UW Kicks Off Season at Home This Weekend
October 05, 2005 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The University of Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams open the 2005-06 season this Friday by welcoming UW-Green Bay. The competition will take place at 5 p.m. at the UW Natatorium.
The Badger men and women defeated both teams at the meet last year.
'Our team has been and will continue to be successful because of the continuity of training,' head coach Eric Hansen said. 'Year in and year out, all of our athletes are focused year round on maintaining consistency and that results in a linear progression in terms of performance.'
Last year, the women's swimming and diving team placed third at the Big Ten championships and captured its second-best national finish (11th) at the NCAA championships. Meanwhile, the men's team claimed seventh at the Big Ten championships and came in 19th at the NCAAs.
On the women's side, the Badgers will look to returning captains Amanda Witte and Anna Trinidad, as well as the successful Susan Johnson to lead the team. Johnson joined graduate Carly Piper as a recipient of the first-team all-big ten award last season.
On the men's side, senior Michael Hamm returns to his second year as captain and junior Tom Molzahn will share the responsibilities as captain. Molzahn is fresh off of an impressive summer season, qualifying for the U.S. championships in five events.
Despite the loss of key swimmers Piper, Adam Mania and Liebhold, Wisconsin hopes to boast one of its best records to date.
'With the quality of the newcomers we're bringing in and the continued development of the swimmers, I feel that our team can be at least as good as they were last year, if not better,' Hansen said.
Behind the returnees lies a deep pool of newcomers. With just one senior and one junior, the UW men's swimming team will be relying very heavily on the underclassmen for a successful season. On the women's side, relay two-time Olympian Yi Ting Siow will help to fill Piper's shoes in several events.
'With so many newcomers to the team, it will be interesting to see who steps into the missing roles,' Hansen said. 'Our primary focus will be to develop the right way and at least equal what we did last year.'
The Badgers host another meet next week when the squad welcomes Iowa and UW-Milwaukee to town. The event is scheduled to beging at 4 p.m. Thursday at the UW Natatorium.
