Michigan
NCAA Championships (Day 3)
Wolverines Finish in 14th Place at NCAA Championships
3/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
AUBURN, Ala. -- All-America honorable mention performances in the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard freestyle relay in the final session of the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday (March 22) helped the University of Michigan weather a late surge from Alabama and finish in 14th place with 79 points at James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
| | Fenn logged Michigan's second highest individual finish of the championships, taking 11th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. |
In a fitting conclusion to the NCAA meet, a Wolverines relay team provided enough of a boost that U-M recaptured 14th place as the championships drew to a close. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the meet, U-M garnered 10 points with a fourth-place finish in the consolation final (12th overall) to surpass the Crimson Tide in the team standings. Michigan's squad, composed of senior Erin Abbey (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield HS), sophomore Amy McCullough (West Bloomfield, Mich./Mercy HS), freshman Abby Seskevics (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) and junior Anne Weilbacher (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis De Sales HS), posted a time of 3:20.92 in the race.
In individual events contested on Saturday, junior Emily-Clare Fenn (Westport, Mich./Staples HS) earned All-America honorable mention with her 11th-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle to kick off the final day of the meet. Fenn's time of 16:20.87 was just two seconds off her All-America pace at the 2001 NCAAs. While Fenn's result was eight seconds shy of All-America qualification (16:13.05), Flavia Rigamonti of Southern Methodist posted a pool-record time of 15:43.90 to secure the event title for a second consecutive year.
Junior Kelli Stein (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Waterson HS) edged out USC's Kammy Miller with her final push toward the wall in the 200-yard breaststroke consolation final to take 15th overall and secure the highest individual NCAA finish of her career. In the morning preliminaries, Stein clocked in at 2:13.90 for the 13th fastest qualifying time.
The Wolverines had a third strong morning session to kick off day three. In addition to Stein and the 400 free relay's qualification for evening finals, junior Sara Johnson (West Bloomfield, Mich./Lahser HS) placed among the nation's 18 fastest swimmers in the 200-yard backstroke. Johnson's finish of 1:59.02 made her an alternate in the event's "B" final and was one of the fastest swims of her career.
Another steady performance came from Weilbacher, who, prior to helping the Michigan relay qualify among the top 16 teams at the meet, finished 26th overall in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.58).
Complete meet results along with postseason awards can be found at the NCAA Championships website: www.ncaasports.com.
Final Team Standings (Top 15)
1. Auburn 536 2. Georgia 373 3. Southern Cal 284 4. Southern Methodist 281 5. Florida 277 6. Stanford 275.5 7. Texas 220 8. California 215 9. Arizona 209 10. Arizona State 135 11. UCLA 128 12. Wisconsin 123 13. Virginia 118 14. MICHIGAN 79 15. Alabama 71
Top Eight/U-M Finishers (Day 3)
(Prelim time in parentheses if faster than finals time)
1,650-yard Freestyle
1. Flavia Rigamonti, SMU 15:43.90% 2. Cara Lane, Virginia 15:53.49 3. Kaitlin Sandeno, Southern Cal 15:58.58 4. Sara McLarty, Florida 16:02.60 5. Margie Pedder, Southern Cal 16:02.98 6. Carly Piper, Wisconsin 16:05.18 7. Rachael Burke, Virginia 16:09.31 8. Mirjana Boskevska, Virginia 16:13.05 11. Emily-Clare Fenn, U-M 16:20.87 34. Lori Eberwein, U-M 16:48.72
200-yard Backstroke
1. Natalie Coughlin, California 1:50.86% 2. Kirsty Coventry, Auburn 1:53.17 3. Margaret Hoelzer, Auburn 1:53.18 4. Beth Botsford, Arizona 1:54.17 5. Jamie Reid, Florida 1:55.54 6. Alenka Kejzar, SMU 1:54.57 7. Maureen Farrell, Florida 1:55.45 8. Lauren Gettel, Georgia 1:56.44 18. Sara Johnson, U-M 1:59.02
100-yard Freestyle
1. Mariza Correia, Georgia 47.29*^!&% 2. Becky Short, Auburn 48.53 3. Eileen Coparropa, Auburn 48.99 4. Kimberly Harada, Washington 49.18 5. Lacey Boutwell, Stanford 49.32 6. Jessi Perruquet, UNC 49.37 7. Erin Phenix, Texas 49.50 8. Heather Kemp, Auburn 49.68 T42. Amy McCullough, U-M 50.65 57. Erin Abbey, U-M 50.84
200-yard Breaststroke
1. Tara Kirk, Stanford 2:08.79% 2. Agnes Kovacs, Arizona State 2:09.13 3. Anne Poleska, Alabama 2:09.83 4. Sarah Poewe, Georgia 2:09.89 5. Corrie Clark, SMU 2:10.07 6. Birte Steven, Oregon State 2:11.03 7. Vipa Bernhardt, Florida 2:11.24 8. Keri Hehn, Minnesota 2:14.27 15. Kelli Stein, U-M 2:15.39
