Minnesota and Wisconsin Split in Big 10 Battle

MEET STATS

  • Complete results
  • Hosted by Minnesota (Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center)
  • October 13, 2016
  • 25 yards, dual meet (men and women)
  • Scores:
    • (M) Minnesota 185, Wisconsin 115
    • (W) Wisconsin 158, Minnesota 142
  • Team’s Record:
    • Minnesota (M) (1-0), Minnesota (W) (0-1)
    • Wisconsin (M) (0-2), Wisconsin (W) (1-1)

RECAP

Big 10 Rivals Minnesota and Wisconsin split their “border battle,” with the Minnesota men coming out on top (185-115), while the Wisconsin women emerged victorious (158-142).

Women’s Competition

The women’s meet began with a come-from-behind victory by Wisconsin in the 200 medley relay, thanks to a monster final leg by freestyler Chase Kinney (21.99). Wisconsin won the first relay by less than two tenths. The final relay, on the other hand, was a blowout as Wisconsin went 1-2, with the ‘A’ relay winning by almost 5 seconds.

The Wisconsin Badgers dominated the freestyle events, sweeping the podium in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free. Individual winners were Olympian Cierra Runge in the 200 free (1:49.07) and 500 free (4:47.81), and Kinney in the 50 free (22.62) and 100 free (49.58). 17-year-old Beata Nelson grabbed a win in the 100 back (54.11), and Jess Unicomb touched first in the 200 back (1:58.79),

Minnesota’s individual event winners included Brooke Zeiger, who pulled out a big victory over Runge in the 1000 Free by less than a second. Zeiger’s winning time was 9:53.84, followed by Runge in 9:54.60 and Wisconsin’s Danielle Valley was third in 9:58.77. Zeiger, who would lose the 500 free to Runge, finished the meet with a second win in the 200 IM (2:02.39).

Other individual winners for the Gophers were Lindsey Horejsi in the 100 breast (1:01.54), Danielle Nack in the 100 fly (54.32) and 200 fly (1:59.59), and Kierra Smith in the 200 breast (2:12.18).

Divers Yu Zhou won the 1-meter (316.65) and Lexi Tenenbaum won the 3-meter (352.28).

Notably, Minnesota’s breaststroke and diving corps delivered. The Gophers swept the podium in the 100 breast, 200 breast, 1-meter diving and 3-meter diving.

Men’s Competition

The Minnesota Gophers got off to a quick start in the men’s competition, and never took their foot off the gas pedal. They won the 200 medley relay by more than a second, and finished the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (both Paul Fair and Daryl Turner split a 43.96).

Individual wins included Turner in the 100 back (48.21) and 100 fly (47.85), Conner McHugh in the 100 breast (54.53) and 200 breast (1:57.90), Bowen Becker in the 50 free (19.92) and Fair in the 100 free (44.41). Divers Lucas Cooperman won the 1-meter (358.75) and Matt Barnard took first in the 3-meter (393.68).

Minnesota was also able to keep Wisconsin off the podium in three events: the 100 breast, 200 breast and 1-meter diving.

In spite of the scoreline, the Badger men had a strong showing individually. Both Brett Pinfold and Matt Hutchins were double winners. Pinfold won the 200 free (1:38.42) and 200 IM (1:49.29), and Hutchins took the 500 free (4:26.18) and 1000 free (9:16.28). In addition, Harrison Tran won the 200 fly (1:49.98) and Justin Temprano won the 200 back (1:49.84).

Wisconsin was also able to sweep the podium in the 200 back.

Looking ahead, Minnesota will take on Iowa at the end of this month. The men will race on Friday, October 28th, and the women will follow Saturday, October 29th. For the Badgers, they return to action next weekend to challenge a rising NC State program in a two-day away meet (October 21st-22nd).

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Minnesota Athletics:

Minnesota opened the swimming and diving season with a Border Battle split. The men’s team defeated Wisconsin 185-115, and the women’s team lost 158-142 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. Diving and breaststroke were highlights for both teams, and the Gopher men took first in both relays.

MEN – W, 185-115
Minnesota started and ended the meet with relay wins. Daryl Turner, Conner McHugh, Paul Fair and Bowe Becker posted a time of 1:28.08 to win the 200-yard medley relay. In the 400 freestyle relay, Turner turned a slight deficit into a victory on the anchor leg. Becker, Fair, Noah Busch and Turner finished in 2:57.82.

In the breaststroke, Conner McHugh won both races to lead the charge for Minnesota. The Gophers swept the top four spots in the 100, led by McHugh’s 54.53. Nick Hatanaka (56.02), John Bushman (56.05) andEric Sande (56.96) finished in places 2-4. McHugh (1:57.90), Bushman (1:59.72) and Hatanaka (2:02.67) were the three fastest in the 200.

