Michigan Men
The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team utilized its depth in jumping out to a big lead against Virginia, 118-48, and Penn State, 128-38, on Saturday (Oct. 31) at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines went 1-2-3-4 in three races on the first day of competition, collecting 10 NCAA 'B' times.
"We were hungry to swim fast all over the place," head coach Mike Bottom said. "It was a number of guys that wanted to swim at their best. It's not about points. It's about getting better, and I thought a good number of them raced hard and saw improvements today."
The Wolverines set the tone by holding the top four spots in a trio of events. In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Anders Nielsen put up the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season to win (4:22.20), followed by sophomores PJ Ransford (4:24.24) and Ian Rainey (4:26.79), and junior Cameron Stitt (4:28.91). They did the same in the next event -- the 200-yard IM -- where senior Dylan Bosch (1:45.86) and sophomore Evan White (1:46.07) put up the top two times in the NCAA. Senior/junior Luke Papendick (1:49.15) and senior Will Raynor (1:49.26) followed them in third and fourth, respectively.
Later in the meet, U-M went 1-2-3-4 in the 100-yard freestyle, led by sophomore Paul Powers. The Gainesville, Ga., native touched the wall first (44.01), followed by junior Jason Chen (44.23), Nielsen (44.53) and junior Vinny Tafuto (45.44).
Bosch put up another NCAA-best time later in the meet, winning the 200-yard butterfly (1:44.69) with relative ease. Teammate Peter Brumm was second (1:49.04). Sophomore Tristan Sanders also had an easy swim, winning the 200-yard backstroke (1:44.76). He was followed by Raynor (1:49.18), freshman Jordan Ross (1:49.40) and sophomore Aaron Whitaker (1:50.39) in third through fifth place.
U-M went 2-3-4 in the 100-yard breaststroke with junior Chris Klein (55.13), senior Matt McNamara (55.75) and sophomore Evan White (55.75).
The Wolverines also claimed both relays. Powers had a blistering 19.65 split on the leadoff leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay -- second-best in the NCAA -- to lead a quartet that also featured Brumm, Chen and Tafuto to a win (1:19.89). Michigan also went 1-2 in the 400-yard medley relay to close the meet, but it was the 'B' team of Papendick, Klein, White and Nielsen that touched the wall first (3:16.96).
The team's lone diver, freshman Collin DeShaw, took seventh on one-meter in his collegiate debut (227.15).
The tri-meet concludes tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 1) at 11 a.m.
Michigan Women
On her 18th birthday, freshman Siobhán Haughey won a pair of events in a memorable home debut to lead the No. 23-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team on Saturday (Oct. 31) at Canham Natatorium. After one day of competition, Michigan leads No. 20 Penn State, 117-50, but trails No. 4 Virginia, 96-71.
The Wolverines collected a total of six NCAA 'B' times on Saturday, highlighted by Haughey, who won both the 200-yard IM (1:57.20) and 100-yard freestyle (48.45). Both of her times rank No. 1 in the NCAA so far this season. On the school's all-time performance list, she is No. 2 in the 100-yard freestyle and No. 4 in the 200-yard IM.
"Siobhán is a special talent," head coach Mike Bottom said. "We put her in on that last relay and asked her to swim a stroke that she's not real comfortable with, but she kept us in it and allowed Ali [DeLoof] to have a bit of a cushion. She obviously had a very good day for us."
Sophomore Clara Smiddy had a nice afternoon with a pair of NCAA 'B' times, recording a second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke (1:55.12) and a third-place finish in the 200-yard IM (2:00.88). Senior Ali DeLoof took second to Haughey in the 100-yard freestyle (48.72), while sophomores Emily Kopas and Gillian Ryan were third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.46) and 500-yard freestyle, respectively (4:49.10). The only event that Michigan didn't claim a top-three finish in was the 200-yard butterfly, where freshman Astrid Swensen was a team-high fifth (2:02.06).
The Wolverines went 1-for-2 on relays, claiming the 400-yard medley relay at the end of the meet (3:37.06 -- Smiddy, Kopas, Haughey and A. DeLoof), while finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:31.68 -- junior Maddy Frost, A. DeLoof, senior Zoe Mattingly, Haughey).
In the diving well, junior Allie Murphy was strong in her Michigan debut. The transfer from Louisville led the team with a second-place finish on three-meter, scoring 286.90, which is an NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score.
The tri-meet concludes tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 1) at 11 a.m.
Virginia
The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving team finished day one action against Michigan and Penn State Saturday afternoon (Oct. 31) at the Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Cavaliers picked up seven event wins.
After the first day of action, the No 4 Cavalier women lead Michigan, 96-71, and Penn State, 128-39. The Virginia men lead Penn State, 107-60, but trail Michigan, 118-48.
The Cavaliers opened up the meet with a win in the women’s 200 free relay in a time of 1:31.04. The foursome featured freshman Kasey Schmidt (Saint Augustine, Fla.), junior Ellen Thomas (Guildford, United Kingdom), sophomore Caitlin Cooper (Atlanta, Ga.) and senior Courtney Bartholomew (Holland, Michigan).
Junior Leah Smith (Pittsburgh) followed with a win in the women’s 500 free in 4:41.57, while freshman Vivian Tafuto (Hummelstown, Pa.) captured first in the women’s 100 breast in 1:01.61, which ranks sixth on UVA’s all-time top-10 list. Senior Yannick Kaeser (Mumpf, Switzerland) touched first in the men’s 100 breast in 54.48.
Bartholomew also won the women’s 200 back in 1:54.06, while sophomore Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass) placed first in the women’s 200 fly in 1:58.79.
In women’s 3-meter diving, freshman Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) won with a score of 298.60.
