Michigan
Northwestern
Maize and Blue Tames Wildcats in Dual-Meet Road Win
1/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The 10th-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team captured 12 top times or scores in 16 events en route to a 162-132 dual-meet victory over Northwestern Saturday (Jan. 20) at the Wildcats' Norris Aquatics Center. Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant), Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) and Hannah Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) each earned two individual wins.
Michigan also won both diving events as Erica Labont (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) and Ellen Van Cleve (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) were each victorious. Labont took home the one-meter crown with a career-best score of 331.28, while Van Cleve earned the three-meter triumph following her season-best score of 294.23.
Valeria Silva (Lima, Peru/Alexander Von Humboldt), Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) combined with Brady for the victory in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay (1:43.23).
Michigan's distance swimmers flew off the blocks in the first individual event of the afternoon, going 1-2-3 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Brunemann touched the wall first (9:53.71), followed by Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) in second (9:58.20) and Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles, Fla.) in third (9:59.11).
Lindsey Smith earned an NCAA consideration time with her runner-up finish in the next event, the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 1:49.69 just behind second-team All-Big Ten member Andrea Hupman of Northwestern. Smith's sister Hannah followed with a win in the 100-yard backstroke (56.83).
It was two more runner-up U-M finishes in events five and six as Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) came in second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.02) and Emily Christy (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford Area Senior) clocked in second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.86).
The Wolverines finally took command of the meet, garnering the best time or score in all but one of the final 10 events. Brady started the streak with a win in the 50-yard freestyle. Her time of 23.37 surpassed the NCAA 'B' standard. In the next race, Lindsey Smith once again finished just behind Hupman in a freestyle event as she claimed a runner-up time of 51.17 in the 100-yard freestyle.
U-M continued to pull away, winning the next four events before deciding to swim the final two exhibition. Over the four-race stretch, Brady (100-yard butterfly, 55.63), Brunemann (500-yard freestyle, 4:52.88) and Hannah Smith (200-yard backstroke, 2:01.57) each collected second victories with Mueller (200-yard breastroke, 2:19.30) winning for the first time on the day.
The Wolverines still pushed for fast times despite swimming exhibition. Kelly's time of 55.63 was the quickest in field in the 200-yard individual medley, and in the final race of the day the quartet of Brady, Hannah Smith, Lindsey Smith and Kelly combined for the fastest time in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:23.58). The foursome's time was also good enough to surpass the NCAA 'B' standard.
U-M will now train for the Big Ten Championships. The conference meet is scheduled for Feb. 7-10 at Minnesota's University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
N O T E S
Following her two wins today, Kaitlyn Brady has now posted six victories and a runner-up finish her past seven races.
With her two runner-up times today, Lindsey Smith now has three wins and three second-place finishes in her past six races.
Margaret Kelly has competed on a winning relay in each of the past three meets.
Michigan has now claimed a top score or time in 70 out of 108 events this season.
Ellen Van Cleve's triumph in three-meter diving is her first win of the season.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the meet ... "I thought we swam a really good meet from beginning to end. If you scored it the way they swam the week before and the way we swam the week before, they win the meet by 20 points. We did a great job from the very start, beginning with 200 medley relay. That really set the tone. Then in the 1,000 freestyle, we had three excellent swims that all went under 10 minutes. From that point on, we were on our A game."
On swimming the fastest time in 10 of 14 events ... "I don't worry so much about how many wins each person has. I worry about how well we are swimming and how well we are racing at the end of the week based on how we trained during the week. Again, we had an excellent week of training. There were a few people I was worried about with rest and the like, but a couple of those people came through with some major improvements with performances this weekend. We have a pretty good grip on where we are based on our training and performance at the end of the week."
On finishing the meet strong ... "We are a pretty tough team. They've gone through a lot in Christmas training and after. Then we went through a three-session meet last week where they had to swim in all four events and that was hard. They really displayed a lot of character and toughness. They didn't complain and didn't moan and groan. They just stood up and did the best they could in each and every event, and I was really proud of them for that. We didn't back down once despite training through the week. In the long run, this is going to give us the confidence that we need to swim fast at Big Tens and faster at NCAAs."
Contact: Matt Baumer (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
