Michigan
Michigan State
Michigan Sinks Michigan State for Second Straight Win
1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Result: Michigan 141, Michigan State 96
Records: U-M (3-6, 2-3 Big Ten), Michigan State (3-5, 0-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 7 -- vs. Notre Dame (Canham Natatorium), 3 p.m.
Complete Results
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team won 10-of-13 events to beat Michigan State, 141-96, on Friday night (Jan. 30) at the McCaffree Pool. Juniors Emily Hanson(Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) and Leigh Cole(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) each picked up two wins for the Wolverines.
U-M opened the meet with a win in the 400-yard medley relay. The relay squad of junior Margaret Kelly(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), senior Christine Nichols(Fairfax, Va./W. T. Woodson), freshman Caitlin Dauw(St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and senior Hannah Smith(Dexter, Mich./Dexter) earned the win for Michigan with a time of 3:48.03.
Hanson earned the Wolverines' first individual victory of the meet, finishing 16 seconds the rest of the field in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Hanson controlled the action from the beginning, taking an early lead and extending it throughout the race. U-M freshman Liz Koselka (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) finished in second with a career-best time of 10:28.55.
Michigan continued to extend its lead as Smith and Dauw swept the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle. Smith led by over two seconds at the halfway mark before winning the race with a time of 1:50.98, three seconds ahead of Dauw, who used a strong final 50 yards to surge into second with a time of 1:54.05. Smith's time broke the previous pool record.
Cole continued her success in the sprint events, picking up a win in the 50-yard freestyle for the second straight week. Cole battled with Michigan State junior Julie Kahn throughout the race before outreaching her at the end to win with a time of 24.14, .19 seconds ahead of Kahn.
Junior Claire Tyler(Rochester, Mich./Rochester Adams) earned her first win of the season with a first-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley. Tyler outraced MSU swimmer Laura DeFord over the final 50 yards to pick up the win with a time of 4:31.59.
U-M continued to build on its insurmountable lead as freshman Amanda Lohman(Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) won the one-meter diving event with 218.62 points for her eighth win of the season. Senior Payton Johnson(Champaign, Ill./Centennial) then finished first in the 100-yard butterfly to earn her first win of the evening, clocking in at 55.68 while recording the fastest time on each of the two laps.
Cole followed with her second win of the evening and her fourth in the last two weeks in the 100-yard freestyle, controlling the race from the start and finishing in 51.86, one second ahead of the rest of the field.
Kelly continued to extend her streak of competitions with a win when she finished first in the 100-yard backstroke in the next event with a personal-best time of 55.52. Kelly finished almost two seconds ahead of MSU's Stephanie Fisher to earn her team-leading 13th win of the season.
Hanson's second win of the night gave U-M its final win of the meet as she claimed the top spot in the 500-yard freestyle. Hanson again took an early lead and continued to extend it before finishing with a time of 5:02.85.
In the final race of the evening, Michigan's 200-yard freestyle relay squad of Cole, P. Johnson, Kelly and Smith broke the pool record with a time of 1:34.01 while swimming exhibition.
Michigan returns home on Saturday (Feb. 7) to host No. 25 Notre Dame in the final meet of the regular season. U-M will honor its four graduating seniors before the meet. The competition will begin at 3 p.m. in Canham Natatorium.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the meet... "I thought we swam well. We continue to look a little better and I think any time you can go to a pool and set the pool record you have to be happy with your performances. We are just continuing to compare how we look during the week and how we look during the weekend. Hannah had a great meet and Margaret had a great meet, swimming a lifetime best in the 100-backstroke. We had a number of people who really swam well."
On different swimmers picking up wins... "I think that is important. It is important for those people to be in races where they have a chance to get their hand on the wall first, to be in tight races. Those are all important things to develop before Big Tens and it is going to do nothing but help us."
U-M Junior Leigh Cole
On the team's late-season success... "It always feels good to get a few wins. We are really excited as we head into Big Tens. We don't look at these meets as meaning that much. We are just looking forward to the Big Ten championships. So while it is nice to pick up these wins, we are really looking forward to seeing what we can do at the end of the season."
U-M Freshman Amanda Lohman
On the diving team's recent surge... "We have been working really hard in the weight room and practices have been tough. I think a big part of our success is everyone working together and cheering each other on. It is really helpful to be peaking now because all the big meets are coming up. It will really help everyone's confidence going into Big Tens and into the Zone Championships."
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
