Wisconsin Beats Michigan Men In Dual Meet For First Time Since 1980-81

WISCONSIN vs MICHIGAN vs ARIZONA (MEN’S MEET)

• Friday-Saturday, October 20-21, 2023
• Soderholm Family Aquatic Center, Madison, WI
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

TEAM SCORES

• Wisconsin def. Michigan 186-168
• Wisconsin def. Arizona 240-101
• Michigan def. Arizona 239-108

The Wisconsin Badgers hosted Michigan and Arizona for a double dual meet last weekend at the Soderhom Family Aquatic Center. It was a two-day meet, which saw the Badgers emerge victorious against both the Wolverines and Wildcats, while Michigan managed to beat Arizona in their matchup as well. This post only features the recap of the men’s meet, for the women’s recap, click here.

The meet marks the first time Wisconsin beat Michigan in a men’s dual meet since the 1980-1981 season. Of note, legendary coach Jon Urbanchek didn’t arrive as the head coach of Michigan until 1982, so the last time Wisconsin beat Michigan in a dual was actually pre-Urbanchek.

Event winners are critical to winning dual meets and Wisconsin’s Dominik Torok came up huge for his team. Torok won four individual events over the two-day meet, including the 200 breast, 400 IM, 200 IM, and 20 fly. He kicked things off in the 200 breast, where he won decisively, clocking a 1:57.98. Torok was being pushed by a handful of swimmers on the opening 100 of the race, but he pulled away on the back half and ended up finishing 1st by over a second. Michigan’s Ansel Froass was the only other swimmer in the field to dip under 2:00.

Torok then went on to win the 400 IM on Friday night, putting up a really solid dual meet time of 3:50.56. He swam a well-rounded race, splitting 52.50 on fly, 58.45 on back, 1:05.90 on breast, and 53.71 coming home on freestyle. The next morning, Torok was back in action in the 200 IM, where he sped to victory in 1:46.99. It was a close race, as Torok was pushed by Michigan’s Eitan Ben-Shitrit and Gal Groumi, who ended up 2nd and 3rd respectively at 1:47.32 and 1:47.59. Ben-Shitrit was out fast, splitting 48.94 on the opening 100, which was well over a second ahead of Torok, but Torok out-split him on both breast and free to overtake the lead at the finish. Meanwhile, Groumi and Torok were basically tied through the 100, then Torok opened up a small lead on breaststroke and that would make most of the difference.

Torok finished off his meet in the 200 fly, where he swam a 1:45.50 for his fourth win. Michigan’s Tyler Ray gave him a race, hitting the 100 turn in 50.42, which was just ahead of Torok’s 50.72, however, Torok would take the lead on the 3rd 50 and expand it on the final 50. Ray ended up finishing 2nd in 1:46.84, which still marks an excellent performance for the sophomore, whose career best in the event is a 1:46.27 from Big Tens in March of this year.

Ray won the men’s 100 fly on the first day of the meet, clocking a 47.62. The 100 fly was a great event for Michigan, as Groumi came in 2nd with a 47.68. Ray was a little over a second off his career best of 46.58, which he swam at the Big Ten Championships in February.

Yigit Aslan was also an asset for the Badgers, sweeping the men’s distance free events. He kicked off his meet with a 9:12.96 in the 1000 free, which was good to win by well over 4 seconds. The 1000 was a great event for Wisconsin, who went 1-2-3 in it. Jude Williams touched 2nd in 9:17.36, while Zach Ward came in 3rd at 9:18.91.

Aslan would go on to win the 500 free in 4:27.00, finishing as the only swimmer in the event under 4:30. Wisconsin once again flexed their freestyle muscles, as Ward came in 2nd with a 4:30.03.

Wisconsin’s Jake Newmark and Michigan’s Jack Wilkening split the backstroke events. The 200 back was on Friday, and Newmark got the better of Wilkening there, beating him 1:45.20 to 1:46.40. Wilkening had the early edge, splitting 51.53 on the first 100 to Newmark’s 52.04, however, Newmark would then out-split him by over a second on the 3rd 50. The 100 back then came around on Saturday, and it was Wilkening’s chance to get even. He popped a 46.99, marking a new career best for the sophomore. Newmark came in 2nd in that race with a 48.38.

Wilkening was strong for Michigan throughout the meet, also helping the Wolverine 200 medley and 400 free relays to victory. He led the 200 medley relay off in 22.07, which is another personal best for the 19-year-old. Brendan Fitzpatrick (24.66), Gal Groumi (20.92), and Bence Szabados (19.43) rounded out the relay, which finished in 1:27.08 to win by over half a second.

In the 400 free relay, Szabados (44.04), Wilkening (43.69), Eitan Ben-Shitrit (44.35), and Groumi (43.36) teamed up to earn the win for Michigan in 2:55.44. Szabados won an individual event as well, taking the men’s 50 free in 19.82. That was an incredibly tight race, with Wisconsin’s Taiko Torepe-Ormsby going 19.83 and Ben Wiegand clocking 19.88.

After an awesome freshman season last year, Ralph Daleiden was a huge bright spot for Arizona throughout the meet. The Luxembourg native won the 100 free and 200 free decisively. In the 200 free, Daleiden clocked a 1:35.92, beating out Newmark by exactly a second. He actually negative split the race, splitting 48.25 on the first 100 then coming home in 47.67 on the back half. On Saturday, he ripped a 43.05 to win the 100 free, setting a new Soderholm Family Aquatic Center pool record in the process. Daleiden went on to prove that swim wasn’t a one-off, leading off Arizona’s 400 free relay in 43.13 at the end of the meet.

Daleiden also helped Arizona to victory in the men’s 400 medley relay at the very beginning of the meet. Ogi Maric led the Wildcats off in 48.78, Ryan Foote split 54.38 on breast, Haakon Naughton was 47.66 on fly, and Daleiden anchored in 42.17.

Wisconsin cracked their own pool record in the 200 free relay, where they posted a 1:19.23. Taiko Torepe-Ormsby (19.95), Ben Weigand (19.42), Andrew Benson (19.69), and Jake Newmark (20.17) made it happen, beating out Michigan by over half a second.