Weekly Release #1

10/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

Upcoming Schedule
Friday, Oct. 14 -- vs. Florida (Canham Natatorium), 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 25 -- vs. Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 5 p.m.

This Week
The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team opens its 33rd season Saturday afternoon (Oct. 14, 1 p.m.) in a dual meet against Florida at Canham Natatorium.

Saturday's meet will feature some excellent competition in many events. NCAA qualifier Emily Brunemann and All-American Susan Gilliam will compete against All-American Caroline Burckle from Florida in distance events. In addition, All-American Kaitlyn Brady, who placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2006 NCAAs, will compete against Candace Weiman, the fourth-place finisher in the event at the 2006 national meet.

Schedule of Events

400-yard medley relay
1,000-yard freestyle
200-yard freestyle
200-yard individual medley
One-meter diving
200-yard butterfly
100-yard freestyle
200-yard backstroke
500-yard freestyle
Three-meter diving
200-yard breaststroke
400-yard freestyle relay

Scouting the Opponents
Florida -- The Gators return 23 letterwinners from last season's squad that placed 10th at the NCAA Championships in 2006. UF also adds 10 newcomers to a squad that went 11-2 in dual-meet competition last season. The Florida roster includes All-Americans Caroline Burckle, Kim Larson, Natalie Pike, Samantha Vanderbilt and Candace Weiman as well as U.S. National Team member Stephanie Cota. The Gators had 17 members of their current roster compete at the 2006 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships this past summer.

Head coach Gregg Troy heads the UF women's swimming and diving program, where he has compiled an 84-16 career record. Troy brings in two international talents in backstroker Gemma Spofforth (England) and freestyler/butterflyer Lauren Winter (Australia). Michigan has fallen in all five dual-meet meetings with the Gators all-time.
Florida on the Internet: www.gatorzone.com.

Live Stats Again
Follow all home U-M swimming events on the web for the third straight season, as MGoBlue.com will provide living scoring for all of Michigan's scheduled meets.

U-M in Season Openers
Michigan looks for its 25th win in a season opener in program history. U-M holds a 24-9 mark all-time in season openers, with Florida handing Michigan five of the past six losses the Maize and Blue has suffered in season-opening meets. The Wolverines fell to California, the eventual fourth-place team in the nation, last season.

The Wolverines have won the Big Ten Championship in every season they have opened with a win.

Michigan Returns Plethora of All-Americans
Six athletes with national awards under their names return to Michigan, including all but one national-award winner from last season (Abby Seskevics). The Wolverines welcome back four-time All-American Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant). The senior holds five honorable mention All-America certificates from her three previous seasons. Two-time All-American Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles, Fla.) also returns after missing the 2006 winter semester due to family reasons. Gilliam is joined by Payton Johnson (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), who has one honorable mention national honor, as well as Hannah Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter), who won her first All-America accolade last season as a freshman. Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) is in her third season, and is looking for her first All-America award after collecting five honorable mention All-America honors thus far. Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) returns as the program's active leader in national awards. The Dexter, Mich., native has five All-America and six honorable mention All-America awards in her career.

Top Returning Times & Scores from 2005-06
50-yard Freestyle: Kaitlyn Brady 22.37*
100-yard Freestyle: Lindsey Smith 49.43*
200-yard Freestyle: Lindsey Smith 1:46.64*
500-yard Freestyle: Susan Gilliam 4:47.69#
1,650-yard Freestyle: Emily Brunemann 16:29.25#
100-yard Butterfly: Kaitlyn Brady 52.60*
200-yard Butterfly: Payton Johnson 2:01.52#
100-yard Backstroke: Kaitlyn Brady 54.05*r
200-yard Backstroke: Kaitlyn Brady 1:56.27*
100-yard Breaststroke: Valeria Silva 1:03.58#
200-yard Breaststroke: Justine Mueller 2:14.29#
200-yard Individual Medley: Justine Mueller 1:59.60*
400-yard Individual Medley: Justine Mueller 4:15.34*
One-Meter Diving (Dual): Elyse Lee 294.94^
Three-Meter Diving (Dual): Elyse Lee 296.33^
Platform Diving: Elyse Lee 222.65#

* NCAA automatic qualifying time
# NCAA consideration time
r achieved on a relay

2005-06 Season in Review
The Wolverines placed 17th at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., scoring 67.5 points. Auburn (518.5) outlasted Georgia (515.5) by three points to win the NCAA title. Kaitlyn Brady capped off her stellar season with Michigan's only individual All-America honor, placing fifth in the 100-yard butterfly (53.16). Her 11th-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (22.60) also awarded her an NCAA honorable mention All-America certificate. Lindsey Smith took 16th (22.82) in the same event to earn herself an honorable mention All-America award. Justine Mueller garnered honorable mention All-America status after clocking 16th in the 400-yard IM (4:24.34, 4:17.23 prelim). The three swimmers also teamed up for both honorable mention relays (400-yard medley relay, 12th; and 200-yard medley relay, 10th). Payton Johnson joined the trio on the 400-yard medley relay for her first career honorable mention All-America honor, and Carolina Sierra filled the fourth spot on the 200-yard medley relay to earn her first career national award in her final meet. The foursome of Brady, Abby Seskevics, Hannah Smith and Lindsey Smith wrapped up the winners for the Maize and Blue, swimming to an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay for Michigan's only All-America relay prize of the meet. Seskevics' performance was in her final meet, and Smith received the honor for the first time in her career. Michigan's 17th-place finish marked the fourth straight season the Wolverines have placed in the top 20 at the NCAA meet.

