The Wisconsin Badgers played host to the Northwestern men’s and women’s teams on Thursday evening with the home contingents coming away with a victory apiece. The Badger women won 13 of the 16 events contested including a sweep of the relays en route to a 166.5-125.5 victory while the Wisconsin men only conceded the 1000 free and the 3 meter diving event before taking the meet in dominant 186.5-110.5 fashion.
Women’s Meet
The Badgers got off to a very strong start thanks to the efforts of Annie Tamblyn (26.38), Anna Meinholz (28.56), Ivy Martin (23.61), and Chase Kinney (22.63) in the 200 medley relay (1:41.18), an event which they won by over 2.5 seconds. This effort was also just 0.05 seconds slower than the season best time the Badgers posted last week against Stanford.
Double individual event winners for the Red and White included junior Jenny Holtzen (1000 free, 9:57.56/ 500 free, 4:54.38) and Aja Van Hout (200 free, 1:49.37/ 400 IM, 4:18.13). Other event titles came from Martin (100 free, 49.55), sophomore Dana Grindall (100 fly, 55.58), Meinholz (200 breast, 2:19.80), and sophomore Maria Carlson (100 breast, 1:03.55).
Notably, the Badgers came out on top on two big touch-outs Thursday evening. First, Meinholz just edged Northwestern’s Julianne Kurke 2:19.80-2:19.89 in the 200 breast, and immediately afterwards, Holtzen hit the wall only 0.59 ahead of NU’s Lauren Abruzzo 4:54.38-4:54.97 in the 500 free.
To wrap up swimming action, the Badgers would also comfortably take the 200 free relay in a 1:32.50 thanks to the combined effort of Martin (22.61), Kinney (22.69), Tamblyn (23.37), and freshman Marissa Berg (23.83).
In diving action, sophomore Ashley Peterson swept both boards with scores of 267.90 and 296.70 on 1 meter and 3 meter respectively.
The Wildcats got a handful of wins thanks to sophomore Lacey Locke‘s double in the backstrokes (100 back, 55.74/ 200 back, 1:59.52) and also thanks to sophomore Ellen Stello’s victory in the 200 fly (2:01.77).
With the win, the Badgers improve to 2-4 on the season (1-1 in the Big Ten), and the Wildcats slip to 4-3 on the season (1-1 in the Big 10).
Men’s Meet
The Wisconsin men were absolutely dominant on Thursday evening, and they got off to the right start thanks to a win in the 200 medley relay (1:30.67). The foursome was comprised of Brett Pinfold (23.09), Nick Schafer (25.44), Drew Teduits (22.02), and Cannon Clifton (20.12). Clifton was notably able to hold off against a hard-charging Alm0g Olshtein (19.94 anchor split), and the Badgers edged the top NU relay by just 0.28 seconds.
Double event winners included Teduits (100 back, 48.51/ 200 back, 1:45.25), Schafer (100 breast, 55.99/ 200 breast, 2:01.43), and Clifton (50 free, 20.83/ 100 fly, 49.94). The other event winners for the Badgers were Nicholas Caldwell (200 free, 1:38.50), Brett Pinfold (100 free, 45.38), Harrison Tran (200 fly, 1:52.34), Matthew Hutchins (500 free, 4:25.02), and Josh Anderson (400 IM, 3:59.83)
After Daniel Cech took the 1 meter diving event with a winning score of 289.90, the Badgers also would take the 200 free relay as Pinfold (21.07), Clifton (20.13), Damon Zito (20.44), and Ryan Barsanti (20.61) teamed up to win in a 1:22.25.
The Wildcats grabbed their only individual event on the night in the 1000 free as Jordan Wilimovsky cruised to an easy victory in a 9:25.58. Also victorious for the Wildcats was sophomore John Andrade in the 3 meter diving event (323.48).
With the win, the Wisconsin men improve to 4-2 on the season (2-0 Big Ten), while the Wildcats slip to 5-2 (0-1 Big Ten).