Jan. 18, 2012
• Results
MADISON, Wis. -- In the first ever dual meet between the University of Southern California and the University of Wisconsin, the Badger swimming and diving teams captured eight first-place finishes at the McDonald's Swim Stadium in Los Angeles in the first day of competition on Wednesday.
"I thought we did a nice job today, the kids did a great job competing," said head coach Whitney Hite. "USC is one of the top teams in the country, and their women's team is going to be in the hunt for a national championship this year."
The Badgers started the day on the right foot as both the men's and women's `A' teams captured first place in the 200 medley relay. Ruby Martin, Ashley Wanland, Rebecka Palm and Beckie Thompson raced to a 1:42.64 finish for the women, while Garrett Mulchrone, Michael Weiss, Daniel Lester and Wes Lagerhausen touched in at 1:32.51 for the men.
Michael Weiss continued to excel throughout the day as he won two individual races. In the 200 free, the junior clocked in at 1:39.36, finishing more than two seconds ahead of second place. Weiss outpaced teammate Lester in the 200 IM as the duo took first and second in the event with times of 1:51.18 and 1:52.74, respectively.
Lagerhausen edged USC's Jack Ostler in the 50 free by .17 seconds for first place, finishing with a time of 21.50.
Tariq Miller also had a good day for the Badgers, but came up just .09 seconds short of capturing first place as USC's Sergio Lujan Rivera beat Miller's time of 56.87 in the 100 breast.
The women's squad took first in the 200 free relay, as the Badgers' `A' team of Ivy Martin, Ruby Martin, Palm, and Thompson finished in 1:33.48.
Wanland continued her dominance in the 100 breast as she outpaced the USC swimmers with a time of 1:02.28.
In the 50 free for the women, Thompson and Ivy Martin gave the Badgers a one-three finish as Thompson clocked in at 23.15, with Ivy Martin just missing out on second place with a time of 23.42.
The men's team currently sits behind USC in total points, down 93-74, while the women are back 106-61 to the Trojans.
"We had a long day traveling yesterday," coach Hite commented. "I'm expecting us to be a bit sharper tomorrow. We'll work on fine tuning and working towards the Big Ten Championships, which are just a month away. We're making sure that we get better each time we swim and if we make a mistake, we make sure we learn from it and become better from it."
The Badgers and Trojans return to the pool tomorrow afternoon to conclude the dual meet. Competition is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. CT.
