After bobbing up and down in the rankings, the UW men's swimming and diving team placed 16th in the NCAA Championship meet Saturday. After finishing 19th Thursday and 13th Friday, the Badgers finally settled into 16th to end the competition Saturday.
Thursday's action opened with the 200-meter relay team tying for 10th, thus qualifying for the consolation final heat. The team, composed of juniors Adam Mania and Eric Wiesner and seniors Matt Marshall and Dale Rogers, went on to win the consolation finals with a time of 1:28.69. The win was a shift of momentum for UW after having its 400-meter medley relay team disqualified when Marshall left .02 second early for his leg of the race.?? UW's 200-meter win counted for all of the team's 18 points on the day, leaving them in 19th place.
Friday was a continuation of momentum, as the Badgers still swam strongly in races totaling 200 meters. The 200-meter medley relay team, made up of senior Kevin Kakrzewski, Rogers, Marshall and Mania, came in sixth place with a time of 1:37.88. The team's finish helped UW to jump from 19th to 13th in the rankings, totaling 67 points, while trailing first-place Auburn by 368 points.
Saturday brought more madness, Mania to be precise.??Mania was the only Badger to contend individually in the final round of competition.?? He finished fourth in the consolation finals of the backstroke with a time of 1:56.36.
\We did a lot of things really well at this meet,"" UW Head Coach Eric Hansen said. ""We didn't get everything we wanted to accomplish, but overall I was really proud of the effort of the guys. They've achieved a lot this year, and the process by which they accomplished it is what I'm most proud of.""
This was the final competition of the season for the Badgers, who will move on to next season hoping to achieve even more success.
