Five things to know: Women’s swimming heads to Big Tens

Wednesday, February 15

Ann Arbor, MI

9 am/4 pm

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Women's Championships

Photo by: Meg Kelly

Five things to know: Women’s swimming heads to Big Tens

February 13, 2023 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Bacon, McKenna look to defend titles

By: Olivia Bozich

Championship Page | Live Results | Watch on B1G+

MADISON, Wis. – The No. 21 Wisconsin women's swim and dive team opens up championship season with the Big Ten Conference Championships on Wednesday-Saturday at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Two finals will be held on Wednesday, beginning a 4 p.m. CT. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT daily with finals following at 4 p.m. CT.

Here are five things to know for this week.

1. THE B1G RETURN: The Badgers look to improve upon their overall team finish at the Big Ten Championships after placing fourth in 2022, their highest team finish in five years, with 1,085 points. No. 5 Ohio State is the reigning champion with 1,303 points while No. 16 Michigan finished second with 1,185 points. No. 8 Indiana took third with 1,100 points.

2. DEFENDING CHAMPS: Last year, Wisconsin had two swimmers crowned Big Ten champions. Junior captain Phoebe Bacon is the two-time reigning Big Ten champion in the 100 back and 200 back. Sophomore Paige McKenna also looks to defend her title in the distance freestyle events after claiming the 500 free and 1650 free gold medals as a freshman.

3. SCORING BADGERS: Wisconsin has multiple swimmers ranked in the top 24 heading into the the Big Ten Championships. Defending champion Paige McKenna, enters the 500 free ranked seventh, closely followed by freshman Blair Stoneburg in eighth. Bacon enters the 200 and 100 back as the top seed. Senior Elizabeth Moore is the top UW seed in the 200 breast, coming in at fourth overall with freshman Hazal Ozkan closely following with a fifth-place seed. Captain and senior Mallory Jump leads the Badgers in the fly, with a fourth-place seed in the 100 fly and an eighth-place seed in the 200 fly.

4. DIVING RIGHT IN: Senior Kit Greenberg enters Big Tens with a winning sweep, after claiming individual wins in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives against Green Bay. Greenberg enters the meet seeded 26th in the 1-meter and 23rd in the 3-meter. Yasminn Hill closely follows with a 27th seed in the 3-meter with her season-best mark of 271.58 points.

5. FOLLOW THE MEET: Meet results will be posted live through the Meet Mobile App and here. The entire championship will be streamed live on B1G+. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the inside scoop throughout the meet @BadgerSwimDive.