The Gophers’ divers controlled the scoring on both springboards. Returning Big Ten champion Matt Barnard won 3-meter with a score of 393.68. Runner-up Alan LeBlang scored 369.00, and Jeremy Moser 305.63 in his first event.

Freshman Lucas Cooperman (358.75) won 1-meter. Barnard (348.75) and LeBlang (314.93) joined him in the top three spots.

Minnesota swimmers won both sprint freestyle events. Bowe Becker had the only sub-20 time in the 50 free at 19.92. Paul Fair and Becker claimed the top two spots in the 100 at 44.41 and 44.54, respectively. Hunter Doerr was third in the 50 (20.71) and fourth in the 100 (45.99), while James Tidd (20.97) was fourth in the 50.

Turner won the 100 backstroke by nearly three seconds, touching in 48.21 for his first of two individual wins in the meet. Freshmen Tyler Klatt and Hunter Connelly tied for fourth in 51.37.

Turner, a senior, also won the 100 butterfly, in 47.85. Freshmen Tuomas Pokkinen and Garner Kohrell took third and fourth. In the 200 fly, Nick Orf was second in 1:50.90, with Brian Poon (1:52.46) taking fourth and Pokkinen (1:54.21) fifth.

Fair (1:38.66) and Jakub Maly (1:39.63) turned in a 2-3 finish in the 200 free. Nick Saulnier (1:40.68) was fifth in his Gophers debut. Saulnier was fourth (1:52.27) in the 200 back to lead Minnesota.

Maly (1:49.62) and Poon (1:51.70) finished second and third in the 200 individual medley, with John Bushman (1:52.59) in fifth.

Nick Plachinski (9:24.01), Logan Redondo (9:27.46) and Justin Torres (9:30.20) scored in the third, fourth and fifth places in the 1,000 free. They would later finish second (4:32.89), third (4:34.71) and fourth (4:38.43) in the 500 free in the same order.

WOMEN – L, 158-142
Breaststroke races yielded big points for the Gophers. Lindsey Horejsi finished in 1:01.54 in the 100 breast to win her first collegiate race. Kierra Smith (1:02.41) and Rae Bullinger (1:03.85) followed in second and third. Smith later won the 200 breast in 2:12.18, swimming it in a collegiate meet for the first time since capturing the 2015 NCAA title. Horejsi (2:16.39), Kaela Marcus (2:20.93) and Bullinger (2:22.05) followed in order.

Minnesota collected all the top honors on the diving boards. 2015 Big Ten Diver of the Year Yu Zhou (316.65) captured the 1-meter win. Freshman Sarah Bacon (309.45) and fellow senior Lexi Tenenbaum (303.45) were second and third.

Tenenbaum won the 3-meter competition at 352.28. Zhou (340.88), Bacon (316.95) and Mariam Khamis (297.30) followed her in order.

With a time of 9:53.84, Brooke Zeiger beat 2016 Olympian Cierra Runge for first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle, one of two wins on the evening. Erin Emery (10:04.61) also scored in the event, finishing fourth. Zeiger and Runge again faced off in the 500 free, and Zeiger finished second this time in 4:49.91 to Runge’s 4:47.81.

Zeiger later won the 200 individual medley in 2:02.39. Breanne Siwicki (2:06.33) and Smith (2:07.53) were fourth and fifth.

Danielle Nack won both butterfly events. She touched in 1:59.59 in the 200. Siwicki was fourth in 2:02.60. Nack’s winning 100 fly time was 54.32.

Freshman Tevyn Waddell was second in the 100 backstroke in 54.18. In the 200 back, Chantal Nack (1:59.62) and Waddell (1:59.97) finished second and third, while Katelyn Holmquist was fifth (57.28). Chantal Nack was the Gophers’ top finisher in the 200 free, in fourth at 1:50.63.

Zoe Avestruz (23.49) led Minnesota in fourth place in the 50 free. Abigail Raatz (51.88) was fourth to lead the Gophers in the 100 free.

Gopher squads took second and third in the 200 medley relay. Tevyn Waddell, Horejsi, Danielle Nack andZoe Avestruz (1:40.58) made up the “A” relay. Minnesota’s relay of Danille Nack, Avestruz, Waddell andChantal Nack (3:24.42) was third in the 400 free relay.

UP NEXT
The Gopher men will host Iowa on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m., and the women’s meet will follow on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. It will be the Gophers’ “Pack the Pool” and senior recognition weekend.

Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics:

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams faced a short turnaround, but UW’s performance Thursday in a dual meet with rival Minnesota showed that the Badgers have come a long way since last weekend’s season opener.

