The women’s swimming and diving team was defeated in Madison, Wis., on Friday night, losing 152-148 to the Wisconsin Badgers.
Sophomore Danielle Nack led the way for the Gophers by winning both of the women’s butterfly events. She won the 200 butterfly with a poolrecord time of 1:59.05 and won the 100 race at 54.32. Both of her times rank in the top five in the nation this year.
Nack also helped both relay teams to a second place finish in the 200 medley and the 400 freestyle.
“I was pretty happy with my performance. My times were pretty good for in the season right now,” Nack said. “It’s always disappointing to lose to Wisconsin, because it’s a big border battle, but I think it definitely gave our team more fight for the end of the season.”
Freshman Rachel Munson was another key member of the team on Friday. She won both the 100 breast stroke in 1:02.65 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:16.17.
Senior Samantha Harding won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:51.61, a season best. She currently has the second-best time in the nation for the event.
Harding also finished second in the 500 freestyle with a season-best 4:50.19, which ranks third in the nation.
Junior Yu Zhou led the women’s divers with victories in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter events and broke the Madison pool record with a score of 332.77 in the 1-meter.
The Gophers’ score of 148 was their lowest of the season so far.
“It’s the details — the turns, the starts, the relay exchanges — the consistent details of being a better team,” head coach Kelley Kremer said. “But for early season, this is a
fantastic meet, and I think it sets us up perfectly for what we want to do in February and March.”
Men finish second
The men’s swimming and diving team also lost to the Badgers on Friday by a score of 159-141.
Sophomore Conner McHugh led the team, winning the 100 breaststroke with a team season-best time of 56.07 and finishing first in the 200 breaststroke in 2:00.93.
“Individually, I was pleased for where I was in this point of the season,” McHugh said. “Obviously, I’d like our team to continue to improve in whatever way we can, but I think we did a good job Friday night.”
Junior Daryl Turner had a pair of successful swims after racing in his second meet back from a knee injury. He won the 100 backstroke in 48.78 and finished second in three other races: the 100 butterfly with a time of 48.54, the 50 freestyle in 20.59 and the 200 medley relay team.
Freshman Brain Poon won the 200 individual medley in 1:50.18 and also earned second place in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:59.53.
Junior Matt Barnard won both men’s diving events and set two pool records in Madison by scoring a 357.83 on the 1-meter board and 403.12 on the 3-meter. The entire team followed his lead, finishing first through fourth in both diving events.
“We swam well. We dove well. Wisconsin just swam and dove a little bit better then we did,” Kremer said. “I felt really good about how the team performed and where we’re at.”
