WISCONSIN RESULTS
200 Backstroke
3. Beata Nelson (1:49.27 - school record)

400 Freestyle Relay
20. Marissa Berg, Abby Jagdfeld, Jess Unicomb, Emmy Sehman (3:15.66)
 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – It's hard to explain how impressive Beata Nelson was this week at the NCAA championships. Just ask Wisconsin head coach Whitey Hite.
 
"It's impossible to explain how impressive her performance was to someone who doesn't understand the sport very well," Hite said Saturday after Nelson concluded the meet with a bronze medal finish in the 200-yard backstroke in a fantastic time of 1 minute, 49.27 seconds.
 
"There was a lot of pressure on her, but she handled herself exceptionally well. In the 200 back tonight she finished third, even though her goggles fell off. And it was a personal best. And a Big Ten record. On her thirteenth swim of the meet. That's amazing."
 
"I came into this meet knowing that I had the opportunity to do something special," Nelson said. "But, I wanted to treat it just like another swim meet and do what I could for my team. Being in one A final was something that I wanted to do forever — being in three was unbelievable."
 
Adding the 200 back to her runner-up showing in the 100 back and sixth-place finish in the 200 IM, Nelson finished the week with three first-team All-America performances in individual events. She's just the second Badger to accomplish that feat, joining Ellen Stonebraker, who did so in 1999.
 
"Going into this meet, I thought this would be a great educational opportunity for Beata Nelson," Hite said. "My college coach would always say, 'Experience is the only teacher.' I could have told her what to expect, but that only goes so far. Nothing prepares you like living through it."
 
Nelson seems to have already learned from her experience. 
 
"This meet has given me a lot of perspective," she said. "This isn't my first NCAAs, but it's my first time being in this kind of situation. It will definitely help me moving forward."
 
The awards alone do not give Nelson's performance justice. After breaking the 50-second barrier in the 100 backstroke at last month's Big Ten championships, Nelson accomplished the same feat twice at NCAAs. She now stands as the only woman in history with three swims under 50 seconds. 
 
The 100 back has been a headline event for Nelson since she broke 50 seconds during the Big Ten championships. At NCAAs, the 100 back race featured the four fastest swimmers of all time — Nelson included.
 
"That was crazy. I had tingles running through my body before I even got into the water," she said. "I just gave it everything that I had. I wanted to break 49.0 again, and just race."
 
Nelson broke three individual school records in all, adding one in the 200 back (1:49.27) and another in the 200 IM (1:53.54). Her performance Saturday in the 200 back, another Big Ten record, made her the seventh-fastest woman in the history of that event. 
 
She also added an honorable-mention All-America showing with the 400 medley relay group earlier in the week. Nelson, Marissa Berg, Ari Saghafi and Abby Jagdfeld finished in 3:30.96, and now own the fastest time in school history.
 
Nelson glowed about her teammates, particularly the seniors.
 
"It was awesome to experience this meet with the seniors. They are some of my best friends, and they're people who have helped me become the person and swimmer that I am today," Nelson said. "It's definitely bittersweet because I don't want to see them leave; but to have that last hurrah with them is something well never forget. They have molded the path for the people, like me, who followed them."
 
The Badgers finished the championships with 78 points, good for 17th place.
 
"Every season is different. We dealt with a lot of challenges, but this team did a great job of fighting," Hite said. "They fought for every point, represented the university in a first-class way, and I'm very proud of them."