Gophers Swimming: Minnesota drowns Wisconsin in Madison
While senior day in Madison may have honored the hosting Badgers outside the water, the visiting Golden Gophers dominated the honors given in the pool.
Their success began with the opening swim: the 200-freestyle relay. The fierce combination of Derek Toomey, Daryl Turner, Kyler Van Swol and Carl Newenhouse set the standard with a top time of 1:21.98. This group also concluded the meet with a win in the 400-freestyle relay (2:59.93).
Friday’s success continued with co-captain Luke Bushman swimming to a first place finish in the 200-individual medley, clocking a time of 1:52.02. Junior Brandon Hatanaka touched just behind him at 1:52.14.
Fellow co-captain Toomey swam to victory in the 50-freestyle (20.38) for the second consecutive year versus rival Wisconsin. The senior has yet to relinquish a first place finish in his strongest event this season and remains the fastest American among Division I swimmers. Daryl Turner followed, clocking a time of 20.76.
University of Minnesota entered day two with an 80 point advantage. Saturday started with a statement from foursome Turner, N. Hatanaka, Van Swol and Toomey with a win in the 400-medley relay (3:19.81).
The Maroon and Gold really took hold of this dual, however, by dominating the butterfly swims. Van Swol clocked a first place time of 49.63 in the 100; freshman Nick Orf finished second (50.36). In the 200, Minnesota captured the top three finishes: Orf touching the wall first in a time of 1:50.75. B. Hatanaka (1:50.95) and Andrew Hartbarger (1:52.03) finished second and third, respectively.
Discovering his own role on this team, the younger Hatanaka, Nick, enjoyed his first win as a Golden Gopher in the 100-breaststroke (56.85).
Diver Manny Pollard recaptured his place atop the three meter standings with a score of 372. The sophomore also captured the top stop in the one meter event, an improvement from his third place finish against the Badgers last season.
The final score was 220-150 in favor of Minnesota over Wisconsin.
Next up for the Golden Gophers is a trip to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes. They swim against the conference rival on Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. CT.