As the University of Wisconsin men’s swimming and diving team prepares to take the 272-mile bus ride to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten Conference Championships, they look forward for a chance to compete with the best of the conference.
But one would be hard pressed to detect any anxiety among the 24 men on the team.
The Badgers — ranked 17th in the Swim-Rankings.com poll — are looking to improve on their seventh-place finish in 2008 at the Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 26-28 at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center at Purdue University.
“We swam (at the Purdue Aquatic Center) last year, so we’re kind of familiar with the pool,” said UW junior Phil Davies, who placed 12th or lower in seven events at the 2008 meet. “Everybody’s really excited, but nobody’s really freaking out or anything.”
UW returns nine swimmers and divers who scored at last year’s meet — Davies, Nick Fulton (in one event), Mike Hopkins (one), Derrick O’Donnell (three), Caleb Percevecz (two), Scott Rice (six), Kyle Sorensen (six), Jesse Stipek (one) and Kyle Thompson (two) — and boasts a six-member freshman class that ranked ninth nationally heading into the season, according to CollegeSwimming.com.
Freshmen Wes Lagerhausen and Brett Nagle — who ranked 13th and 16th respectively in a recruiting class that was tops among a conference that featured five schools in the top 20 — have both qualified for nationals in two events.
Lagerhausen was a member of 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay teams that posted NCAA “B” qualifying times, and Nagle qualified individually in the 500-yard freestyle and was a part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that will participate in the national meet — both “B”-standard qualifying times.
“They’re doing just great — the whole freshman class, not just those two,” UW head coach Eric Hansen said. “We’re really hoping they can step up and contribute as freshmen, which would be great for us.”
Even with the success of the newcomers, the backbone of the Badgers has been Rice.
Rice — a senior who ranks fourth nationally in the 100-yard butterfly and poses as the top championship threat for UW — has taken on a leadership role and has used his success to motivate his teammates.
“I’m trying to lead by example,” said Rice, who set school records in both the 100 (46.53 seconds) and 200-yard (1:42.53) butterfly. “I try to always do my best and get everybody fired up by winning my race.”
Davies has been impressed with Rice’s leadership skills but has been even more struck by the success he has had in the pool.
“It’s really great for Scott, as a swimmer, to be ranked up that high,” Davies said. “We haven’t had somebody, in a long time, that high up in the country.”
Having coached Rice throughout his collegiate career at UW, Hansen is antsy to see him swim in his final Big Ten meet.
“He’s been real important to our success,” Hansen said. “He’s definitely a leader through performance and through how he does stuff. I’m looking forward to watching him swim here.”
Despite UW’s No. 17 ranking, it still is only sixth in the rankings among Big Ten schools.
Michigan (sixth), Ohio State (eighth), Minnesota (11th), Indiana (12th) and Purdue (16th) are all ahead of the Badgers in the rankings.
“The Big Ten is a really deep conference,” Davies said. “We’ll see how we can hold up against a bunch of really good teams.”
The Wolverines, who hosted last year’s event, took the 2008 crown, finishing with 1081.5 points — well ahead of the second-place Hoosiers, who concluded the meet with 855 points. The Badgers’ 363 points ranked ahead of only Penn State (318), Iowa (187) and Michigan State (159) — Illinois doesn’t have a men’s swimming and diving team.
With the deep pool of talent in the Big Ten, Hansen isn’t as concerned with his team’s finish, as much as he would like for UW — which had a 1-3 record in Big Ten dual meets this season — to perform well individually.
“I’m not real worried about team place,” Hansen said. “I just want to qualify a bunch of guys for the NCAA championships. That’s our focus.”
