This weekend marks the end of the conference season for the No. 9 Wisconsin women’s swim team (11-1, 6-0) as they embark to frigid Minneapolis to put their unbeaten conference record on the line at the Big Ten championships.
The Badgers enter the championship a strong favorite. UW is the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the most recent CSCAA polls, and is coming off a stellar performance in last year’s championships. The Badgers seemed poised to claim their first ever Big Ten title and first-ever national top ten finish.
“I think the team is set up really well for the championships,” senior Bethany Pendleton said. “We got second last year as a team. I think there is a chance we could take it, but it will take a huge team effort.”
That huge team effort centers on the relay teams.
“This team, as long as I am here, will be focused on the relay teams,” coach Eric Hansen said. “Number one, for double point production; and number two, it’s a team atmosphere.”
The team is also hunting for a sweep in the individual and relay freestyle events for the third year in a row. Wisconsin returns the two-time defending swimmer of the championships in Carly Piper as well as Pendleton, Sarah Hernandez, Shannon Van Curen and senior captain Molly Buhrandt.
“To win all the freestyle events the last few years is a pretty big deal. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before,” Hansen said. “We feel like that is something we want to defend.”
While the Wisconsin freestyle remains tough, this year’s team continues to show improvement, and at times dominance, in their other events.
“We feel we have more depth, and we feel like we filled some holes,” Hansen said. “So we’re a little bit more well rounded, which, in terms of point production, is really important.”
The new depth will be put to the test as Wisconsin prepares to challenge some familiar faces this year.
“I would say there are probably three teams that are front runners for the title,” Hansen said. “The defending champion Indiana squad returns a pretty strong squad. Penn State will have a strong group of women there, and then also our team.”
The Badgers expect stiff competition from a young No. 11 Penn State squad returning only four seniors. Senior Sally Anderson and freshman Margy Keefe should be some of the fiercest competition for Piper in the distance freestyle events.
The Nittany Lions remain one of the best stroke teams in the Big Ten. Breaststrokers Kristen Woodring and Courtney Stanchock offer Wisconsin sophomore Amalia Sarnecki her strongest Big Ten competition this year.
Butterfly swimmer Amberle Biedermann has the top time in the Big Ten for the 200-meter this year and is second behind Wisconsin freshman Susan Johnson in the 100-meter. Like Johnson, backstrokers Sarah Haupt and Erin Morris are rising young stars in the event.
Unlike the Nittany Lions, the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers enter the championships as a veteran team returning seven seniors and three juniors from last year’s championship squad. Indiana will be striving for revenge after a 142-100 loss to the Badgers earlier this season.
The Hoosiers are led by the multi-talented senior Brooke Taflinger. Taflinger swims freestyle, individual medley and breaststroke for Indiana. She also qualified for the Olympic trials in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley.
While Penn State’s stroke swimmers will be tough for the Badgers, so will the Hoosiers’ freestyle swimmers. Indiana boasts the only Big Ten team with the ability of the Badgers. The Hoosier team possesses six NCAA championship qualifiers in their freestyle ranks, making the Badgers’ road to a three-peat in the freestyle events rather difficult.
Although rough competition that includes two other top 25 teams in Michigan and Minnesota awaits the Badgers, two of their goals, a Big Ten championship and a national top ten finish, remain their motivation toward excellence.
“Everyone is really excited for it,” Pendleton said. “It’s hard to come to practice and be calm.”
Hansen could not agree more.
“Our first and foremost goal will always be to be in the top ten,” he said, “and we feel that this is the year for that, too.”