Welcome to Ann Arbor
Michigan welcomes 13 newcomers to its 2006-07 roster. Transfering from Oakland University is senior Melissa Jaeger (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer). Joining her on this season's roster are 12 freshmen: Emily Christy (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford Area Senior), Leigh Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), Samantha Copeland (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Caitlin Dunphy-Daly (Royal Oak, Mich./Rochester), Colleen Emaus (Ontario, N.Y./Webster Schroeder), Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community), Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), Keenan Koss (Southport, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe), Catherine Nosal (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North), Stephanie O'Callaghan (Howell, Mich./Howell), Mary Catherine Steiner (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams) and Claire Tyler (Rochester, Mich./Adams). Emaus comes into the season as a sophomore academically, but holds freshman eligibility. Jaeger will sit out this season and swim in the 2007-08 campaign.

Introducing the Captains ...
Michigan will be represented by the senior class this season as captains. The 2006-07 senior class: Kaitlyn Brady, Susan Gilliam, Melissa Jaeger, Amanda Johnson (West Bloomfield, Mich./Lahser), Lindsey Smith, Nikki Starr (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon), Annie Stein (Longmont, Colo./Germantown Academy) and Ellen Van Cleve (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer).

The Leader of the Wolverines
Michigan head swimming coach Jim Richardson enters his 22nd season at the helm for the Wolverines. Over that time, his teams have dominated the Big Ten, winning 12 consecutive league titles from 1987-98, adding the program's 13th in 2001 and 14th in 2004. Since taking over in 1985-86, Michigan has finished in the NCAA top 10 on 12 occasions. In 1995, U-M finished in second place as a team, following that in 1996 by hosting the NCAA Championships and finishing third.

Richardson holds a career record of 145-50 in dual meet competition, including an impressive 95-13 mark in Big Ten action. Richardson has coached seven individual national champions, 139 NCAA All-Americans and 163 honorable mention All-Americans. On the conference level, he has guided 150 individual and relay conference champions and has been named the Big Ten Coach of the Year six times. A two-time NCAA Coach of the Year (1993, '95), Richardson's athletes have excelled in the classroom as well as the pool, with 24 CSCAA Academic All-Americans and 193 Academic All-Big Ten nominations.

Chris Bergre enters his fifth season as the head diving coach and Stefanie Kerska begins her ninth season as an assistant to Richardson.

Eventful Summer for Many Wolverines
Eight Wolverines accomplished feats on the national or international level in summer competition. Valeria Silva (Lima, Peru/Alexander Von Humboldt) represented her native Peru at the eighth FINA World Swimming Championships held in Shanghai, China, in early April (5-9). Silva's best finish came in the 200-meter breaststroke preliminary, when she clocked in at 2:43.53 for a 23rd-place finish.

In late August, Lindsey Smith qualified for the 2007 World University Games roster. The event will be held next August 8-13, 2005. Smith was chosen to compete on the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team, earning the selection after a win in the consolation final in the 200-meter freestyle at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships (Aug. 1-5), during which Ann Arbor-based Club Wolverine took home the national title. Smith's time of 2:00.20 in the 200-meter freestyle won her a ninth-place finish. At the championships, Smith, along with Margaret Kelly, Payton Johnson, Hannah Smith, Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky./Notre Dame Academy), Justine Mueller and transfer senior Melissa Jaeger helped lead their club squad to victory. Lindsey Smith also anchored the Club Wolverine 'A' 400-meter freestyle relay to a fifth-place time (3:49.62). Kelly, Hannah Smith and Johnson were on the Club Wolverine 'B' relay that placed ninth in the same event with a time of 3:51.72. Mueller scored in the 400-meter individual medley with a 14th-place time of 4:52.89 (4:51.51, prelim). Lindsey Smith also scored in the 50-meter freestyle (14th, 26.12).

Finishing off the win, Jaeger, Johnson and Lindsey Smith aided the 400-meter medley relay to a fourth-place finish in the final race of the event to solidify the title.

On the Horizon ...
The Wolverines head on the road for the first away dual meet next Wednesday, October 25. U-M will travel to Michigan State for a 5 p.m. swim at the Charles McCaffree Pool.