The Wisconsin men’s and women’s swim and dive teams will be in the water for the first time this season Sept. 26 against University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, after an offseason full of changes.
Longtime head coach Yuri Suguiyama left the program to head the USA Swimming National Team as their senior director and coach. Along with that, all-time great Phoebe Bacon finished her last year of eligibility for the Badgers, leaving behind an incredible legacy.
In May 2025, Wisconsin Athletics announced Jack Brown as the new head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. He retained only one of Suguiyama’s staff, assistant coach Jennah Haney.
Brown added three new coaches, including a new diving coach, Andrew Capobianco, and the great former Badger Beata Nelson as an assistant coach. Johno Fergusson and Ted Patton rounded out Brown’s new-look coaching staff, as assistants.
Nelson swam for Wisconsin from 2016 to 2020 as a backstroker, and amassed countless honors during her tenure. She is a seven-time All-American and six-time honorable mention All-American. Nelson is also five-time Big Ten champion and holds three Big Ten records.
She is the only woman to break 50 seconds in 100 backstroke six times. On top of it all, she holds multiple collegiate, U.S. open, American and school records. Since graduation, Nelson has swam professionally, while continuing to train in Madison and with the Badgers and recently just missed out on attending the 2024 Olympics.
The coaching staff isn’t the only aspect of the team that looks vastly different. Both men’s and women’s teams lost some key players and brought in large classes of promising freshmen.
.sno-68d60bb88c340 {
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-68d60bb88c340 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
The women’s team lost 12 athletes in total, including two divers. This list included five NCAA qualifiers from last season, Bacon, Abby Carlson, Callahan Dunn, Mackenzie McConagha and Paige Mckenna.
But, the team added 11 new faces this offseason, including two new divers, freshmen Sophia Brueggeman, Brooke Corrigan, Justine Delmas, Lucie Delmas, Andrea Dworak, Sarah Freeman, Zara Karimi, Sarah Larsen, Lily Van Heel, Arianna Zelen and junior Julia Herring.
They also have many notable returners to the team this season. Their top diver Ryane Neal will be returning for her junior season with the Badgers. Neal was the only female diver to qualify for the Zone Diving Championships last season.
NCAA qualifier and senior Hazal Ozkan will be returning to the pool deck. Ozkan competed in three individual events at the NCAA Championships in March, finishing 53rd in the 200 individual medley, 35th in the 100 breaststroke and 25th in the 200 breaststroke.
Another NCAA qualifier, junior Hailey Tierney, is set to avenge her fourth place finish in the 50 freestyle at the Big Ten Championships, and her 19th place finish at the NCAA Championships, both of which were behind several graduating seniors.
Sophomore Maggie Wanezek will be looking to build on her impressive performance from last season, where she rode second to Bacon in both backstroke events for the Badgers, qualifying for the NCAA Championships as a freshman and earning Honorable Mention All-American honors for her 13th place finish in the 200.
The men’s team will be without eight swimmers from last season including NCAA qualifier Sam Lorenz. New to the team this year include freshmen Miles Cratsenberg, Lucas Daniels, Drew Gaerthofner, Adam Graham, Carter Jewell, Declan Kelly and Enzo Solitario.
With few offseason losses, the returning Badgers are expected to perform well this season. Among these returners include New Zealand olympian, senior Taiko Torepe-Ormsby.
Coming off of a school-record performance in the 50 freestyle leading off the 200 freestyle relay at the NCAA Championships in March, Torepe-Ormsby is expected to have a big senior year for the Badgers.
Another notable returner is senior Dominik Mark Torok who is also coming off a school-record setting swim at the last NCAA Championships in the 400 individual medley. Torok finished 5th in that event, earning First Team All-American honors. He set a second school record at that meet as well, in the 200 butterfly. Torok seems to be on an upward trajectory, and hopefully will have another great season for the Badgers.
Junior Charlie Jones and graduate student Chris Morris also set team records last season, in the 200 Butterfly and 200 individual medley, respectively. Both NCAA qualifiers as well, Jones and Morris add to the impressive list of Wisconsin returners.
Other NCAA qualifying returners include sophomore Yoav Romano, junior Luukas Vainio, senior Cooper Scharff and redshirt senior Ben Wiegand.
Also returning is senior diver Jan Lanser who qualified for the Zone Diving Championships in the spring, along Neal.
.sno-68d60bb88ce8a {
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-68d60bb88ce8a h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Looking ahead to the first meet against Green Bay, the Badgers are expected to win big. Last year, the men’s team won 185-56 and the women’s team won 191-50. Both teams finished first, second and third in all events, denying Green Bay any placements. Wisconsin has never lost a meet to Green Bay in 13 matchups.
The overall record last season for the women was 6-1, while for the men it was 3-2. But, the main point scorer for the women was Bacon so the team may see a decline in points, and possibly wins, in her absence.
We are predicting standout performances this season from returners Tierney, Wanezek, Torepe-Ormsby and Torok and breakout seasons from freshmen Gaerthofner, Solitario and the Delmas twins.