Wisconsin Beats Penn State; Edged by Arizona
October 28, 2005 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team picked up its second Big Ten win with a 157-111 win over Penn State but suffered a narrow 138.5-123.5 loss to fifth-ranked Arizona Friday in Tucson, Ariz.
Wisconsin's best showing proved to be in the 200-yard backstroke, where the Badgers swept the Top 3 spots. Junior captain Susan Johnson earned first-place honors in the event with a time of 2:01.30. Fellow captain Anna Trinidad placed second (2:01.66) while Andrea Wiesner finished third (2:02.33).
'This was the first time we had a dual meet against Penn State in my seven years, and we swam well,' Eric Hansen, Wisconsin head swimming coach, said. 'We got off to a slow start against Arizona and dropped a close one. All-in-all, I am happy with our performance. For the women to do what they did was pretty good. We got a lot out of the meet.'
Johnson also had a strong performance in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing second in 56.15. Senior Sarah Hernandez also earned second-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (23.69) and the 100-yard freestyle (51.58).
Rookie Yi Ting Siow, who earned her first career Big Ten swimmer of the week laurel following her performance at the SMU Invitational last weekend, earned a win in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:13.68. The freshman also tallied a second-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley (4:23.09). Amalia Sarnecki finished second in the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:03.50 and also placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.17) behind Siow.
Freshman Jennifer Illescas also swam well for the Badgers, finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:56.01. In addition, both the Wisconsin relay teams earned second-place finishes.
Senior captain Amanda Witte led UW on the boards with second-place finishes on both the 1-meter (174.90) and 3-meter (245.30) boards.
'Amanda dove very well,' Josh Seykora, Wisconsin head diving coach, said. 'She is showing she can compete on a national level. I am happy with where we are at this point in the season but we will continue to keep working hard.'
Wisconsin (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) will head to Bloomington, Ind., Friday for a meet against Indiana, Southern Illinois and Louisville.
