Wisconsin Sweeps Northwestern
MADISON, Wisc., Nov. 13. THE Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams each improved to 3-1 in overall dual meets and 3-0 in the Big Ten by posting victories over Northwestern at the UW Natatorium Thursday night.
Sophomore Anna Trinidad and junior Carly Piper each won two individual events and swam on a winning relay as the tenth-ranked Badger women's team cruised to a 143-91 victory over the Wildcats.
Trinidad set a new pool record in winning the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:02.82 to break the previous mark by four-hundredths of a second. She also achieved an NCAA "B" cut standard with the effort. Trinidad then added a top finish in the 200-yard backstroke with another "B" cut time of 2:01.34. She wrapped up the meet by joining Piper, Sarah Hernandez and Shannon VanCuren on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay squad (1:34.67).
In addition to swimming a leg on the winning relay, Piper took top honors in the 1000- and 100-yard freestyles. Her mark of 9:54.05 in the 1000 free was a mere tenth of second off the pool record.
Hernandez captured the title in the 50 free in a season-best time of 23.62, while swimming on the first-place 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relays (3:46.85).
Defending Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Bethany Pendleton added a pair of first-place finishes, winning the 200-yard free (1:51.02) and the 500-yard free (4:54.61). Amalia Sarnecki contributed a top finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.52).
The 10th-ranked Wisconsin men’s team outlasted the 22nd-ranked Wildcats by a 121-110 score.
Eric Wiesner controlled the action in the freestyle events, with victories in both the 200-yard (1:39.39) and 500-yard (4:32.84) freestyle competitions. Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Adam Mania followed up his award-winning performance against Indiana with another impressive performance versus the Wildcats. Mania earned 18 points for the Badgers by winning the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.53) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.14). Both of the times broke his own UW Natatorium pool records. Setting pool records has become an old habit for Mania. He has set new pool records in each of the first four home meets of the 2003-04 season.
Mania was once again joined in the record-breaking by his 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay teammates. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Matt Marshall, Wiesner, Chris Anderson and Dale Rogers improved on their own pool record by 45 hundredths of a second, winning in 1:21.31. Wisconsin led by just two points going into the final event, but the first-place finish sealed the victory.
The Badgers opened the meet with an effort from their 400-yard medley relay squad of Mania, Kevin Zakrzewski, Marshall and Rogers that established another pool record. The team improved on its own mark set earlier this season with a 3:16.89 effort.
Senior Pat Torpey came up with a crucial nine points for the Badgers in the 200-yard butterfly. Torpey edged Northwestern’s Mark Hamming with a winning time of 1:48.65. Torpey’s first-place finish gave the Badgers five points to separate themselves from the Wildcats.
The Badgers start a stretch of four road meets Nov. 21-23 at the Minnesota Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn. Swimming and diving action returns to UW Natatorium on Jan. 30-31 when Wisconsin host the Big Ten Quad Dual meet. The meet is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Jan. 30 and at noon on Jan. 31.