The Wisconsin women's swim team completed a successful run at the NCAA Championships at College Station, Texas over the weekend behind strong performances from freshman Ashley Wanland and their relay teams.
The Badger swim team finished 14th in the overall standings with 105.5 points, the best finish for the program since a 9th place finish in 2006.
The story of the weekend however, was the sensational performance by Wanland in her first NCAA Championship.
Wanland earned All-America honors in the 100 breaststroke, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay for finishing in the top eight of each event final, making her only the eighth swimmer in UW history to record three All-America honors in one NCAA Championship.
Wanland didn't glide to victory in her events, but instead put up record times in both individual breaststroke events she competed in. She lowered her own UW record in the 100 breaststroke and demolished her own Big Ten record in the 200 breast.
Wanland also propelled both relay teams that won All-America honors and overall Wisconsin relays were another strong point over the weekend.
On the first day of competition, Thursday, the Badgers had a school record finish in the 400-medley relay.
Sophomore Maggie Meyer clocked in at 52.88 seconds in the backstroke leg of the medley followed by Wanland finishing in 58.81 in the breaststroke. The hot start had the Badgers in third place midway through the medley, but after juniors Karlyn Hougan and Rosie Morahan completed their legs the Badgers found themselves a very respectable seventh place.
Wisconsin continued their relay success on Saturday, almost winning their first NCAA Championship.
The Badgers finished with a time of 1:36:53, a mere eight one-hundredths of a second behind Georgia for a runner-up finish in the 200-medley relay.
Meyer and Wanland followed their strong performances in the 400 with another good showing to lead off the 200 relay. They were followed by senior Christine Zwiegers and anchored by a remarkable leg from freshman Beckie Thompson who clocked in with the fastest anchor leg in the finals.
On the final day of competition Saturday it looked as if the Badgers relay success was going to continue.
The Badgers sent shockwaves through the pool after setting a school record in the preliminaries for the 400-yard freestyle relay. Wisconsin greatly outperformed the 16th seed they received before the prelims by finishing seventh.
Unfortunately the Badgers ran out of relay luck when they were disqualified for an illegal exchange in the finals, ending a great weekend on a sour note.
The NCAA Championships mark the end of the swimming season, but head coach Eric Hansen has a lot to look forward to next year when the team returns a handful of key swimmers.
Freshmen Wanland and Thompson along with sophomores Maggie Meyer and Karlyn Hougan all have at least one All-America honor under their belts and will be looking to improve on the team's 14th place finish at next year's NCAA Championships.
-uwbadgers.com contributed to this report
