The No. 16 University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team earned its first victory of 2004-05, defeating Michigan State 159-133 Wednesday night (Oct. 27) at McCaffree Pool. The Wolverines claimed first place in 12 of 14 swimming events en route to a win in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams. With the victory, Michigan claims the first half-point in the Pontiac Challenge Cup winter standings.

Michigan opened the meet by edging the Spartans in the 200-yard medley relay. U-M's "A" quartet clocked in at 1:45.66, just 0.06 ahead of the Spartans.

For the second straight meet, sophomore Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles HS) captured top honors in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:52.62, nearly 29 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Gilliam later added a win in the 500-yard race(4:57.60) to complete a sweep of the distance freestyle events.

Smith continued Michigan's dominance in the freestyle with a victory in the 100-yard (51.83) and 200-yard (1:52.72) races. Brady was also a multiple-event winner for U-M , winning the 100-yard (57.33) and 200-yard (2:03.31) backstroke races, and the 100-yard butterfly (57.20).

Fifth-year senior Erica Watts (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) provided the Wolverines with another first-place finish, touching in at 2:08.11 in the 200-yard butterly for her first individual title of the season. Senior Tracy Egnatuk (Albion, Mich./Albion HS) also captured her first victory of the year, winning the 50-yard freestyle (24.34).

Freshman Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe HS) kept the momentum in Michigan's favor with a close victory in the 400-yard individual medley (4:27.05). Fellow classmate Valeria Silva (Lima, Peru/Alexander von Humboldt) posted a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100-yard (1:05.37) and 200-yard (2:23.22) breaststroke races.

The Maize and Blue closed out the dual meet in winning form, slipping by the Spartans in the 200-yard freestyle relay. U-M's "A" team at 1:35.16, edged MSU's 1:35.29.

Bright spots for State were Courtney Ellabarger and freshman Danielle Williams each captured two first-place finishes

Ellabarger won the 100 breast (1:04.97) and the 200 breast (2:22.17). Williams finished first in the one-meter (275.77) and the three-meter diving events (276.00). Sophomore Katie Edwards finished second in the three-meter (261.3) and third in the one-meter (257.93). Sophomore Amy Schmidt placed second in the three-meter (268.3). Williams and Schmidt's scores against the Wolverines qualified them for the NCAA regionals.

"I want to give my hat off to Eric Best and all of the divers for winning both boards so convincingly," said Gianiodis. "The girls did a great job in getting a lot of pressure off them in terms of getting the NCAA regional qualification standards already out of the way."

The MSU women next compete in South Bend, Ind., on Nov. 12 against Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. The Wolverines return to the pool on Nov. 5-6 when they travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the Purdue Invitational.

Complete meet results were not available.