Michigan
Notre Dame Invitational
Strong Second Day Earns Wolverines Second at Notre Dame Invite
1/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Rolfs Aquatic Center)
Event: Notre Dame Invitational (Day 2)
U-M Finish: 2nd Place of 4 Teams (1,055 Points)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 18 -- vs. Michigan State (Canham Natatorium)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team finished in second place after the final session of the Notre Dame Invitational, held Saturday (Jan. 12) at the Rholfs Aquatic Center. The Wolverines, who completed the two-day event with 1,055 points, could not surmount Indiana's first-place point total of 1,108.5 despite Michigan outscoring the field in each of the final two sessions.
Junior Emily Brunemann(Crescent Springs, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) turned in an automatic qualifier in the mile and an NCAA 'B' time in the 400-yard individual medley and sophomore Margaret Kelly(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) put together a consideration time in the 100-yard freestyle and turned in the fastest time from a Wolverine in four events. Senior Elyse Lee(Albion, Mich./Albion) topped the Michigan divers with a second place finish off the one-meter springboard.
After just 20 trips down the pool, Brunemann had built a comfortable lead in the 1,650-yard freestyle over an Indiana pursuer. The lead continued to increase over the next 46 lengths and by the end of the race, the Wolverine junior -- who has won the mile in every time shes swam it so far this season -- easily cruised to an automatic qualifying time of 16:21.75 for Michigan's first win of the day. Brunemann set her second pool record of the weekend, shattering the previous record of 16:27.48 set by Katie Carroll of Notre Dame last season (Jan. 27, 2007). Sophomore Emily Hanson(Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) came in fourth -- just outside the NCAA 'B' threshold.
Off the one-meter board, Michigan had a contingent of scorers between the second and fifth spots to grab a large chunk of points. Lee led the way for the Wolverines with a 287.90 score off strong performances on a back one-and-a-half pike and an inward one-and-a-half pike. Seniors Katie Skendrovic(Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) and Erica LaBont(Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) and sophomore Stephanie O'Callaghan(Howell, Mich./Howell) rounded out the Wolverine domination of the top five.
Junior Hannah Smith(Dexter, Mich./Dexter) built on the Wolverines early success in the second session with a win off of consideration times in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.63. Kelly followed up with a victory of her own in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 50.87. Senior Melissa Jaeger(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) added to the strong showing with a consideration time in the 200-yard butterfly, clocking in at 2:02.45.
Michigan racked up its best two individual performances of the morning session in the 400-yard individual medley. The race would also prove to be one of the most hotly contested heats of the weekend. Trailing the pace by a second after 100-yards, senior Justine Mueller(Monroe, Mich./Monroe) gained enough ground in the backstroke and breaststroke to eliminate the deficit and develop a narrow lead entering the freestyle portion of the race. Screaming across the water toward the finish line, Mueller was in the midst of her last half stroke when Indiana's Allison Kay's fingers touched the wall .18-seconds ahead of Mueller's 4:18:07. Both Mueller and third place finisher, Brunemann, turned in consideration times in the race.
Five Wolverines crowded the top 10 of the 100-yard breaststroke to give Michigan a 66 point boost in the race. Junior Payton Johnson(Champaign, Ill./Centennial) clinched a victory in the B-final and then watched from the starting blocks as her teammates filled half of the lanes for the final individual event of the morning session. Kelly and Hannah Smith finished third and fourth while Katie Smith(Plano, Texas/Hebron) and Leigh Cole(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) claimed seventh and eighth. The four combined with Johnson and freshman Brett Pedley(San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) to chip off 19 points from Indiana's lead late in the morning session.
Opening up the morning session, Indiana flew out to an early lead in the 200-yard medley relay and set up a fierce battle for second place between Michigan and the Hoosiers second relay team in the next lane. The two squads were side-by-side as they flew through the breaststroke and butterfly and into the final 25-yards of the freestyle. Coming out of the final turn, Hannah Smith kicked up the intensity of her stroke to pick up a two-thirds-of-a-second advantage over the third-place Hoosier squad.
Jaeger clocked in as the top Wolverine finisher in the 100-yard butterfly with a 56.14 third place time. Sophomore Mary Grace Godfrey(South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph's) shaved a second off of her U-M best in the 200-yard freestyle much to the delight of her hometown crowd, turning in a 1:53.00 to win the B-final.
Michigan heads home for a pair of Big Ten showdowns at the Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines will host Michigan State on Friday (Jan. 18) along with the men's teams from both schools. Saturday (Jan. 19) brings Northwestern to Ann Arbor for a 1 p.m. dual meet.
