With the NCAA swimming season coming to its final meet, the University of Wisconsin’s men’s team has just one man standing. Senior Scott Rice will be competing on the national stage at College Station, Texas, for the national title in his event, the 200-meter butterfly.
“The country’s best swimmers are here (at Nationals),” Rice said. “They’re the best, it’ll be really hard … but I wouldn’t put it past me to win this.”
Rice was the only Badger to qualify last month at the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. Setting school records in both the 100 and 200 butterfly, he was able to beat out top Michigan butterflyer Dan Madwed and became the first Wisconsin swimmer to win an individual Big Ten title since 1999. All eyes will be on him to hopefully repeat in a strong field in his 200 fly event.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done,” Rice said. “But I wouldn’t say (having the Big Ten title) added any pressure to me, I don’t think.”
The Badgers had high hopes heading into the Big Tens. The team fought well, hanging with No. 20 Penn State through most of the meet. UW Junior Derrick O’Donnel finished eighth in the 200-meter breaststroke, an event for which he owns a UW record. Up-and-comers behind Rice, freshman Brett Nagle and sophomore Kyle Thompson took 19th and 20th, respectively, in the 200 butterfly. Finally, the Badgers’ top diver, Caleb Percevecz finished 11th in platform diving, scoring 350.45.
However, though they swam well as a team Wisconsin was only able to finish sixth with a score of 248.5 points, finishing just above Penn State. This performance would keep the Badgers out of the CSCAA’s Top 25 men’s swimming rankings. They received just 24 votes toward the rankings and will remain looking up at Michigan, (ranked No. 4), Indiana (No. 8), Ohio State (No. 9), Minnesota (No. 11), Purdue (No. 14) and Penn State (No. 20). On top of that, no other Wisconsin swimmers were able to qualify for the Nationals meet, leaving Rice to travel to Texas alone.
“Well, really, I’m disappointed (being alone),” Rice said. “It would have been a lot more fun to have my teammates here with me. But that’s just how it worked out.
“Now, there’s just a lot of practicing alone,” he continued.
Rice will be entering familiar territory at this year’s Nationals as a veteran of two previous NCAA championships. Last season, he finished 23rd in the 200 fly in his appearance at Nationals. The time he achieved then was 1:45.76. Two years ago, his time was even higher in that event, clocking in at 1:46.24. This year, his Big Ten title time of 1:43.59 looks very favorable for Rice.
Also, last year, Rice participated in the 200 IM and 100 fly. With just the 200 fly to swim, Rice looks to be well rested. On top of everything, practices have gotten tougher and more concentrated on the Badger swimmer with no one else travelling.
“I would say that practice was more intensified,” Rice said
Having been in Texas preparing for Nationals since Monday, Rice is fully aware he is participating in his last competition as a Badger. However, he is not at all ruling out the possibility of getting into the pool in the future.
“Well, I’d say I’m going to take a break, you know, after I’ve been swimming for so long,” Rice said. “But as far as future swimming … well, I’ll retire, but I might come back to it.”
