Badgers aim for fast swims in Austin

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin swimming team encounters arguably its biggest challenge on the schedule thus far as it heads to the Lone Star State to compete in the Texas Invitational.

The four-day event begins runs Wednesday through Saturday in Austin. Day one of action features just one event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, which is slated to go off at 6 p.m. (CT).

Competition on Thursday and Friday will include preliminaries at 10 a.m. followed by event finals at 6 p.m. The meet will close out Saturday with time trials beginning at 9 a.m. and finals at 4 p.m.

Longhorn Network will air live coverage of final heats on Thursday and Saturday, with tape-delayed coverage from Friday's finals.

The Badgers will square off against some of the top talent in the country, facing five teams ranked in the latest coaches poll.

Host school Texas comes in with the two top-ranked squads, with the men at No. 5 and the women at No. 3 in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America Top 25.

Other ranked teams include No. 17/8 USC, No. 24/24 Arizona, the No. 19 Stanford men and the No. 22 UCLA women.

BYU, Harvard, Denver and Oklahoma Baptist round out the teams scheduled to compete.

For the seasoned veterans on Wisconsin's squad, the meet can be seen as comparable in caliber to the biggest meets of the year, the Big Ten and NCAA championships.

"I would probably say it's right up there in terms of the competition that we've got," said senior Matt Hutchins. "The teams that are going to be there are really, really good quality. Obviously Big Tens has a little bit more of an emotional kind of ante to it, racing against your rival schools and stuff, but I would say for this time of year this is our first semester of Big Tens."

Hutchins has been a force in the distance freestyle races this year, currently holding the second-fastest collegiate time in the 500-yard freestyle (4:16.33) and the No. 7 time in the 1,000 free (9:02.62).

Although it may seem like Hutchins has already hit his stride, the Christchurch, New Zealand, native is ready to use this week's competition to cut faster times -- and as a measuring stick to see where he fits in the landscape of the NCAAs.

"The midseason meets are always kind of the big gauge," Hutchins said. "Whatever times you've got going in are always nice to have, but this is kind of where everyone sees where everyone else in the country is at, so hopefully I can stay up, if not improve, on the positions I've already got."

Like Hutchins, fellow senior Cannon Clifton can also draw comparisons between the invitational and the conference and national championships.

"I would say as far as how fast the meet's going to be, it's probably going to be about the same," Clifton said. "People here are going to be going for the NCAA cuts so the intensity of it is going to be the same."

Clifton himself owns two NCAA championship "B" standards in the 50 and 100 free, with his season-best time in the 100 ranking 42nd in the country (43.95) and his time in the 50 (20.10) slotted at the 53rd spot.

The Irving, Texas, native acknowledges that for him, preparing for such an important meet requires both hard work in the pool as well as relishing his final year as a Badger.

"Preparing mentally, I think just having fun and enjoying my senior year and then physically, just been going through the grind everyday and hopefully my hard work will pay of," Clifton said.

The senior's hard work has already been paying dividends for him this season.

Along with Hutchins, Clifton was chosen to represent the Big Ten at the inaugural USA College Challenge, where he stood out amongst the stacked field. He placed third in the 100 free and was clutch for the Big Ten squad, overtaking USA Swimming National Team member Michael Andrew for the lead on the third leg of the 400 free relay en route to the Big Ten's lone relay win against Team USA.

Teammate Cierra Runge also had a meet to remember at the USA College Challenge, breaking the Wisconsin school record in the 200 freestyle after recording an opening split of 1:45.64 in the 800 freestyle relay.

The record was the oldest one in the Badgers' books, dating back to 2001 when Ellen Stonebraker, a 12 time All-American, posted a time of 1:45.88 at the NCAA championships.

Unlike Hutchins and Clifton, this will be Runge's first time competing at the Texas Invitational, but the sophomore is looking forward to the trip to Austin and plans to come in with an open mind as to her expectations for the event.

"I'm really excited and it's kind of a no-expectation deal where I'm just going to go in and swim as fast as I can and see what becomes of it and then use it as a tool for our NCAAs and Big Ten championships and kind of go from there," Runge said.

The Cochranville, Pennsylvania, native already holds four individual times ranked in the nation's top 35. Her school-record time in the 200 free is the 17th-fastest in the country, while her season-best mark of 9:48.78 in the 1000 free ranks 21st. She also ranks 29th in the 500 free (4:44.17) and 35th in the 1650 free (16:30.52).

With Wisconsin meandering through a schedule this season chock-full of dual meets, Runge looks forward to competing in an environment that will emulate the high-energy feel of championship races.

"I'm pretty excited about the championship atmosphere because that'll be something that I'm more used to, I guess," Runge stated. "The meet that I set the record in was more of a dual-meet situation -- granted we had suits on and stuff -- but this'll be kind of that championship feel. So I'm excited for that and I think that the energy will be really high, and hopefully I can set it again and break some others."

Like Runge, Beata Nelson is also looking forward to her first experience at the Texas Invitational, a meet that the team has been preparing for since the early days of the season.

"I'm excited, nervous obviously, because it's a while new experience; this whole season has been pretty crazy," Nelson said. "I think the team has done a really good job preparing since the beginning of the season and I think we're ready to race."

The Verona, Wisconsin, native has made an immediate impact for the Badgers, garnering "B" cuts in both the 100 and 200 backstroke while earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors twice.

The freshman also was hand-picked to represent the Big Ten at the USA College Challenge, along with teammates Brett Pinfold and Chase Kinney, who are also two athletes to watch for in Texas.

Kinney also owns two "B" cut times, one in the 50 free, where she owns the 33rd-fastest time in the nation (22.62), and the other in the 100 free, in which she is ranked 37th (49.27).

Pinfold has also laid claim to some top times this year, posting the No. 38 time in the 200 free (1:36.73) and the No. 56 time in the 100 backstroke (48.18).

University of Wisconsin Athletics

Badgers aim for fast swims in Austin

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Cannon Clifton

Matt Hutchins

Chase Kinney

Beata Nelson

Brett Pinfold

Cierra Runge

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