UW seniors (L-R) Addison Winger, Tyler Hines, Trish Nelson, Rebecka Palm, Jennah Haney (photo courtesy of Jeremy Wodajo/Wisconsin Athletics)
It was Senior Day at the UW Natatorium in Madison, WI today as the Badgers played host to the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. On the second day of the two-day dual meet, visiting Minnesota emerged victorious with final scores of 218-152 in the women’s contest and 220-150 in the men’s.
At the end of Day 1 the Lady Golden Gophers were leading their hosts 101-83 and Minnesota’s men were up 183-103. See coverage here.
Day 2 began with a pair of victories for Minnesota’s 400 medley relays. The women’s foursome of Tess Behrens, Kierra Smith, Becca Weiland and Lauren Votava bested UW’s Emma Paulson, Anna Meinholz, Dana Grindall and Ivy Martin 3:45.31 to 3:46.57. The Gophers’ Daryl Turner, Nick Hatanaka, Kyler Van Swol, and Derek Toomey squeaked by their Wisconsin hosts Drew teDuits, Nick Schafer, Cannon Clifton and Brett Pinfold 3:19.81 to 3:19.99. Even a 44.20 anchor from freshman Pinfold couldn’t quite do it for the Badgers.
The mile gave Minnesota distance star Kiera Janzen her third individual title of the meet. Her 16:37.66 put her nearly a 50 in front of UW’s Aja Van Hout (16:53.74) and Gopher teammate Sam Harding (16:57.75). The men’s event saw a 25-year-old pool record go down when CJ Smith of Minnesota won in 15:33.35. The previous Natatorium pool record of 15:35.44 was set by Roddy Kirschenman in 1988. Smith’s teammate Ben Bravence finished second in 15:49.95 and Nick Caldwell of Wisconsin took third in 15:57.08.
In the women’s 100 back, Minnesota senior Tess Behrens won her second event, touching in 56.37. Wisconsin’s Annie Tamblyn (56.64) was second; Minnesota freshman Katelyn Holmquist (56.81) was third. On the men’s, Iv side, Drew teDuits overcame a .24 deficit at the 50 to prevail in 48.77, just ahead of Minnesota freshman Daryl Turner’s 48.83. Wisconsin’s Ryan O’Donnell and Austin Byrd battled it out for third. They were tied at the 50 but O’Donnell’s second half proved too strong for his teammate and he took home third with a 50.35.
Wisconsin sprinters Ivy Martin (49.77) and Brett Pinfold (45.26) won the women’s and men’s 100 free, respectively. After that it was a slew of Minnesotans: Lauren Votava (50.38) was second while Tori Simenec and Erin Caflisch tied for third (51.42). On the men’s side Derek Toomey (45.32) and Ryan Miksch (46.96) were second and third.
In the 400 IM, Wisconsin’s Aja Van Hout bounced back from her mile and won the event with a strong back half. She just held off Minnesota freshman Breanne Siwicki 4:22.68 to 4:22.77. Wisconsin freshman Madeline Hazle finished third with 4:28.88. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Brandon Hatanaka took the men’s title in 3:58.85, in front of UW’s Drew teDuits (3:59.77) and Minnesota’s Andrew Hartbarger (4:02.34).
After two second-place finishes, Wisconsin’s Anna Meinholz (1:04.75) came up with a win in the 100 breast. She was followed by a pair of Lady Gophers, Kierra Smith (1:05.05) and Blake Zeiger (1:05.89). On the men’s side it was the opposite: Nick Hatanaka of Minnesota (56.85) took first while two Badgers, Nick Schafer (57.11) and Jake Mandli (58.21) finished second and third.
The 100 fly featured Becca Weiland of Minnesota with a solid 54.58 for the win. Wisconsin senior Rebecka Palm was second with 55.28, while her freshman teammate Dana Grindall took the bronze in 56.84. Minnesota senior Kyler Van Swol took the men’s race. His 49.63 beat out teammate Nick Orf’s 50.36 for second. Wisconsin’s Ryan O’Donnell rounded off the top three in 50.60.
In an exciting end to the meet, both the men’s and women’s 400 free relays came down to the last 50 yards. The Lady Gophers (Lauren Votava, Erin Caflisch, Becca Weiland, Kiera Janzen) held off a charge from the team from Wisconsin (Ivy Martin, Rebecka Palm, Chase Kinney, Aja Van Hout) and went on to win 3:22.71 to 3:23.05. The men’s relay came down to the final leg, as both third swimmers touched at exactly 2:15.03. In the end Minnesota (Daryl Turner, Kyler Van Swol, Carl Newenhouse, Derek Toomey) prevailed, beating Wisconsin (Brett Pinfold, Cannon Clifton, Nicholas Caldwell, Damon Zito) 2:59.93 to 3:00.24.
Minnesota senior Margaret Keefer won both diving events. Teammate and fellow senior Sarah McCrady was second in the 3-meter, while Wisconsin freshman Ashley Peterson took third. In 1-meter diving, Minnesota swept the top three positions with Keefer, Jessica Ramberg and Katy Etterman
Minnesota’s Manny Pollard won both men’s diving events. Wisconsin freshman Andrew Suchla was second in both the 3-meter and the 1-meter. Dylan Zoe of Minnesota took third in 3-meter while his teammate Erik Larsen took third in 1-meter.
Both Wisconsin men’s and women’s teams are 0-2 in season competition and 0-1 in the Big Ten. The UW Badgers’ next meet is on November 1 when they head out west to take on the California Golden Bears. The next day they will confront the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto.
Minnesota women are now 3-0 overall, 2-0 in Big Ten competition. The men Gophers are 2-1 for the season; 1-0 in the conference. Both teams’ next dual meet is against Big Ten competitor University of Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City on November 1.
Another great 50 free for Ivy Martin in 22.42.
She has a consistent level around 22.50 very early in the season.
Before big fireworks next March? We’ll see.
I came into the year expecting Minnesota’s freestyle relays to fall off with graduations of freestylers over the last two years. But Van Swol and Newenhouse have risen up to keep the Minnesota tradition of fast sprint relays alive. Not to mention the addition of Turner. Dennis Dale’s still knows how to find guys for those relays. 2:59 is a good time for that pool.