IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Wisconsin women's swimming & diving team kicked off the 2020 Big Ten Championships in a big way on Wednesday, securing gold in the 800 free relay while setting a new school record and Iowa pool record.
Sophomore
Lillie Hosack kicked off the first-place relay, followed by sophomore
Alana Palmer and seniors
Megan Doty and
Beata Nelson to close it out. With an NCAA qualifying time of 6:55.84, the Badgers broke the previous school record of 6:57.54, set at last year's championships.
All four Badgers set new career-bests in the 200 free with their splits, which comes as no surprise as they beat out second-place Ohio State by nearly five seconds. Hosack led off with a 1:44.00 split, followed by Palmer at 1:45.50 and Doty at 1:44.37, while Nelson destroyed her previous record and left the competition in the dust with a 1:41.97.
In the only other race of the day, sophomore
Mara Newman, junior
Kelsi Artim, senior
Megan Doty and sophomore
Isabel Cortina raced in the 200 medley relay, touching at 1:39.36 to come away with an eighth-place finish for Wisconsin.
Straight from the Pool
"Awesome night for the Badgers! Our 200 medley did great to make the podium considering we had two new faces on that relay, and our 800 free relay was incredible. I can't say enough about their poise and confidence to stand up, smash our team record, and win a Big Ten Championship!" – Head Coach
Yuri Suguiyama