Less than a week after taking losses to Auburn in their own pool, the Badgers showed some strength in splitting this year’s Border Battle at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

“We took the next step forward,” UW head coach Whitney Hite said. “I was pleased. Minnesota is a very good program and I thought we did a nice job moving forward, having learned our lesson from the Auburn meet.

The Wisconsin women came out on top against the Gophers, 158-142, marking their second-straight win over Minnesota, while the men fell, 185-115.

“We were more focused and there was more intensity in what we did,” Hite said. “We were more like Badgers today: tough, scrappy, fierce. We were what we expect ourselves to be.”

After the men dominated the freestyle events against Auburn, the roles were reversed as the women asserted their freestyle dominance against the Gophers, winning four of the five freestyle events.

Sophomore Cierra Runge and senior Chase Kinney led the Badgers’ charge, each coming away with two individual wins.

Runge earned her first win as a Badger in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:49.07 while sophomore Emmy Sehmann (1:50.00) and junior Abby Jagdfeld (1:50.38) finished second and third to complete the 1-2-3 sweep for UW.

Later on, Runge picked up her second individual win in the 500-yard freestyle, posting a time of 4:47.81, which ranks third nationally in the season’s early stages.

Kinney swept the sprints with wins in the 50 freestyle (22.62) and the 100 freestyle, where her time of 49.58 ranks fourth nationally and second in the Big Ten.

The 50 and 100 free were both highlighted by 1-2-3 finishes, as Sehmann finished second (23.23) and Berg third (23.44) in the 50 free while Jagdfeld and Berg completed the sweep in the 100 free with times of 51.45 and 51.59, respectively.

“Cierra hasn’t swum short course in a long time and it showed a little bit against Auburn, but she’s starting to figure it out and put it together,” Hite said. “Chase was Chase. She’s back to normal, and normal for her is exceptional.”

Senior Danielle Valley and sophomore Maddie Tew also scored for the Badgers in the 500 free, with Valley coming in third (4:53.89) and Tew finishing fourth (4:56.45).

The Wisconsin women would also reign victorious in both relay events.

The team of Jess Unicomb, Berg, freshman Beata Nelson and Kinney opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:40.42.

To cap off the night, the Badgers scored an impressive 1-2 finish in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, with the ‘A’ team of Kinney, Runge, Sehmann, and Berg dominating the competition in 3:19.98, while the ‘B’ team of Nelson, Jagdfeld, senior Dana Grindall, and Tew came in second in 3:24.23.

The women also swept the backstroke events, with Nelson winning the 100-yard backstroke in 54.11, while Unicomb won the 200 back in 1:58.79.

Freshman Megan Doty also made strides for the squad, finishing runner-up in the 200-yard IM (2:03.14), just behind Minnesota’s record-holder in the event, Brooke Zeiger.

“Whether it was Emmy Sehmann or Maddie Tew or Megan Doty, I thought we had several women step up and swim very well today,” Hite said.

Despite the loss in the team race, the UW men once again showed strong performances in the freestyle events, with senior Matt Hutchins leading the way for Wisconsin.

“I thought he was really good,” Hite said. “Coming off the Olympics there’s usually a little bit of a lull, but he’s doing some really good things.”

Hutchins swept both the 500 and 1000 freestyle events, posting times of 4:28.16 and 9:16.28 that both rank in the top five nationally.

Junior Victor Goicoechea placed runner-up to Hutchins in the 1000 free, clocking in at 9:21.90.

Senior Brett Pinfold also picked up two wins, winning the 200 free (1:38.42) and the 200 individual medley (1:49.29).

Senior Harrison Tran had a strong showing, winning the 200-yard butterfly in 1:49.98, while also taking second in the 100 fly (48.32).

Freshman Justin Temprano earned his first collegiate win in the 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall in 1:49.84. Junior Todd McCarthy and freshman Cameron Tysoe completed the 1-2-3 sweep for the team, with times of 1:50.30 and 1:50.62, respectively.

Justin Temprano had a heck of a meet,” Hite said. “Throw in what Brett and Victor did, and a couple of the other guys that stepped up, and we definitely had some bright spots on the men’s side.”

Having already earning an NCAA zone automatic qualifying score on the 3-meter springboard against Auburn, freshman Kevin Pomeroy managed to improve upon his score, tallying 355.73 points to take third place on Thursday.

Next up? The Badgers continue their tough dual meet schedule by traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina, next weekend to take on a strong NC State program. The meet begins at 3 p.m. (CT) on Oct. 21, and continues Oct. 22, beginning at 9 a.m.

“I think with our team, men and women, our margin for error is very small,” Hite said. “When we make a mistake or we’re not on point – with the caliber of teams we’re swimming against – it gets exploited. Today was a reminder of that. We learn from that and we get better.

“I guarantee by the time we get to championship season we will be battle tested and have gone through the things we need to that make you tough at the end.”

 

AB

In This Story

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments