Nelson nabs third title, is named Swimmer of the Championships

Saturday, February 23

Bloomington, IN

10 a.m. / 5:30 p.m. (CT)

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Championships

BLOOMINGTON, IN - 2019.02.20 - Women's Swimming and Diving Big Ten Tournament

Nelson nabs third title, is named Swimmer of the Championships

February 23, 2019 | Women's Swimming & Diving

With three golds, Wisconsin junior repeats as top performer at Big Ten meet

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – They say the third time is the charm, but no luck was needed for Wisconsin junior Beata Nelson, who bested her own Big Ten Conference record in the 200-yard backstroke by clocking in at 1 minute, 48.47 seconds to to earn her third Big Ten championship of the meet.

"The 200 backstroke was an awesome race," Nelson said. "I had a goggle malfunction in the 200 backstroke last year at NCAAs, so ever since then I've been waiting for that sub-1:50 second swim to happen."

"My teammates did an awesome job of getting around me and getting me ready to swim."

Nelson, Wisconsin's most prolific backstroke simmer, garnered the fifth Big Ten gold medal of her career on Saturday, a total which includes back-to-back victories in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke and her first title in the 200 individual medley.

For her efforts, Nelson was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships for the second straight season.

"That award meant a lot to me," Nelson said. "The Big Ten Conference is one of the best in the country and there were some amazing swimmers this week."

Staying in stride, Nelson grouped up with Lillie Hosack, Emmy Sehmann and Jess Unicomb to snag silver in the 400 freestyle relay, touching in 3:13.80.

Unicomb and Kathleen Coughlin packed a punch in the 200 backstroke, going 1-2 in the 'B' final with personal-best marks of 1:54.49 and 1:54.86, respectively.

On the heels of her fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle on Friday, freshman Lillie Hosack touched the wall in 48.95 in the 100 free, good for fifth place to wrap up a strong Big Ten debut.

Another freshman who made her mark, Jenna Silvestri, shaved close to two seconds off her personal record in the 200 breaststroke to claim the top spot in the "C" final in 2:11.82.

Putting the exclamation point on her birthday, sophomore Alex Reddington was fastest in the "C" final of the 200 butterfly with a personal-best finish of 1:57.42.

Freshman Tereza Vithoulkas finished 11th in platform diving, scoring 283.15 points.

When all was said and done, the Badgers landed in fifth place in team standings with a total of 717 points.

But don't go thinking this will be the last you'll hear of Nelson, who will set her sights on national championships in March.

"It's going to be an exciting next couple of weeks getting ready for NCAAs," she said.