In two match ups of top-15 teams, the University of Arizona got the upper hand on both the men’s and women’s Wisconsin swim teams Friday. The seventh-ranked Arizona women posted a 172.5-128.5 victory over the No. 12 Badger women, and the No. 14 Wildcat men recorded a 175-121 win over the No. 10 Wisconsin men.
Both Badger teams fall to 1-1 in dual-meet action with the loss.
Carly Piper did not let a nasty bout with food poisoning get her down, posting victories in the 500 and 1000 freestyle. Piper out-dueled Arizona junior Emily Mason by 27 hundredths of a second in the 500 free, posting a winning time of 4:49.84. She also outlasted Watson in the 1000 free, taking first in a time of 9:51.27. Piper also joined Sarah Hernandez, Anna Trinidad and Bethany Pendleton in wrapping up the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (3:24.84). Piper then added a second-place finish in the 200 free.
Wisconsin also got first-place finishes from Pendleton in the 400 individual medley (4:20.53) and Hernadez, who finshed in a first-place tie with Arizona’s Jessica Hayes in the 50 free (23.97).
On the men’s side, the Badgers got the meet off to an unfortunate start as the team cruised to the 400 medley relay but was disqualified for leaving the blocks early even though it appeared that an Arizona team was guilty of the infraction.
Adam Mania distanced himself from the rest of the field in the 100 backstroke, winning by nearly two seconds with a winning time of 49.46.
