MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams open their regular season, competing at two different meets this weekend.
The teams kick the weekend off Friday, traveling to Tuscon, Arizona, to compete against unranked Arizona at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Events start at 3 p.m. CT.
On Saturday, the teams travel travel to Tempe, Arizona, to compete against Arizona State at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The Sun Devil men are ranked fifth in the CSCAA swim coaches poll while the women's team is not ranked Events are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. CT.
Here are the five things to know about this weekend.
1. GOING THE EXTRA MILE: Sophomore
Paige McKenna kicks off her sophomore season in Arizona this week after winning the 2022 NCAA Championship in the 1650 free. Mckenna finished the season with a personal best time of 15:40.84 in the event and looks to defend her title in this upcoming season.
2. B1G RETURNEES: The Badgers head into the 2022-23 season with three reigning Big Ten champions. Junior
Phoebe Bacon came off her Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a successful Big Ten Championship meet, winning the 100 back in 51.58 and the 200 back in 1:51.23. Junior
Jake Newmark continued the success for UW with a first-place finish in the 500 free with a personal best time of 4:12.43. Reigning NCAA Champion, McKenna also had much success at Big Tens with a first-place finishes in the 1650 free and 500 free.
3. RECORD HOLDERS RETURN: Five Badgers broke school records in their events last season. For the men, Newmark broke the 200 free record with a time of 1:32.84 at the Big Ten Championships. Senior
Wes Jekel broke both the 200 IM and 100 back times at the NCAA Championships while
Will Myhre set the school record in the 100 breast at the Minnesota Invitational. Jekel, Myhre and Newmark are members of the record-setting 400 medley relay while Jekel,
Andrew Benson and
Dylan Delaney helped set a school record in the 200 medley relay.
On the women's side,
Paige McKenna earned a school record in the 1000 free, touching the wall in 9:25.61, and swam a UW best in her 1650 NCAA championship race. Junior
Mallory Jump was the last individual to add her name to the school record board, swimming a 1:55.82 in the 200 fly. The women's 400-free relay also broke a record at the Big Ten Championships with two of four members returning in Bacon and
Sophie Fiske.
4. RANKED IN THE TOP 20: Entering the 2022-23 season, the women's and men's teams enter the season as top-20 teams. According CSCAA October rankings, the women's team is ranked 7th while the men's team is seeded No. 20.
5. FOLLOW THE MEETS: Meet results from both meets will be posted live through the
Meet Mobile App that can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play. Arizona State will have a meet live stream that can be accessed
here. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the inside scoop throughout the weekend @BadgerSwimDive.
