Weekly Release #2: U-M Welcomes Gators and Cardinal
10/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Friday, Oct. 17, 6 p.m. -- vs. Florida and Stanford (Canham Natatorium)
Live Stats | www.gatorzone.com | www.gostanford.com
The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team hosts two of the top 10 teams from last season's NCAA Championships in Florida and Stanford on Friday (Oct. 17) at 6 p.m. in the Canham Natatorium. The competition will be a double dual meet with both teams earning dual scores against their two opponents.
Schedule of Events
400-yard Medley Relay
1,000-yard Freestyle
One-meter Diving
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Backstroke
100-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
50-yard Freestyle
Three-meter Diving
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Backstroke
200-yard Breaststroke
500-yard Freestyle
100-yard Butterfly
10-minute break
400-yard Individual Medley
400-yard Freestyle Relay
Scouting the Opponent
Florida -- The Florida Gators return a packed team after finishing sixth at last year's NCAA Championships. The Gators are led by returning NCAA champions Caroline Burkle and Gemma Spofforth. Burckle won both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle, while Spofforth won the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke. Burckle and Spofforth also headline a contingent of five Florida swimmers that swam in this year's Summer Olympics. Burckle won the bronze medal as part of the 4x200 freestyle relay, while Spofforth finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke. Other Florida Olympians include freshmen Sarah Bateman, Melanie Costa-Schmid and Anna-Liisa Pold.
In 10 years, University of Florida's mens and women's swimming head coach Gregg Troy has guided the Gators to more than 50 individual SEC titles, more than 180 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections and more than 540 All-America honors. In his career, he has tutored more than 50 Olympians, over 200 All-America swimmers and has coached athletes to more than 150 U.S. and international records. Michigan is 0-7 all-time against Florida with the most recent matchup coming last season when Florida won 354-285.
Stanford -- After finishing third at last year's NCAA Championships, the Stanford Cardinal enters this season as a contender for the national championship. Stanford returns nine of its 11 competitors from the championships and a collective of 58 All-America selections, four NCAA championships and 17 Pac-10 titles. In the pool, the Cardinal welcomes back the following group that led Stanford to a third-place finish in March: junior Elaine Breeden, senior Caroline Bruce, sophomore Kate Dwelley, sophomore Kerry Kraemer, senior Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy, junior Julia Smit, sophomore Liz Smith, junior Whitney Spence and senior Laura Wadden. Meg Hostage, Shana Karp and Sarah Ohr all return after advancing to the NCAA Diving Championships in 2008.
Julia Smit capped off an incredible sophomore season by winning her first NCAA championship when she finished first in the 400-yard individual medley. She also finished fourth in the 200-yard IM. Breeden finished second in the nation in the 200-yard butterfly and Smith finished in the top four in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. On the diving board, Hostage is the defending Pac-10 champion in the one-meter diving event, while Ohr took home the championship in the three-meter event.
Both Smit and Breeden competed in the 2008 Olympics, where both earned medals. The only current collegiate swimmer to have earned a pair of medals at the 2008 Olympics, Smit helped the U.S. team to the podium with her preliminary efforts in the two freestyle relay events -- 4x100 (silver) and 4x200 meters (bronze). Breeden earned a silver medal after helping the Americans to a heat-winning time in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Lea Maurer begins her fourth season as the head coach of the Stanford women's swimming and diving program in 2008-09. She has compiled an impressive 30-3 record in dual-meet competitions in her three seasons. Michigan is 0-5 all-time against Stanford with the last loss coming in the 1996-97 season when the Cardinal beat the Wolverines, 198-96.
U-M's Top Times from 2008-09
50-yard Freestyle: Hannah Smith, 23.79
100-yard Freestyle: Margaret Kelly, 50.79
200-yard Freestyle: Liz Koselka, 1:51.83
500-yard Freestyle: Emily Hanson, 5:01.10
1,650-yard Freestyle: Emily Hanson, 16:45.98
100-yard Butterfly: Margaret Kelly, 54.91
200-yard Butterfly: Payton Johnson, 2:04.58
100-yard Backstroke: Hannah Smith, 55:34
200-yard Backstroke: Hannah Smith, 2:00.06
100-yard Breaststroke: Morgan Rosentreter, 1:06.18
200-yard Breaststroke: Morgan Rosentreter, 2:26.13
400-yard Individual Medley: Margaret Kelly, 4:20.23
One-Meter Diving (Dual): Amanda Lohman, 283.88^
Three-Meter Diving (Dual): Stephanie O'Callaghan, 303.15^
* NCAA automatic qualifying time
# NCAA consideration time
^ NCAA zone diving qualifying mark
r achieved on first leg of relay
! Big Ten record
@ Michigan school record
Diving Ahead
The Michigan diving team looks to have a bright season ahead after having a very good showing in the first meet of the season against defending Big Ten champion Minnesota. Michigan divers took the top three spots in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events. Freshman Amanda Lohman(Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair), in her first collegiate meet, took first in the one-meter event with a score of 283.88. She was followed by junior Stephanie O'Callaghan(Howell, Mich./Howell) in second with a score of 259.20 and sophomore Jillian Drow(Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) in third with a score of 245.77. In the three-meter event, O'Callaghan took first with a new personal-best score of 303.15. Close behind was Drow, who took second with a personal-best score of 296.25. Lohman rounded out the top three with a score of 281.70.
The Leaders of the Wolverines
Michigan head swimming coach Jim Richardson enters his 24th 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 to add to 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 14 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 155-53 in dual-meet competition, including an impressive 102-13 mark in Big Ten action. Richardson has coached nine individual national champions, 155 NCAA All-Americans and 179 honorable mention All-Americans. On the conference level, he has guided 159 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 30 CSCAA Academic All-Americans and 221 Academic All-Big Ten nominations.
Chris Bergre enters his seventh season as the head diving coach, and Stefanie Kerska begins her 11th season as an assistant to Richardson.
Upcoming Schedule
Friday, Oct. 24, 5 p.m. -- at Toledo (Toledo, Ohio)
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
