It only took six dives for freshman Kevin Pomeroy to cement his spot as a significant contributor on the Wisconsin swimming and diving team. The native of Half Moon Bay, Calif., posted an NCAA-qualifying score of 336.30 on the men’s three-meter diving event, winning the event for the Badgers in a tough dual meet against national power Auburn at home.
“It feels really good,” Pomeroy said. “It’s definitely an accomplishment, I’m really proud of it.”
Pomeroy was not the only Badger to post an NCAA-qualifying mark in the season opener; freshman Beata Nelson notched a provisional cut while winning the 100-yard backstroke and seniors Chase Kinney and Cannon Clifton both got provisionals in the 50-yard freestyle, winning both the men’s and women’s races. Joining Pomeroy on the boards were senior Ashley Peterson and sophomores Hazel Hertting and Andrew Pearce, all of whom qualified in the one-meter discipline, with Peterson also qualifying in the three-meter.
Two pool records were bested at the Natatorium by the Badger men. Clifton’s winning time of 20.12 in the 50-yard freestyle lowered his two-year-old record by four hundredths of a second, and the 400-yard freestyle relay squad of Clifton, junior Ryan Stack and seniors Matt Hutchins and Brett Pinfold broke their own one-year-old mark with a time of 2:57.93.
“It was pretty good,” Pinfold said of the record-breaking relay. “We had a little trouble at the start of the relay, but we got back into it and pulled it off in the end. Everyone did their part, and it showed that with the time.”
Head coach Whitney Hite had substantial praise for the team after seeing his swimmers’ hard work in the pool pay off.
“Cannon, Matt, Victor [Goicoechea] and Brett, they were superstars today,” Hite said. “We had some great performances on the boards as well, Kevin coming in and winning the three meter ... Ashley won both boards on the women’s side, so we were real good. Chase was really good, Beata in the 100 back, I thought we had some good performances overall.”
The main attraction of the day for fans was seeing 2016 Olympians Hutchins and Cierra Runge in action for the first time since Rio, and they did not disappoint. Hutchins, who represented New Zealand, was on the winning 400-yard freestyle relay and also won the 500-yard freestyle.
Runge, a sophomore who was on the United States’ gold medal-winning 800-meter freestyle relay, grabbed a pair of second-place finishes in the 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyle. Both came at the hands of Auburn senior Ashley Neidigh, who came into this meet much more rested as she had not competed since Olympic Trials in July.
“[The meet] was really, really fun,” Runge said. “I was excited to kinda get in and have a team and do the dual meets again. I really enjoyed myself.”
Although there were some impressive individual performances by the Badgers, the Tigers ultimately proved too much to handle, besting UW on the men’s side by a total score of 156-144 and on the women’s side by a score of 165-135.
Hite appreciated the competition, even though the result did not end up in the Badgers’ favor.
“It’s great having [Auburn] on campus. They are a traditional powerhouse, and anytime we can get them here, it’s a good thing,” Hite said.
Runge echoed her coach’s sentiment.
“I think we gave them a really good fight,” she said. “I’m sure there are some people who had some off swims … We’re using it to move forward and prepare ourselves for the meets to come.”
The Badgers will hit the road on Thursday to head to Minneapolis for a dual meet with Minnesota. That meet will begin at 5 p.m. and will be televised on BTN Plus.
“Everyone’s going to be on top of their game,” Pinfold said. “[Minnesota is] our rival, and we are going to be ready. We’re going to beat them.”
