Despite being favored to run away with the Big Ten championship, Wisconsin's women's swimming and diving team finished a solid third this past weekend in Bloomington, Ind.
The No. 8 Badgers finished with 479 points and won three individuals' titles. Penn State won the team championship with 693 points and Indiana came in second with 497 points.
\I'm really happy with how we finished tonight,"" head coach Eric Hansen said Saturday. ""We came together as a team and closed out on a high note. Our preparation for the NCAA championships is looking great.""
In the first day of action, the Badgers notched second place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay.
Thursday night saw senior captain Carly Piper successfully defend her reign atop the 500-yard freestyle. Piper finished with a time of 4:42 flat, en route to her fourth straight conference title in the race. Junior Anna Trinidad finished second in the 200-yard intermediate with an NCAA ""A"" qualifying time of 2:00.42.
The Badgers moved from fourth to third place on the third day of swimming, behind four top-three finishes. Sophomore Susan Johnson was the Wisconsin star of the day, taking second in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard butterfly. Johnson, the current UW record holder in the back, made it two straight second-place finishes and her time of 54.24 seconds is an NCAA ""A"" qualifying time. Junior Amalia Sarnecki placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.72, despite breaking her wrist just a month ago.
The final day belonged to Piper and Johnson. Piper four-peated in the 1,650-yard freestyle and Johnson defended her 200-yard backstroke title. Piper set an Indiana pool record with a time of 16:11.76 in the mile race. Johnson also recorded an IU pool record of 1:56.87 in the 200-yard.
Wisconsin returns to action March 17-19 for the NCAA Championships at Purdue University.
