Wisconsin Badgers
USC
Upperclassmen pace Badgers at USC dual
January 11, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Jan. 11, 2014
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- As was the trend in the first half of the season, junior leadership proved key as the University of Wisconsin men and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in a dual meet at USC on Saturday.
The Badgers garnered a total of six first-place finishes, five of which were earned by junior swimmers.
On the men’s end, Nick Caldwell earned the top two individual performances of the day as the University of Florida transfer raced to victories in both the 500-yard (4:26.79) and 1000-yard (9:18.39) freestyle races. The Sarasota, Fla. native also swam to a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (46.69), less than 0.75 seconds shy of the first place time.
After earning an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the 200-yard backstroke in Wisconsin’s last meet, Drew teDuits continued to dominate his respective race, winning with a time of 1:46.36. The native of Fitchburg, Wis. also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke (49.24).
Junior Nick Schafer rounded out the men’s first-place finishes on the day, winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:00.95) and finishing second in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.07).
Youth also served the men’s squad well as freshman Cannon Clifton placed second in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.52) and the 100-yard butterfly (50.49).
Damon Zito finished off the men’s performances with a second-place time in the 100-yard freestyle (46.66).
Overall, the men’s squad fell 124-151, while the women finished behind the Trojans 103-154.
"I thought we competed pretty well today," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "They (USC) are one of the premier teams in the country. It poses a different challenge to us, and it gives different people the opportunity to step up. We had some of that today, and I think we’re closing the gap a little bit on USC.
"They’re still ahead of us, but again, they’re a premier team and that’s where we want to be. This just gives us an opportunity to measure up."
Ivy Martin remained the epitome of consistency for the women’s squad, once again winning the 50-yard freestyle (22.60) and earning an NCAA B Cut. The junior also swam an NCAA B-qualifying time of 49.71 in the 100-yard freestyle, placing second.
Rebecka Palm closed out the Badgers’ top finishes, winning the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 55.08.
Aside from Martin’s 100-yard freestyle, the women’s squad picked up six other second-place finishes at the meet.
The 200-yard medley relay quartet of Annie Tamblyn, Anna Meinholz, Palm and Martin took second with a time of 1:42.52.
Meinholz, a sophomore, also grabbed second place in both the 100-yard (1:03.41) and 200-yard (2:19.30) breaststroke races.
Freshmen, too, played their parts for the women’s team. Madeline Hazle raced to second place in both the 100-yard (57.77) and 200-yard (2:02.75) backstroke races, while Dana Grindall finished second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.04).
While the swimmers competed at USC, Wisconsin’s diving team looked to make an impression at UCLA in the Bruin Diving Invitational against divers from USC, UCLA, Utah, Cal and more.
On the 1-meter board, freshman Andrew Suchla finished fourth with a total score of 592.35, while Logan Knauss finished with 565.90 points.
On the 3-meter board, Ashley Peterson scored 488.05 for the women.
"We’ve got basically six more days of racing until conference, and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to sharpen the blade and be really good," Hite said.
"I think that’s the focus now, starting to be precise, sharpen up, and just make sure we’re doing what we need to be doing. The hard part of it is done, and now we need to land the plane, so-to-speak. We’ve got quite a bit to work on, but we just need to be more precise."
The Badgers return to the pool on Fri., Jan. 17 as they compete in a meet in Christiansburg, Va. against Virginia, Harvard (men), Miami (women) and Virginia Tech.
