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Swim team to Big Tens

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Also by Frank Otto:

Big Ten Championships awaits (February 21, 2008)
Badgers get wet in home opener (October 11, 2007)
Tennis travels to Evanston for Northwestern Invite (October 5, 2007)
Wisconsin tennis faces tough tests at Furman (September 28, 2007)

by Frank Otto

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A week after the women’s swim team collected eight NCAA “A” times and 20 “B” times, the men’s swim team will try their hand at the Big Ten Championships. Beginning Thursday, the Badgers will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to compete at the Canham Natatorium. Coming off two straight losses at the hands of Minnesota and Purdue, the men are looking to get back into the groove that helped them defeat Hawaii in their home waters back in January.

“(Our guys) will have to swim fast at the Big Ten meet,” UW swimming and diving coach Eric Hansen said following the latest meet at the conference Quad Duals in West Lafayette, Ind.

Wisconsin lost its first matchup versus Purdue 268-85. The next day, they fell in a similar fashion to Minnesota by a score of 265-88.

“[W]e swam hard, but are still pretty beat-up from training,” Hansen said. “They’ll have some time to rest (before the Big Ten Championships).”

Some bright spots from the duals for the Badgers included juniors Scott Rice and Kyle Sorenson. Rice finished second twice against the Boilermakers before ending his meet with a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49:21. Sorenson also turned in a solid performance, earning fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle and also finishing seventh in the 100-yard butterfly race.

Another Badger, senior Brett Koerton, took fifth place in his race, the 400-yard individual medley. The next highest Wisconsin finishers in that race were sophomore Steven Wiesner and junior Ben Bruce, who finished ninth and tenth, respectively.

Top Wisconsin diver Caleb Percevecz took fourth place in the three-meter event with a 323.15 score, but finished sixth in the one-meter event with a 292.85 mark.

The team has had over three weeks to recover from the duals and gear up for the Big Ten Championships. They traveled to Michigan Monday afternoon in order to acquaint themselves with the University of Michigan’s pool.

The Badgers will have their work cut out for them, though. Wisconsin will again be facing Minnesota, ranked No. 9 in the nation, and Purdue, the 12th-ranked team. Moreover, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State and Northwestern — all of which are ranked in the top 20 — will also be competing against Wisconsin, who are 4-5 on the season in dual competition. The Badgers, who finished 2007 ranked 29th in the nation, will be heading into the meet at Ann Arbor as heavy underdogs.

Anything is possible in a race, and the Badgers will look to make something happen. Hoping to conjure the same kind of magic that allowed them to sweep Hawaii and pull victories from Iowa, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay, Wisconsin is set to dig in at the Canham Natatorium and upset some favorites in a conference known for swimming powerhouses.

— UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.

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