Runge racks up another record on way to win

Thursday, December 1

Austin, TX

10 AM / 6 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

Texas Invitational

Runge racks up another record on way to win

December 01, 2016 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Texas Invitational Thursday Results

Sophomore sets new standard in 500 freestyle to lead Badgers at Texas Invitational

AUSTIN, Texas – Cierra Runge kept etching her name into the Wisconsin record books Thursday, as she notched her third school record during the second day of competition at the Texas Invitational.

In fact, the sophomore broke the 500-yard freestyle record twice on the day, first recording a time of 4 minutes, 38.84 seconds in her preliminary heat before later shaving off more than three seconds in the final on her way to a win in 4:35.55, a NCAA automatic qualifying time that ranks third in the country.

Badgers teammate Danielle Valley held the previous record of 4:39.22, which was set at the 2015 NCAA Championships.

Valley herself had a quite a swim in the 500 free final, matching that personal-best time of 4:39.22, which is slotted as the No. 7 time in the nation, to take third place.

The men also faired well in their respective 500 free races, with Matt Hutchins taking sixth with an NCAA "B" cut time of 4:17.24 and Victor Goicoechea placing 12th with a provisional cut of 4:21.85.

Badgers racing in the 200 individual medley and 50 free also picked up a slew of NCAA provisional cuts, with Brett Pinfold taking sixth in the men's 200 IM in 1:45.55 and Jess Unicomb finishing ninth in the women's race in 1:59.52.

In the women's 50 free, Chase Kinney led the way for Wisconsin, placing ninth in 22.52, with Marissa Berg and Emmy Sehmann not far behind, taking 10th (22.56) and 12th (22.63), respectively.

Cannon Clifton led the UW men in the 50 free, notching a 16th-place finish with a time of 20.22.

The Badgers also performed well in relay races, with the women's 200 freestyle relay team of Kinney, Sehmann, Berg and Unicomb taking fourth in 1:29.20 and the men's squad of Clifton, Ryan Stack, Pinfold and Ryan Barsanti placing eighth in 1:19.48.

Thursday's competition was rounded out with the 400 medley relay, a race in which both the men's and women's teams recorded top-10 finishes.

The women's team of Unicomb, Maria Carlson, Beata Nelson and Chase Kinney took ninth overall in 3:38.19, while the men's team of Pinfold, Chris Wills, Harrison Tran and Clifton claimed 10th place in 3:13.70.

Day three of the Texas Invitational begins at 10 a.m. (CT) Friday with the 100 butterfly preliminaries. The finals session will follow at 6 p.m.