Feb. 21, 2015

•  Complete Results   |  Complete Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Heading into the final day of competition at the 2015 Big Ten Women's Championships, the Wisconsin women's swimming and diving team had its sights set on going out strong.

Collecting two more Big Ten titles, the Badgers punctuated an impressive championship meet, as Ivy Martin defended her crown in the 100-yard freestyle and UW's 400-yard freestyle relay did the same in the day's final event in Columbus, Ohio.

Ending with a total of 448 points, Wisconsin placed fourth in the Big Ten championship team standings, marking UW's best finish since 2012.

Martin was also named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships for the second-consecutive year after going a flawless 7-for-7 and winning titles in each event she was a part of.

The relay squad of Chase Kinney, Martin, Aja Van Hout and Annie Tamblyn reset their own Big Ten and school records in the 400 freestyle relay in dominant fashion, winning the conference title a second-straight year. With a time of three minutes, 12.96 seconds, the group won by an astounding 2.26 seconds to underline a remarkable week of competition for the program. UW's relay time also earned the group an NCAA 'A' cut and spot in the NCAA championships.

In all, Wisconsin won four out of the five relay events at the Big Ten championships.

"It was the perfect end to an unbelievably great meet," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "Relays are very important, so we put a lot of emphasis on them. The fun part is that we really have the opportunity to score well at the next level (NCAAs)."

Thanks to UW's domination of the relay events, six Badgers earned first-team All-Big Ten accolades: Dana Grindall, Kinney, Martin, Anna Meinholz, Tamblyn and Van Hout.

Wisconsin tied for the most first-team All-Big Ten honorees with six, along with Indiana. Martin's final individual conference event of her career came Saturday in the 100-yard freestyle, and the senior from Madison, Wisconsin, did not disappoint.

For the second-straight year, Martin captured the 100 freestyle crown, while also resetting her Big Ten, meet and school record in the event. Martin topped her previous record and claimed the top seed for finals in 47.58 during preliminaries, then went on to win in 47.75. With an NCAA 'A' cut time, Martin also clinched her spot to compete against the nation's best at the NCAA championships in March.

"It's really not surprising," Hite said of Martin's dominance. "As I've said all along, I've been around some very good swimmers and she's as good as those very, very good swimmers. People are starting to see what I believe. She's starting to believe in herself and she's helping people see what I see. I don't think there are very many, if any, swimmers in the history of the Big Ten that have gone undefeated in the championships.

"You want to talk about a dominating performance? That's as good as it gets. I'm really proud of her."

Martin ensured she will leave Wisconsin with a legacy of 12 Big Ten titles and can lay claim to the fastest woman in the Big Ten, holding individual conference records in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.

Right behind Martin in the 100 freestyle was fellow senior team captain and Madison native, Van Hout, who earned a podium finish of her own finishing third in a personal record time of 48.60. Van Hout climbed up to third on UW's all-time list for the event.

"No one in the country works harder than Aja Van Hout," Hite said. "For her to end her senior Big Tens the way she did makes me so happy, because it's just a good thing happening to a good person."

Sophomore Kinney won the consolation final of the 100 freestyle in 48.92, recording a personal record and the sixth-fastest time ever by a Badger. Freshman Marissa Berg made it back to finals with a time of 50.22 and finished 24th place.

Grindall broke an 18-year-old school record in the 200-yard butterfly en route to finishing in sixth place. The sophomore touched in 1:57.37 during preliminaries, earning an NCAA 'B' cut and personal record. Finishing in 12th place was freshman Hannah James, who touched in 1:59.47 to earn an NCAA 'B' cut as well and the fourth-fastest swim by a Badger.

Sophomore Danielle Valley made the podium in the 1,650-yard freestyle with an eighth-place finish. Clocking in at 16:10.33, Valley now holds the second-fastest time in program history behind only Olympic gold-medalist Carly Piper. Junior Jenny Holtzen set a personal record and the fourth-fastest time in UW history with her 12th-place finish in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 16:14.97.

Just one day after holding down the 100-yard breaststroke for the Badgers, the duo of Maria Carlson and Meinholz were at it again in the 200-yard breaststroke. Carlson, a sophomore out of Livermore, California, finished seventh and her preliminaries time of 2:11.73 marked a personal record that ranks sixth on UW's all-time list. Competing in the consolation final, Meinholz tallied a personal best as well with her time of 2:11.59 to finish 10th and mark the fifth-fastest time in program history.

Sophomores Madison Blaydes and Madeline Hazle both earned NCAA 'B' cuts in the 200-yard backstroke and found their way into program annals. Blaydes finished 12th in finals and set a personal record in preliminaries with a time of 1:56.90, the sixth-fastest by a Badger. Hazle came in 22nd and her preliminaries time of 1:57.74 is a new personal record as well as the eighth-fastest time in program history.

In diving, Ashley Peterson finished 11th on the platform with a score of 292.35 competing in the consolation final. The score topped her personal record of 258.55.

"It's really fun to watch her development," Hite said of Peterson. "Anton (Slobounov) has done an awesome job developing her."

After their impressive showing at conference championships, the Wisconsin women look ahead to the 2015 NCAA Women's Championships held in Greensboro, North Carolina, from March 20-22.

"We're going to have a good group of people at NCAAs, which makes us pretty dangerous," Hite said. "Our place (fourth) in Big Tens was important, but ultimately the most important thing is the NCAA championships. We're set up well, which means we had a successful conference meet. But we won't lose sight on what's important.

"Our team goal was to score 400 points at the conference championship, and we have the smallest team in the Big Ten, but we maximized our potential and our talent. That's what it's all about."

The UW men's swimming and diving program heads to the 2015 Big Ten Men's Championships next in Iowa City, Iowa, Feb. 26 through March 1. 2015

Swimmer of the Championships: Ivy Martin
First Team All-Big Ten: Dana Grindall Aja Van Hout Chase Kinney Ivy Martin Anna Meinholz Annie Tamblyn
Sportsmanship Award Honoree: Aja Van Hout