The Golden Gophers are set to open Big Ten Conference competition as they head to Madison, Wisconsin for a border-battle meet against the Badgers.
Earlier this week, Minnesota swept the B1G Weekly Awards after Samantha Harding and Nick Orf were each selected as B1G Swimmer of the Week, Yu Zhou and Matt Barnard collected B1G Diver of the Week honors for the second-straight week and Rachel Munson and Hunter Doerr were each tabbed a B1G Freshman of the Week.
MATCH-UP REWIND
Last season’s home dual vs. Wisconsin resulted in a split of the wins with the Gophers’ women collecting a win, while the men were issued their only Big Ten loss of the season.
Then freshman, Brooke Zeiger, swept the backstroke competition, taking home the gold in both the 100-yard and 200-yard events. Zeiger also picked up first in the 200 individual medley. Gophers were dominant on the diving boards, going 1-2-3 in both the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter events.
Daryl Turner was a key figure, collecting four first-place finishes in the men’s 50 free, 100 back, 100 fly and 200 free relay. Junior Matt Barnard swept the diving competition at last year’s Wisconsin meet and is coming off his second-straight B1G Diver of the Week honor.
LAST TIME OUT
While the Gophers have meets against the Florida State Seminoles and Florida Gators under the belt, this meet will be Wisconsin’s first competition of the season.
The Minnesota women currently hold a 1-0-1 record after a dominant win of 212-88 at Florida State and a rare tie vs. the Gators after each squad collected 150 points. The Gopher men will look to pick up their first win of the season after starting the season with an 0-2 record. A close loss at Florida State (158-142) was followed by a “L” from the top-tiered Gators, which included six Minnesota event wins, an improvement from last year’s three.
Swimming news courtesy of Minnesota Swimming & Diving.