Wisconsin Walks Over Milwaukee

MADISON, Wisconsin, October 13. THE Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams both grabbed commanding victories over in-state rival Milwaukee at the UW Natatorium Friday. The women won with a final score of 175-118, while the men reigned supreme 176-120 over the Panthers.

The Badgers won all but eight of the 32 events Friday, with both the men and the women each taking 12 events thanks to strong performances from four senior swimmers: Michael Weiss, Dan Lester, Hannah Ross and Roxanne Fitter.

“I thought we did a nice job competing for our third meet of the season,” head coach Whitney L. Hite said. “I thought we showed improvement, which is the name of the game. I told the team at the start, you want to be better each time out, and I thought we were.”

For the men, Weiss was the star of the afternoon. Weiss took the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:38.89, more than five seconds better than the next closest swimmer. Weiss also won the 500-yard freestyle at 4:31.73, besting Milwaukee's Tim Halverson by nearly 20 seconds.

“1:38 and 4:31 is pretty darn good for this time of the year,” Hite said of Weiss, who was recently named to the U.S. National short course squad.

Weiss was also a member of the 400-yard medley relay team that took home first place for Wisconsin. Joining Weiss with a combined time of 3:32.64 was sophomore Drew TeDuits, Lester and senior Garrett Mulchrone.

TeDuits took home two other titles Friday as well, winning the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke with times of 50.94 and 1:49.46, respectively. TeDuit's time in the 200 was more than five seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Ryan O'Donnell.

Lester also took home two titles in addition to his 400-yard medley relay win. Lester won both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly with times of :49.88 and 1:51.83.

Meanwhile, a pair of freshmen lit up the pool for the men, with John Bushman winning the 100-yard breaststroke (:59.04) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:06.33). Bushman's time in the 200 was better than second place by nearly eight seconds. Fellow freshman Josh Anderson lit up the competition in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:13.49.

Senior Brandon O'Donnell rounded out the winning ways for Wisconsin, taking the title in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 1:56.86.

In the diving well, freshman Hunter Atha took second place in both the 3-meter and 1-meter events. Atha's score of 327.68 in the 3-meter missed the top spot by just 2.02 points to Milwaukee's, K.J. Heger, while his score of 299.93 in the 1-meter was shy of the title by just .97 points–against Heger. Fellow Badger freshman Logan Knauss took third in the 3-meter with a score of 304.35.

“Our divers did very well,” Hite said. “From not having a men's diving program last year to having two really good divers is really great.”

For the women, the 400-yard medley relay got the Badgers off to a flying start with a narrow win, clocking in at 3:48.36, just 1.60 seconds faster than Milwaukee. Included in the relay team was senior Hannah Ross, freshman Anna Meinholz, junior Rebecka Palm and sophomore Ivy Martin.

Ross, Palm and Marin all went on to win at least one individual title as well.

Ross won both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke with times of :56.65 and 2:01.18 respectively. Palm took the title in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of :56.29, while Ivy Martin won the 50-yard freestyle in :23.25.

Meanwhile senior Roxanne Fitter won both the 1-meter (297.45) and 3-meter(295.20) diving events for the Badgers.

One of the more impressive performances Friday came courtesy of freshman Jenny Holtzen who won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:51.62, nearly 30 seconds better than the next-fastest swimmer.

Also winning individual titles for Wisconsin were senior Laura Miller in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.71), Karissa Kruzewski with an impressive 2:06.87 in the 200-yard butterfly, senior Ruby Martin in the 100-yard freestyle (:51.68) and freshman Colleen Konetzke in the 500-yard freestyle (5:02.95).

Perhaps the most exciting race in the afternoon came in the narrow loss for the Badgers in the 200-yard individual medley. Junior Jennah Haney, with a time of 2:05.89, took second place to Milwaukee's Emily McClellan by just .05 seconds.

Wisconsin received a number of impressive performances from its young swimmers. Five of the Badger's 24 wins Friday came from freshmen.

“Our freshmen class as a whole, we're learning,” Hite said. “We're getting better each time and they're doing a very nice job.”

The Badgers are back in their home waters Saturday to take on Green Bay at the UW Natatorium at noon.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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