Coming into this past week’s Big Ten Championships at the University of Michigan, many teams did not really know what to expect from the UW women’s swim team. Last year, the Badgers graduated sprinter Ivy Martin, who contributed to six event wins in 2015. This year, Martin proved to be tough to replace, but a solid group of up and coming swimmers helped the Badgers take home a hard-fought sixth-place finish.
Freshman Jess Unicomb had the most dominant freshman campaign on the team and, for her, Big Tens were no different. The native of Gold Coast, Australia, tallied three top-20 finishes, two of those coming within the top six.
Junior distance swimmer Danielle Valley, a transfer from the University of Florida, also had a successful weekend, with two top-10 finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and the mile.
“[Going into big races like this] I just have to remember to stay focused and race the people next to me,” Valley said.
Another swimmer benefiting from renewed focus during the championships was junior Dana Grindall. The butterfly specialist from Orange, Conn., took fourth in the 100-yard fly and third in the 200-yard version of the event.
Grindall had an impressive swim in the 200 fly finals, and she had some extra motivation before she hopped in the pool; teammate Grace Wold had just taken third in the consolation final of the same event.
“[Grace] was faster than she was in prelims, and I was so proud of her. It gave me confidence that I could go faster in the final,” Grindall said. “It’s always a pretty nerve-wracking event, and I just had to get myself into a tough mindset.”
Grindall and Wold weren’t the only butterfliers who earned a second swim; Ariana Saghafi, a freshman, got a second shot at the 100 fly in an unexpected way—a swim-off. Saghafi was tied with a swimmer from Ohio State when she came in 25th in Friday morning’s prelims—a position that could have potentially qualified her for a scoring position should another swimmer drop out of the race—when she found out she would have a second go around.
“It was kind of surprising; I wasn’t really happy with my first swim,” Saghafi, who ended up winning the swim-off, said. “It was actually really nice. I was really happy with the way I swam [the second time], and that’s really all I could ask for.”
One unique thing about Big Tens is that it’s a women-only meet, with the men competing one week later. As a coed team, that’s a little bit different for the Badgers—but they thrived from all the positive energy.
“We have this great mojo where we pump each other up all the time,” junior Chase Kinney said of the team’s dynamic.
The positive momentum and team-oriented atmosphere got the Badgers fired up when Kinney blazed out an incredible 50-yard freestyle in 22.38 seconds, garnering second-place honors.
“I was really excited about my 50 free, and it pumped me up a lot for the rest of my races,” Kinney said.
Kinney, who is a native of Canton, Ohio, did not have a single finish outside of scoring range at the Championships, which could be argued were kind of her coming-out party. After two years of being overshadowed by Martin, Kinney proved to the Big Ten—and the rest of the country—that she is a talented sprinter in her own right.
With all these impressive swims, many of the Badgers are gearing up for NCAA’s in mid-March, but the one weekend in February they spent in Ann Arbor will be remembered by all.
“Just that feeling of racing, and knowing that your whole team’s behind you, that’s what made [Big Tens] really great,” Unicomb said.
