The Minnesota women upended the other U of M - the Michigan Wolverines 169-130 on Friday night (Oct. 10) in the Canham Natatorium. Senior Hannah Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) and junior Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) each won two events on the night for the Wolverines.

Minnesota women’s swimming and diving team opened the 2008-09 season with a 169-130 win over Big Ten Conference opponent, Michigan, tonight in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Golden Gophers start the season 1-0 in Big Ten dual action.

The Gophers started the meet taking the top two spots in the 400 medley relay. Deidre DeWall, Jillian Tyler, Megan Braun and Stacy Busack earned the Gophers 11 points with a time of 3:45.03. Castina Wabeke, Kait Strickland, Kaylee Jamison, Meredith McCarthy finished second in a time of 3:50.91.

The Gophers took the top three spots in the 1,650 free. Freshman Ashley Steenvoorden won the event in 16:25.51, followed by Yuen Kobayashi in16:40.58 and Christine Jennings in third in 16:45.66. Marissa Davies and Jenny Shaughnessy added a one-two-punch in the 200 free. Davies touched the wall in 1:50.68, while Shaughnessy clocked a time of 1:50.82.

After Michigan won its first event of the evening in the 100 back, DeWall finished second with a time of 56.38, while Andrea Hanson held a time of 58.22. Tyler won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.26, while Strickland finished second in 1:06.18. Molly Belk won the 200 fly in a time of 2:03.25.  Busack placed first in the 50 free (23.63) and the 100 free (50.61).

Despite the loss, the seemingly-always ebuillent Jim Richardson was upbeat on what he saw from the meet.  He saw, "who is fit enough and who has enough background to see who can handle the training Monday through Thursday and swim in the meet on Friday. I think the girls who have swum in this program for a number of years were able to do that. The younger swimmers have to develop the kind of quality endurance to be able to perform well throughout the entire week. So we will need to pay close attention to their fatigue levels in the latter stages of the week. We need to learn how much they can do and how long they need to recover. This is the time of year that we do a lot of strength oriented work and a lot of cardiovascular work out of the pool and some of them are still trying to adjust.

Smith swept the backstroke events with wins in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. The senior picked up the first win of the evening as she started strong in the 100-yard backstroke and never relinquished her lead winning the event with a time of 55.34, a full second ahead of the second place finisher. In the 200-backstroke, Smith pulled ahead early taking a lead after the first 50-yardsand continued to pull away over the final 150-yards, finishing ahead of two Golden Gophers’ swimmers with a time of 2:00.06.

Kelly picked up wins in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 400-yard individual medley for the Wolverines. In the 100-yard fly, Kelly and senior Payton Johnson (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) finished 1-2. Kelly took an early lead and maintained it throughout the race to pick up the win in 54.91, while Johnson used a late surge to grab second with a time of 55.36. Kelly followed her win in the 100-yard fly with a win in the 400-yard IM. The junior found herself in a battle with Minnesota’s Jenny Shaughnessy through the butterfly and backstroke before pulling away in the breaststroke and freestyle to pick up her second win of the day with a new personal best time of time of 4:20.23.

In the final event of the night, Michigan’s 200-yard freestyle relay team claimed first place in a close contest. The U-M team of Smith, freshman Alexa Mehesan (West des Moines, Iowa/Valley), Johnson and Kelly touched the wall in 1:34.17 -- 0.08 ahead of the Golden Gophers.

Michigan swept the top three spots in both the one- and three-meter diving events. Freshman Amanda Lohman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair), in her first collegiate meet, took first in the one-meter event with a score of 283.88. She was followed by junior Stephanie O’Callaghan (Howell, Mich./Howell) in second with a score of 259.20 and sophomore Jillian Drow (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) in third with a score of 245.77.

In the three-meter event O’Callaghan took first with a new personal best score of 303.15. Close behind was Drow who took second with a personal best score of 296.25. Lohman rounded out the top three with a score of 281.70.

Tyler won her second event, this time in the 200 breaststroke in 2:17.83. Kobayashi won the 500 free in 4:52.95, followed by Jennings in 4:55.08 and Ashley Steenvoorden in third (4:58.63).