The University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s swim teams headed to Federal Way, Washington, to compete at the NCAA Championship meet at the end of March. The women’s team ended the meet in 12th place, scoring 126 points, their highest finish since 2011. The team set four school records, had four different swimmers named individual All-Americans and saw countless personal best times.
The University of Virginia was the women’s National Champion, becoming the first team to win five straight championships and setting four NCAA records at this meet alone.
The men’s team finished 22nd, scoring 28 points in their best finish since 2017. The University of Texas won the meet on the men’s side, becoming the 2025 men’s National Champions.
Women’s team
The women’s National Championship meet was held from March 19-22. The Badgers had a terrific meet, led by two-time Olympian and graduate student Phoebe Bacon. Bacon competed in three individual events, including the 200-yard individual medley, where she finished fourth, the 100-yard backstroke, finishing fifth, and the 200-yard backstroke, where she finished third. Bacon not only earned First Team All-American honors for each of these swims, but she also set personal bests in each.
Freshman Maggie Wanezek also competed in these three events — following in Bacon’s footsteps — and finishing 13th in the 200-yard backstroke, earning herself Honorable Mention All-American honors. The Badgers weren’t the only ones with success in this event, as a new NCAA record was set by Virginia’s Claire Curzan.
Fellow graduate student Callahan Dunn competed in both the 200 and 400 individual medleys, as well as the 200 backstroke. Not only did she improve her personal best by almost three seconds in the 400 I.M., she also set a new school record of 4:04.20, finishing seventh overall and earning First Team All-American honors.
.sno-67ef0dfa9a5df {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67ef0dfa9a5df h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Another Badger competing in her last meet, senior Paige McKenna competed in the two distance freestyle events, the 500 and 1650. McKenna finished ninth in the mile (1650), solidifying her spot as an Honorable Mention All-American.
The four other Badgers who competed in individual events were senior Abby Carlson, senior Mackenzie McConagha, junior Hazal Ozkan and sophomore Hailey Tierney. Carlson finished 35th in the 500 freestyle, 24th in the 200 freestyle and 50th in 100 freestyle. McConagha finished 47th in the 100 butterfly, 49th in the 100 backstroke and 43rd in the 200 butterfly. Ozkan finished 53rd in the 200 individual medley, 35th in the 100 breaststroke and 25th in the 200 breaststroke. Tierney finished 19th in the 50 freestyle, 44th in the 100 butterfly and 48th in the 100 freestyle.
There were three other individual NCAA records set at this meet as well. Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh set new records in both the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle, swimming a 46.97 and a 44.71, respectively. Texas’s Emma Sticklen set the record in the 200 butterfly, swimming a 1:49.11. Virginia set an NCAA relay record in the 200 medley relay, set by the team of Curzan, Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh and Maxine Parker.
The Badgers finished in the top 16 in all five of their relays, earning Honorable Mention All-American in each, scoring meaningful points for the team and setting records along the way. The 400 medley relay team of Wanezek, Ozkan, Bacon and senior Abby Wanezek finished 10th, breaking their own school record with a 3:28.18.
In the 200 medley relay, the team of Maggie Wanezek, Ozkan, Bacon and Tierney also broke their own school record, swimming a 1:34.69 and finishing in 11th place. Carlson, Bacon, Abby Wanezek and Dunn set a new school record in the 800 freestyle relay with 6:55.17, finishing in ninth place, the highest of the Badger relays at this meet. The 400 freestyle relay, made up of Abby Wanezek, Tierney, Carlson and junior Blair Stoneburg finished 15th and the 200 freestyle relay of Tierney, Abby Wanezek, Bacon and Carlson finished 13th.
Men’s team
The men’s National Championship meet was held from March 26-29, a week after the women’s meet. The men’s team had a great meet, breaking four school records and coming away with multiple personal bests.
Junior Dominik Mark Torok led the team scoring-wise, finishing 5th in the 400 individual medley, setting a school record of 3:37.50 and earning First Team All-American honors. He also had a terrific swim in the 200 butterfly, finishing 19th, just missing out on the finals and setting a school record of 1:41.25. The other event Mark Torok swam in, the 200 individual medley, he finished 40th.
.sno-67ef0dfa9b51e {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67ef0dfa9b51e h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Another junior, Taiko Torepe-Ormsby, set a school record at the meet, breaking his record in the 50 freestyle on the leadoff leg of the 200 freestyle relay, swimming an 18.75. The relay team of Torepe-Ormsby, junior Cooper Scharff and seniors Ben Wiegand and Chris Morris finished in an impressive 10th place, earning Honorable All-American honors.
Torepe-Ormsby finished 20th in the individual 50 freestyle, missing out on finals by about a tenth of a second. He also competed in the 100 freestyle, finishing 49th. Torepe-Ormsby was a member of the 400 freestyle relay, also consisting of Wiegand, Morris and sophomore Luukas Vainio, finishing 19th and setting yet another school record of 2:49.20.
Three other Badgers competed in individual events at the NCAA Championships. Freshman Yoav Romano finished 24th in the 500 freestyle and 41st in the 200 freestyle. Morris finished 27th in both the 200 individual medley and 200 freestyle and 43rd in the 100 freestyle. Junior Charlie Jones finished 39th in the 100 butterfly and 34th in the 200 butterfly. The team of freshman Sam Lorenz, Wiegand, Morris and Vainio also competed in the 200 medley relay, finishing 20th.
Both the men’s and women’s team had their best finishes in years and broke an amazing eight school records, closing out an incredible season for the Badgers. This also marks the end of a great Wisconsin career for Bacon, an all-time great. All the athletes had a very successful meet, with many personal bests set to top off a terrific season for both teams.