SPORTS
Badgers to get feet wet
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Also by Ben Solochek:
- Home 'Field' advantage (November 30, 2007)
- Salow matures, sees role expand for Wisconsin (November 15, 2007)
- Wisconsin survives, wins another 5 game match (November 12, 2007)
- UW to host IU, UM (November 7, 2007)
- Wisconsin splits weekend set (November 5, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Swim teams ready for UW-Green Bay (October 7, 2005)
- Rough waters ahead as competition stiffens (November 17, 2006)
- Women's swimming team earns highest national finish in school history (March 22, 2004)
- Women's swimming and diving making history (March 25, 2004)
- Rice looks to add depth for Badgers at Texas Invitational (December 1, 2005)
by Ben Solochek
Friday, October 6, 2006
The Wisconsin swimming and diving team is looking to start the season out on a high note Friday, as it faces in-state rival UW-Green Bay at the UW Natatorium.
"We are looking forward to it," Badgers head coach Eric Hansen said. "We love swimming against in-state schools. It's fun. Most of the kids on the team are from in-state schools so we usually get a big turnout. The first meet of the season is exciting for everybody."
For this meet, Hansen talked about how this is the first time any of the swimmers have swum competitively since Nationals in August. Therefore, he is looking forward to seeing how his team has improved and what kind of shape they are in.
And it would appear Hansen has a lot to be excited about.
Last year, the women's team finished ninth at the NCAA Championships and qualified a school-record high of 11 swimmers. Hansen has been very proud of the way the men's team has trained for this coming year, especially over the summer.
"It wasn't a nice surprise as much as it was a best-case scenario in terms of the workload," Hansen said. "The kids that stuck around [this summer] were very consistent. We made a commitment to worry about the training this summer, which is going to help is going into this year and the Olympic Trials 2008."
The preparation for this year is going to pay off for the young Badgers, who lost only one senior from last year. Tom Molzahn returns as team captain, having had a very successful Big Ten tournament last year.
Molzahn placed fifth in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at the tournament with 1:20.11 and 4:22.71 finishes, respectively.
Other members of the men's team looking forward to a strong start are sophomore Scott Rice, who received the honors of Big Ten Swimmer of the Week as a freshman, and junior Tom Gregory, who was a top-20 finisher at last year's Big Ten Championships.
The women's team returns a few more veterans, including All-American Yi Ting Siow.
Other than Siow, the women's team returns several veterans, including captains Susan Johnson and Jackie Vavrek. Johnson had a very successful year last year, placing eighth in the NCAA Championships with a time of 1:56.39 in the 200-yard backstroke. Vavrek has also made her contributions to the team, being part of the seventh place 200-yard freestyle relay in last year's NCAA Championships.
With all of that success behind them, members of the women's team are looking forward to the future and its upcoming meet.
"I think that we are using this weekend as kind of a warm-up for the freshmen to get their feet wet," Johnson said. "I think the freshmen will be able to get in and get some wins. I think that it will really help their confidence and show them how to race at the collegiate level."
While this weekend's meet against UW-Green Bay may not be the most important of the year, it will be crucial in terms of getting every swimmer on the same page as the season starts.
"We stress relays; our relays will be very important to us," Hansen said. "But we will be swimming kids in events that I would not consider their primary events, especially the upperclassmen. But we will swim some of the freshmen in the main events just to see how they respond and see how they have come in their training."
Sophomore Kyle Sorensen reiterated Hansen's thoughts.
"I think our relays are going to be a lot of fun, just to see where the new freshmen can be and where everyone is after this summer," Sorensen said. "I think that this meet is going to tell us where everybody is and kind of feel around for where you need to be for next weekend."
Other than getting the freshmen's feet wet and seeing where they are as a team, Hansen really emphasized the gelling of the team.
"I'm looking forward to watching the team build as a team unit," said Hansen. "As the team concept grows, I think we will see more and more success."
