Season-opening showdown on tap between Badgers, Tigers
October 06, 2016 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
Challenging slate nothing new for UW, which welcomes home date with powerful Auburn
BY BRIAN MASON
UW Athletic Communications
MADISON, Wis. — Whitney Hite is throwing his team into the figurative deep end.
It's an approach he's found will translate literally into faster times on the clock.
It's also nothing new for Wisconsin, which has gone up against a challenging slate of competitions in each of Hite's first five seasons at the helm of UW's program. This time, however, that strength of schedule will be on display in Madison — and on the season's opening weekend.
There are the usual trips south to face traditional top-flight programs, sure, but the Badgers' 2016-17 schedule also includes perennial power Auburn paying a visit to the UW Natatorium. The teams will open their seasons at 11 a.m. Saturday in Wisconsin's home pool.
"My philosophy has always been, if you want to be the best you're going to have to race the best," said Hite, who begins his sixth season as head coach. "Certainly, Auburn, in the last generation, has been one of the best teams in the country.
"We're just thrilled that they're coming up north and are going to see how we do things up here."
The Badgers earned a split with Auburn last season, with Wisconsin's women earning their first-ever win over the Tigers. The Auburn men, who went on to earn another top-10 NCAA finish, topped the Badgers in a competitive dual.
"Auburn is going to give us everything that we want and more, right out of the gate," Hite said. "I think that's how you learn, you discover what you need to work on, how to get better."
Beyond the instructive benefits to the Badgers' coaching staff, Saturday's season opener also serves as a showcase opportunity for Wisconsin's pair of Olympians: senior Matt Hutchins and sophomore transfer Cierra Runge.
Runge won gold as part of the United States' 800-meter freestyle relay team, becoming Wisconsin's first gold medalist in the pool since Carly Piper won an Olympic title in the same event in Athens in 2004. Runge anchored the U.S. effort in the preliminary round of the 800 free relay, setting up the Americans for their gold-medal swim later that day.
Runge will make her Badgers debut after transferring from Cal, where she broke the NCAA record in the 500-yard freestyle as a freshman before stepping away from collegiate competition last season to train for the Olympics.
"You don't add an Olympic gold medalist every day," Hite said. "She has the potential to do some really, really great things, not only for herself but for this team, this university and this nation."
Hutchins, the reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and a two-time All-American last season, competed for his native New Zealand at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. He finished third in his preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle, and also swam a personal-best time of 3:48.25 to finish 19th in the preliminaries of the 400 freestyle.
"Matt, last year, really challenged me as a coach to be better," Hite said. "I threw everything at him, other than the kitchen sink, at times, and he just ate it up and spit it out."
The benefits of having a pair of Olympians in the pool every day? Besides raising the level of competition in training, there's also some very conspicuous motivation.
"Both have the Olympic ring tattoo in visible places and anytime you see that, especially as a swimmer, you know that stands for the absolute best," Hite said. "They're not afraid to show that around. It's a very good thing."
Much like Hite isn't afraid to take his Badgers around the country in search of a challenge.
"We just want to compete," he said. "Going into different situations will allow us different challenges.
"It's kind of like riding a bike," Hite explained. "The first time you got on a bike you didn't just start popping wheelies and doing all kinds of tricks; you fell off and you fell down and you probably hurt yourself. We know, especially with our freshman, the more we can put pressure on them, they're going to start figuring things out.
"We hope they start figuring things out right around championship season."
Players Mentioned
