Michigan
NCAA Championships
Wolverines Finish Tied for 14th at NCAA Championships
3/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 17 University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team ended its season with a tie for 14th place at the 2005 NCAA Championships, finishing with 84 points after the final day of competition (Saturday, March 19) at Purdue University's Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The Wolverines qualified one relay team for championship finals on day four, as U-M's 400-yard freestyle relay team earned All-America honors with a seventh-place finish. Georgia won three of the final seven events and ran away with the national championship with 609.5 points.
The quartet of sophomores Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant HS) and Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS), junior Abby Seskevics (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) and senior Amy McCullough (West Bloomfield, Mich./Mercy HS) turned in a season-best time of 3:18.83 in the 400-yard freestyle relay to earn seventh place. It was Michigan's third All-America performance of the championships and sixth all-time in the event. U-M last achieved All-America status in the race in 1999 (third place).
Michigan had just three swimmers compete in individual races on the final day of the championships. Freshman Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe HS) placed 17th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.93), marking her third top-20 finish of the weekend. Smith finished 13th in the 100-yard freestyle (49.77), while McCullough was disqualified from the same event.
Complete meet results along with postseason awards can be found at the NCAA Championships website: www.ncaasports.com.
Final Team Standings (Top 15)
1. Georgia 609.5 2. Auburn 492 3. Arizona 440 4. Florida 355 5. Stanford 313 6. Texas 218 7. SMU 170 8. California 149 9. Indiana 112 10. USC 108 11. Wisconsin 107 12. Arizona State 90 13. Penn State 87 14. MICHIGAN 84 Texas A&M 84
Top Eight/U-M Finishers (Day 3)
(Prelim time for U-M in parentheses if faster than finals time)
1,650-yard Freestyle
1. Flavia Rigamonti, SMU 15:46.84% 2. Hayley Peirsol, Auburn 15:52.48 3. Laura Conway, Georgia 15:54.97 4. Carly Piper, Wisconsin 16:01.74 5. Adrienne Binder, Auburn 16:01.93 6. Lauren Costella, Stanford 16:05.94 7. Julia Stowers, Tennessee 16:06.57 8. Meredith Green, Florida 16:11.38
200-yard Backstroke
1. Kirsty Coventry, Auburn 1:50.54% 2. Margaret Hoelzer, Auburn 1:52.14 3. Jessica Hayes, Arizona 1:54.56 4. Leah Retrum, Florida 1:55.17 5. Maureen Farrell, Florida 1:55.41 6. Kelly Harrigan, Rutgers 1:55.81 7. Jeri Moss, Auburn 1:56.80 8. Marshi Smith, Arizona 1:57.02
100-yard Freestyle
1. Kara Lynn Joyce, Georgia 47.50% 2. Lacey Nymeyer, Arizona 48.56 3. Jana Kolukanova, Auburn 48.71 4. Emily Silver, California 48.73 5. Jenna Gresdal, Arizona 48.77 6. Lacey Boutwell, Stanford 48.96 7. Paige Kearns, Georgia 49.03 8. Courtney Cashion, Arizona 49.09 23. Lindsey Smith, U-M 49.77 -- Amy McCullough, U-M DQ
200-yard Breaststroke
1. Caroline Bruce, Stanford 2:08.67% 2. Anne Poleska, Alabama 2:09.63 3. Lindsey Ertter, Georgia 2:09.67 4. Vipa Bernhardt, Florida 2:10.44 5. Elizabeth Tinnon, Texas 2:10.97 6. Agnes Kovacs, Arizona State 2:11.49 7. Jessica Botzum, Virginia Tech 2:12.34 8. Amalia Sarnecki, Wisconsin 2:12.52 17. Justine Mueller, U-M 2:14.93
200-yard Butterfly
1. Mary Descenza, Georgia 1:54.19% 2. Emily Mason, Arizona 1:54.79 3. Kim Vandenberg, UCLA 1:55.08 4. Whitney Myers, Arizona 1:55.60 5. Dana Kirk, Stanford 1:56.17 6. Katie Yevak, Georgia 1:56.63 7. Marisa Kozak, USC 1:56.72 8. Candace Weiman, Florida 1:57.19
Platform Diving
1. Cassandra Cardinell, Indiana 501.45 2. Anna Kiess, Houston 478.95 3. Rui Wang, Hawaii 466.15 4. Trisha Tumlinson, Arizona State 455.10 5. Blythe Hartley, USC 448.35 6. Azul Almazan, Houston 437.40 7. Carrie McCambridge, Purdue 417.65 8. Claire Febvay, Arizona 416.85
400-yard Freestyle Relay
1. Georgia 3:13.56*% (Kara Lynn Joyce, Paige Kearns, Mary Descenza, Amanda Weir) 2. Auburn 3:13.94 3. Arizona 3:14.30 4. SMU 3:17.68 5. Florida 3:18.18 6. California 3:18.48 7. MICHIGAN 3:18.83 (Kaitlyn Brady, Lindsey Smith, Abby Seskevics, Amy McCullough) 8. Texas 3:19.54 % Boilermaker Aquatic Center record * NCAA Meet record
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2
| Michigan All-Americans | |
| Kaitlyn Brady (2): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (5th) 400-yard Freestyle Relay (7th) |
| Amy McCullough (2): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (5th) 400-yard Freestyle Relay (7th) |
| Abby Seskevics (2): | 200-yard Freestyle Relay (5th) 400-yard Freestyle Relay (7th) |
| Lindsey Smith (3): | 200-yard Freestyle (8th) 200-yard Freestyle Relay (5th) 400-yard Freestyle Relay (7th) |
Michigan Honorable Mention All-Americans | |
| Kaitlyn Brady (1): | 50-yard Freestyle (15th) |
| Amy McCullough (1): | 200-yard Freestyle (14th) |
| Justine Mueller (2): | 200-yard Individual Medley (9th) 400-yard Individual Medley (9th) |
N O T E S
Michigan earned its sixth NCAA All-America performance in the 400-yard freestyle relay, placing seventh with a time of 3:18.83. It marks U-M's highest NCAA finish in the event since 1999, when Jennie Eberwein, Jen Crisman, Shannon Shakespeare and Missy Sugar took home third place.
U-M improved eight spots from last year's NCAA finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Wolverines placed 15th with a time of 3:44.45 at last year's NCAA Championships (event swam in short-course meters in 2004).
The Wolverines held the nation's eighth-fastest time in the 200-yard freestyle relay entering the NCAA Championships (3:19.69). U-M achieved the mark during the 2005 Big Ten Conference Championships.
Lindsey Smith was U-M's top individual finisher at this year's championships with an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Michigan's top relay finish was the team of Kaitlyn Brady, Amy McCullough, Abby Seskevics and Smith, who placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle race.
Michigan finished the 2005 NCAA Championships with a total of nine individual All-America nominations and four individual All-America honorable mention citations.
Head coach Jim Richardson has led Michigan to a top-15 finish at the NCAA Championships 17 times in 20 seasons.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
