ryan Stack's leadoff was pretty darn good. That whole group swam great splits. We're going faster than we have all season."
 
The meet begins in earnest Thursday beginning with the preliminary session at 11 a.m. before the finals session gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Events include the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free and 1-meter diving.
 
"The 500 has always been a great event for us; I think it will continue to be," Hite said. "We've got some people in the IM that will be exciting to watch. Tyler (Zelen) is poised to do some special things."
 
"It's just getting into it, enjoying the moment and doing some racing."
 
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