200-yard Butterfly
1. Mary DeScenza, Georgia 1:53.51 2. Emily Mason, Arizona 1:54.25 3. Georgina Lee, Southern Methodist 1:56.50 4. Michala Kwasny, Southern California 1:56.87 5. Kim Vandenberg, UCLA 1:57.15 6. Jana Krohn, Southern California 1:57.23 7. Margaret Hoelzer, Auburn 1:57.44 8. Naya Higashijima, Oregon State 1:58.04 26. Anne Weilbacher, U-M 2:00.58
Platform Diving
1. Natalia Diea, Ohio State 476.65 -- No U-M Entries --
400-yard Freestyle Relay
1. Auburn 3:14.38 (Becky Short, Eileen Coparropa, Kirsty Coventry, Maggie Bowen) 2. Georgia 3:15.26 3. Texas 3:15.41 4. California 3:16.21 5. Southern Methodist 3:18.22 6. Wisconsin 3:18.49 7. Arizona State 3:20.05 8. Stanford 3:20.39 12. MICHIGAN 3:20.92 (Erin Abbey, Amy McCullough, Abby Seskevics, Anne Weilbacher) ^ American record * U.S. Open record ! NCAA record & NCAA meet record % James E. Martin Aquatics Center record
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2
| Michigan All-Americans | |
Amy McCullough (1): | 200-yard Freestyle (6th) |
| Erin Abbey (1): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th) |
| Laura Kaznecki (1): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th) |
| Abby Seskevics (1): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th) |
| Anne Weilbacher (1): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th) |
Michigan Honorable Mention All-Americans | |
Kelli Stein (3): | 200-yard Breaststroke (15th) 200-yard Medley Relay (11th) 400-yard Medley Relay (11th) |
| Erin Abbey (3): | 400-yard Freestyle Relay (12th) 200-yard Medley Relay (11th) 400-yard Medley Relay (11th) |
| Amy McCullough (3): | 400-yard Freestyle Relay (12th) 800-yard Freestyle Relay (16th) 400-yard Medley Relay (11th) |
| Anne Weilbacher (3): | 400-yard Freestyle Relay (12th) 200-yard Medley Relay (11th) 400-yard Medley Relay (11th) |
| Emily-Clare Fenn (2): | 1,650-yard Freestyle (11th) 800-yard Freestyle Relay (16th) |
| Lori Eberwein (1): | 800-yard Freestyle Relay (16th) |
| Sara Johnson (1): | 800-yard Freestyle Relay (16th) |
| Laura Kaznecki (1): | 200-yard Medley Relay (11th) |
| Abby Seskevics (1): | 400-yard Freestyle Relay (12th) |
N O T E S
With 15th-place performance in the 200-yard breaststroke, Kelli Stein earned All-America honorable mention for the third time of the meet and fourth time of her career. Stein was also member of Michigan's top 16-finishing 200- and 400-yard medley relays.
Stein's All-American honorable mention in the 200-yard breaststroke was her first citation as an individual performer at the NCAA meet.
Emily-Clare Fenn was NCAA All-America honorable mention for the second time in her career. Fenn swam with the 800-yard freestyle relay at the 2003 NCAAs. She was an All-America honoree in the mile in 2001.
The 400-yard freestyle relay earned All-America honorable mention for its four participants. Erin Abbey, Amy McCullough and Anne Weilbacher earned multiple honorable mentions at the meet, while Abby Seskevics was honorable mention for the first time in her career. Abbey, Seskevics and Weilbacher were All-America performers in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the justice of a relay performance begin the one that boosted U-M inside the top 15 ... "It was just the way it was supposed to be with a relay team putting us in that slot. It shows that they are a team in every sense of the word. They've been a team ever since the start of October when they captured a vision of what they could possibly do. They took a big step towards believing they could actually do that in November, but I don't think they fully appreciated it, even then, how it would culminate here. Their thinking was more along the lines of getting more people to NCAAs. Then, I think they began to realize about two weeks ago that they could come here and do something a Michigan team hasn't done in awhile and crack the top 15."
On his strategy in the 400-yard free relay ... "We knew Alabama was two points ahead and all we had to do was finish the race and we would tie for 14th. Once we realized Indiana wasn't going to go by us with four divers in the platform final, I told the team to be safe with their relay exchanges and be conservative with their starts. There was no reason to play anything close and risk getting disqualified. We wanted them to be a little slower off the blocks and make it up by swimming a little harder between the walls."
On the team's momentum for next season heading into the spring ... "I think that this team has regained a sense of vision and hope about being a top-10 team at the NCAAs. Anytime you have that kind of a vision for your group and have a group of quality people to carry out that vision, you have to feel very, very good about the future."
Contact: Andrew Ladd (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
