Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverines Win Relay, Lead Big Tens After Day One
2/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team stands atop the team standings after capturing the 200-yard freestyle relay title for the third straight season and earning four runner-up finishes Thursday (Feb. 8) on day one of the 2007 Big Ten Championships at the University Aquatic Center. The Wolverines' total of 215 points leads second-place Indiana's 188.5.
The Wolverine quartet of senior Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant), freshman Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), sophomore Hannah Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) and senior Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) clocked in first in the opening 200-yard freestyle relay to capture the first title of the 2007 Big Ten meet and give U-M the lead. Michigan battled neck and neck with Wisconsin throughout the race, but Lindsey Smith's blistering final split of 22.11 gave the Maize and Blue the victory with a combined NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 1:29.88. Brady also surpassed an NCAA 'A' mark with her opening leg of 22.66.
In the event-two A final, sophomore Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) touched the wall sixth and Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) placed eighth in the 500-yard freestyle. Brunemann clocked in at 4:47.49 after earning a preliminary-best 4:46.10 in the morning, and Hanson came in just behind her, finishing at 4:48.99. Senior Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles, Fla.) won six points for Michigan in the B final as she finished 11th overall with her mark of 4:50.26. All three athletes' times surpassed the NCAA 'B' standard.
Kelly, who had the best time in the 200-yard individual medley prelims (1:58.30), nearly became U-M's first individual winner as she held the lead in the first half of the A final, but she fell behind eventual winner Yi Ting Siow of Minnesota -- who set a new Big Ten record (1:57.60) -- and had to settle for second. Kelly clocked in at 1:58.47 to surpass NCAA 'A' standards for the second time on the day. Sophomore Payton Johnson (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) came in eighth in the A final, touching the wall at 2:02.51 after posting a preliminary time of 2:02.26.
In the next event, U-M jumped ahead of Penn State into first in the team standings thanks to Brady and Lindsey Smith, who went 2-3 in the 50-yard freestyle. Brady came from behind to catch winner Jackie Vavrek of Wisconsin but could not get her hand on the pad before Vavrek, placing second at 22.53. Lindsey Smith came in just behind her teammate, touching the wall at 22.66, as both athletes surpassed the NCAA 'A' standard. Hannah Smith garnered a runner-up finish of 23.08 in the B final for 10th place overall.
Junior Elyse Lee's (Albion, Mich./Albion) runner-up score of 314.40 and senior Ellen Van Cleve's (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) seventh-place score of 255.00 in three-meter diving helped Michigan build its first-place lead to 32.5 points. Juniors Erica LaBont (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) and Katie Skendrovic (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) also scored for the Wolverines as LaBont placed ninth and Skendrovic took 12th.
After winning the event in 2006, U-M finished runner-up behind Indiana in the 400-yard medley relay, the final event of the evening. The quartet of Brady, junior Valeria Silva (Lima, Peru/Alexander Von Humboldt), Kelly and Lindsey Smith combined for a time of 3:39.00. After Brady notched an automatic-qualifying time of 54.40 on the opening leg, Kelly and Lindsey Smith made up a huge chunk of time with legs of 52.60 and 48.82, respectively, but Michigan could still not overcome the absence of junior Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) on the runner-up quartet. However, U-M found itself in the lead in the team standings at the end of the night.
The Wolverines return to the pool tomorrow for day two of the Big Ten Championships at Minnesota's University Aquatics Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Swimming preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. and finals start at 7 p.m. Diving preliminaries start at 1 p.m. with the finals taking place after 7 p.m.
Team Standings (After Day 1)
1. MICHIGAN 215 2. Indiana 188.5 3. Minnesota 150 4. Penn State 144.5 5. Wisconsin 118.5 6. Northwestern 88 7. Purdue 75 8. Illinois 63.5 9. Ohio State 58 10. Iowa 39 11. Michigan State 16
Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 1)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time)
200-yard Freestyle Relay 1. MICHIGAN 1:29.88* (Kaitlyn Brady, Margaret Kelly, Hannah Smith, Lindsey Smith) 500-yard Freestyle 1. Christine Jennings, Minnesota 4:43.74* 6. Emily Brunemann, U-M 4:47.49# (4:46.10) 8. Emily Hanson, U-M 4:48.99# 11. Susan Gilliam, U-M 4:50.26# 24. Emily Christy, U-M 4:54.20 25. Catherine Nosal, U-M 4:54.34 32. Mary Catherine Steiner, U-M 4:57.07 46. Keenan Koss, U-M 5:01.34 200-yard Individual Medley 1. Yi Ting Siow, Wisconsin 1:57.60*@$ 2. Margaret Kelly, U-M 1:58.47* (1:58.30) 8. Payton Johnson, U-M 2:02.51# (2:02.26) 18. Justine Mueller, U-M 2:04.20 21. Claire Tyler, U-M 2:04.93 25. Michelle Uhlig, U-M 2:05.47 44. Katie Smith, U-M 2:07.67 50-yard Freestyle 1. Jackie Vavrek, Wisconsin 22.41* 2. Kaitlyn Brady, U-M 22.53* 3. Lindsey Smith, U-M 22.66* 10. Hannah Smith, U-M 23.08# 21. Noelle Martin, U-M 23.58 35. Leigh Cole, U-M 23.94 71. Wendy Shieh, U-M 25.31 75. Lori Morton, U-M 25.77 79. Amanda Johnson, U-M 26.23 82. Valeria Silva, U-M 28.87 83. Ashley McLaughlin, U-M 29.54 One-meter Diving 1. Christina Loukas, Indiana 325.30 2. Elyse Lee, U-M 314.30 7. Ellen Van Cleve, U-M 255.00 (256.35) 9. Erica Labont, U-M 255.55 12. Katie Skendrovic, U-M 249.55 400-yard Medley Relay 1. Indiana 3:38.16# (Leila Vaziri, Sarah Stockwell, Presley Bard, Annica Lofstedt) 2. MICHIGAN 3:39.00# (Kaitlyn Brady, Valeria Silva, Margaret Kelly, Lindsey Smith) * NCAA automatic qualifying time # NCAA consideration time $ Big Ten meet record @ Big Ten record % University Aquatics Center record
Contact: Matt Baumer (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
