The University of Wisconsin men's and women's swimming and diving teams are headed for the annual Minnesota Invitational at the University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
A total of 15 schools will be attending the three-day event, highlighted by the Golden Gophers No. 5-ranked men's team and No. 17 women's team; Notre Dame's No. 20 women's team; and Tennessee's No. 15 women's team.
By facing some of the top teams in the nation at the invite, this weekend should prove to be a good test for both the Badger men's and women's teams as they try to regain their confidence after recent losses to Arizona (both men's and women's) and Northwestern (men's only).
Coming off a 129-114 victory over Northwestern last week, the UW women's swimming and diving team hopes to build on their 4-1 record with another win at Minnesota this weekend, but in order to do so they will most likely need another terrific performance by sophomore Yi Ting Siow.
Siow won both the 200 individual medley in 2:02.12 seconds and the 200 breaststroke in 2:11.91 at Northwestern, an effort that earned her this week's Big Ten Swimmer of the Week for the third time this year. But she remains focused on this weekend's invite instead of her past accomplishments.
"I hope to improve on my times this weekend," Siow said. "Hopefully, the whole team is able to improve their times and obtain our goal of winning the invite this weekend."
The Badger men's swimming and diving team heads to Minnesota, reeling from two straight losses to schools with Wildcat mascots. Last weekend they fell to Northwestern 142-97, and the week before they suffered a 155-134 loss to Arizona.
Sophomore swimmer Scott Rice helped pace the Badgers last weekend by winning the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:51.25, the 100-yard butterfly in 50.20 and the 200-yard butterfly in 1:51.16, and said he hopes that this weekend's change of scenery — and mascots — will help improve both his performance and that of the team.
"I can definitely improve on my performance from last week," Rice said. "Certain races I thought I swam pretty good, but they could have been faster."
Rice also mentioned that the top-flight competition the Badgers are facing this weekend should help the men's swimming and diving team improve.
"There's some good competition at Minnesota this weekend," Rice said. "Minnesota is really good this year, and I think that for this weekend as well as the rest of the year, as a team we hope to continue to improve with every invite and every practice."
Wisconsin head coach Eric Hansen hopes that a good showing at the Minnesota Invitational this weekend can help the UW swimming and diving teams gain some momentum for another big event coming up, the Texas Invite Nov. 30.
"One of the things we hope to get out of the Minnesota Invitational is some good preparation for the Texas Invite," Hansen said. "In order to do that, I think we need to focus on our relays and continue to come together as a team."