Nelson, Burdisso Down Records as Wisconsin, Northwestern split

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Beata Nelson Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

The Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams competed in a senior day dual meet with conference foe Northwestern on Saturday. Twelve senior athletes said their UW Natatorium goodbyes as the Badgers split the meet.

Men’s: Wisconsin 161, Northwestern 139

Women’s: Northwestern 166.5, Wisconsin 133.5

Wisconsin Press Release:

In her last home meet as a Badger, senior standout Beata Nelson gave one of her best performances, breaking three pool records on the day. In the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, Nelson beat records she already owned, touching in 51.98 and 1:54.18, respectively. She then went on to break her teammate Lillie Hosack’s pool record in the 200 IM with a time of 1:56.24.

Senior Griffin Back also ended his career at the UW Natatorium by breaking a pool record, as he was a part of the 200 medley relay team that made its way onto the boards with a time of 1:27.60. Back also joined fellow seniors Niko Stines and Kevin Braun as well as junior Matthew Novinski in winning the 400 free relay (2:59.24).

Getting in on the senior day success, senior Michael Milinovich earned a first-place finish in the 200 fly (1:48.88) and senior Megan Doty came away with second-place finishes in both the 200 fly (2:00.31) and 100 fly (55.41), while also joining Nelson and Hosack and Alana Palmer in winning the 400 free relay.

“It was really good competition today, tough competition. We knew Northwestern was going to come in here and be really good, it’s a very well-coached program. I thought today was a really good test and exactly what our program needed. In about three and a half weeks our women are going to be going to (the Big Ten Championships) and in about four and a half weeks are men will be going, so to be in this environment where everything matters – it was really important for us to go through that because it’s going to be even more so at the championships. Great energy, great emotion today. To honor our twelve seniors in possibly – hopefully – our last meet here in the Natatorium, it was special.” – Head Coach Yuri Suguiyama

“There were a lot of emotions going on, for sure. I tried to keep the crying to a minimum as much as I could through the meet and just enjoy it and be with my teammates. It was special to break a couple pool records and enjoy my last swim at the Nat with my team – I couldn’t be happier.” – Beata Nelson

“Last home meet today, it was definitely exciting. Coming into this week we had been looking at the results from the previous meets (Northwestern) had and we knew it was going to be a tough one, but we just kept telling ourselves that if we battled hard and continued as a team that we could come through. I think this win is going to carry a lot of momentum going into Big Ten Championships season, so I’m really excited to close this chapter with the team and I think next month is going to be a good time.” – Michael Milinovich

Northwestern Press Release:

The women took the first event of the day, with the team of juniors Calypso Sheridan, Sophie Angus and Maddie Smith and sophomore Miriam Guevara earning 11 Wildcat points in a time of 1:40.07.

First-year Federico Burdisso won his first event of the day in the 50 free, touching in a time of 20.40. The first-year tallied a total of three individual wins, including breaking a 17-year old Natatorium record in the 100 fly with an NCAA ‘B’ Cut time of 47.48.

The ‘Cats swept the 1000 free with Ilektra Lebl and DJ Hwang each out touching their competition by at least three seconds, Lebl touching in 10:11.18 and Hwang in 9:21.29. Both Hwang and Lebl came back with top finishes in the 500 free with a 4:33.40 and 4:58.28 finish respectively.

Aleksa Bobar led the 1-4-7 NU finish in the 200 free in a time of 1:39.49, followed by fellow first-year Ben Forbes and senior Liam Gately.

First-year Hannah Bruznell continued her dominance in the breaststroke, leading a 15 point finish for the ‘Cats followed by teammates Angus and sophomore Tara Vovk. Bruznell finished the day with two individual wins, a top three finish in the 200 IM and was a part of a top two relay. Guevara also had multiple individual wins with top finishes in the 100 fly and 200 fly.

NU swept the boards on the women’s side with a 1-2-3 finish in the 1M dive, led by first-year Markie Hopkins. Northwestern earned 16 points in the event with the efforts of Jaye Patrick and Labonita Ghose. Hopkins also led the 1-2-4-5 finish in the 3M dive with teammates Parsons, Carolyn and Ghose all finishing top five.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Northwestern Swimming and Wisconsin Swimming. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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