Big Ten Swimmers Impressive in College Dual Action

By Emily Sampl

BOULDER, Colorado, October 10. ALTHOUGH it may be just the second weekend of major dual meet action, swimmers from several schools across the country are already establishing themselves as championship contenders come February and March. Here are a few highlights from the weekend.

In their dual meet win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday, three Wisconsin Badger swimmers posted times ranking in the top two in the nation in their respective events. In the women's 50 free, junior Beckie Thompson cracked the 23-second barrier with a swift 22.98 to move into second nationally behind Florida's Sarah Bateman (22.84). Maggie Meyer touched in 54.53 in the 100 back, just four-tenths off Elizabeth Beisel's top time of 54.11. Daniel Lester opened his sophomore campaign with a sizzling 48.33 in the 100 fly, which trails only Cal's Tom Shields (48.20) as the fastest time this season.

Big Ten rivals Minnesota and Michigan squared off in Ann Arbor on Friday night, with several Gophers posting world class times in Minnesota's convincing win. All-American Jillian Tyler led the way with two dominating performances in the 100 and 200 breast. She finished in 1:00.86 and 2:13.59, respectively, easily the fastest times in both events thus far this year. Additionally, Ashley Steenvoorden swam a solid 16:32.04 in the mile, outdistancing her nearest competitor by more than 20 seconds and establishing herself as the fastest woman in the event in 2010.

USC hosted an invitational in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday, with several performances worth noting. Trojans Clement Lefert (200 free, 1:37.66, and 200 fly, 1:47.87), Vlad Morozov (50 free, 20.05), Lyndsay DePaul (200 fly, 1:56.45) and Haley Anderson (500 free, 4:47.58) had outstanding meets. Lefert, Morozov and DePaul's times are the fastest in the country so far this season.

In one of the more surprising outcomes of the weekend, the Alabama men's swimming and diving team defeated Auburn for the first time in more than 15 years, 133-110, while the Alabama women fell to the Tigers, 169-74. Catalin Cosma and Joe Ziegler each won three events apiece for the Crimson Tide, who picked up wins in eight of the nine swimming events to stun the Tigers. On the women's side, Alabama's Kate Shannon Gray had a solid swim in the 200 IM (2:02.24), while Auburn's Micah Lawrence continued her pace from this summer with a dominating 2:16.67 in the 200 breast.

After a solid outing last weekend in their first competition at the Division I level, the Liberty Lady Flames picked up their first dual meet victories over Radford and North Carolina A&T on Friday. Melissa Watson (200 IM and 100 breast), Brye Ravettine (100 fly and 100 back) and Lindsay Romkes (500 free) established new school records in the Flames' historic meet.

On Friday, Division II power Truman State took on the University of Iowa, and although they lost the meet, the Bulldogs showed they'll once again be one of the teams to beat in Division II. Three Lady Bulldogs captured wins for Truman State: Casey Jepsen swam a strong 1:54.80 to win the women's 200 free, Jessica Jenkot won the 100 breast in 1:07.15 and Anna Grinter touched first in the 200 fly in 2:09.37. All three times were under the NCAA Division II B standard for that event.

For all the latest on the weekend of college action, check out the College Channel.

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