Final Standings
1. Indiana 1108.5 2. MICHIGAN 1055 3. Notre Dame 898.5 4. Illinois 442
Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 2)
200-yard Medley Relay 1. Indiana 'A' 1:42.18# 2. Michigan 'A' 1:44.80 (Payton Johnson, Valeria Silva, Margaret Kelly, Hannah Smith) 5. Michigan 'B' 1:48.10 (Leigh Cole, Justine Mueller Mary Grace Godfrey, Noelle Martin)
400-yard Individual Medley 1. Allison Kay 4:17.89# 2. Justine Mueller, U-M 4:18.07# 3. Emily Brunemann, U-M 4:22.77# 8. Emily Hanson, U-M 4:30.88 9. Keenan Koss, U-M 4:32.22 11. Claire Tyler, U-M 4:33.96 15. Michelle Uhlig, U-M 4:36.24 18. Courtney Beyer, U-M 4:39.41 100-yard Butterfly 1. Kate Zubkova, IND 55.64 3. Melissa Jaeger, U-M 56.14 8. Payton Johnson, U-M 58.20 9. Emily Christy, U-M 58.42 11. Katie Smith, U-M 59.45 13. Noelle Martin, U-M 1:00.14 15. Katrin Vetter, U-M 1:00.33 200-yard Freestyle 1. Presley Bard, IND 1:50.29# 2. Margaret Kelly, U-M 1:51.10 3. Emily Brunemann, U-M 1:51.84 9. Mary Grace Godfrey, U-M 1:54.96 13. Catherine Nosal, U-M 1:55.66 20. Mary Catherine Steiner, U-M 1:56.92 100-yard Breaststroke 1. Sam Maxwell, UND 1:03.99 2. Valeria Silva, U-M 1:04.28 5. Melissa Jaeger, U-M 1:05.16 9. Ashley McLaughlin, U-M 1:08.08 12. Christine Nichols, U-M 1:09.03 100-yard Backstroke 1. Kate Zubkova, IND 54.18*% 3. Margaret Kelly, U-M 56.59 4. Hannah Smith, U-M 56.60 7. Katie Smith, U-M 58.59 8. Leigh Cole, U-M 58.96 9. Payton Johnson, U-M 59.03 14. Brett Pedley, U-M 1:00.11 800-yard Freestyle Relay 1. Notre Dame 'A' 7:28.48 3. Michigan 'A' 7:32.52 (Hannah Smith, Melissa Jaeger, Emily Brunemann, Catherine Nosal) 4. Michigan 'B' 7:43.00 (Mary Grace Godfrey, Mary Catherine Steiner, Claire Tyler, Emily Hanson)
1,650-yard Freestyle 1. Emily Brunemann, U-M 16:21.75*% 5. Emily Hanson, U-M 16:53.85 11. Catherine Nosal, U-M 17:19.84 12. Mary Catherine Steiner, U-M 17:33.59 200-yard Backstroke 1. Kate Zubkova, Indiana 1:58.03# 2. Hannah Smith, U-M 1:59.63# 8. Katie Smith, U-M 2:06.42 12. Justine Mueller, U-M 2:08.91 13. Brett Pedley, U-M 2:09.36 18. Michelle Uhlig, U-M 2:12.42 20. Keenan Koss, U-M 2:15.07 100-yard Freestyle 1. Margaret Kelly, U-M 50.87# 6. Leigh Cole, U-M 52.41 9. Noelle Martin, U-M 53.65 12. Katrin Vetter, U-M 53.89 13. Mary Grace Godfrey, U-M 53.94 14. Claire Tyler, U-M 53.96 18. Catherine Nosal, U-M 54.55 200-yard Breaststroke 1. Sam Maxwell, ND 2:16.34# 2. Justine Mueller, U-M 2:17.26# 7. Valeria Silva, U-M 2:24.41 10. Michelle Uhlig, U-M 2:25.48 12. Ashley McLaughlin, U-M 2:27.79 14. Christine Nichols, U-M 2:28.74 200-yard Butterfly 1. Allison Kay, IND 2:00.83# 2. Melissa Jaeger, U-M 2:02.45# 4. Emily Christy, U-M 2:04.91 6. Payton Johnson, U-M 2:06.13 7. Keenan Koss, U-M 2:06.74 9. Mary Grace Godfrey, U-M 2:06.96 14. Courtney Beyer, U-M 2:11.29 400-yard Freestyle 1. Indiana 'A' 3:26.38 3. Michigan 'A' 3:26.70 (Margaret Kelly, Hannah Smith, Melissa Jaeger, Emily Brunemann) 4. Michigan 'B' 3:32.88 (Leigh Cole, Catherine Nosal, Mary Grace Godfrey, Noelle Martin)
One-Meter Diving 1. Britteny Feldman, IND 305.40^ 2. Elyse Lee, U-M 287.90^ 3. Katie Skendrovic, U-M 261.85 4. Stephanie O'Callaghan, U-M 256.10 5. Erica LaBonte, U-M 251.90 15. Caitlin Dunphy-Daly, U-M 211.55 * NCAA automatic qualifying time # NCAA consideration time ^ NCAA zone diving qualifying mark % Pool Record
Day 1 Results
Contact: Ryan Sosin (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
