Michigan
Big Ten Championships (Day 1)
Michigan in Third After First Day of Big Ten Championships
2/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Event: Big Ten Championships
U-M Team Standing: 3rd Place of 11 Teams (60 Points) After Day 1
Next U-M Event: Thu-Sat., Feb. 19-21 -- host Big Ten Championships (Canham Natatorium), 11 a.m./6:30 p.m.
Complete Results | Photo Gallery | Big Ten Championships Page
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay and third in the 800-yard freestyle relay during the first day of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 18) at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines earned 60 points on the first day of competition, which places them in third in the team standings behind No. 10-ranked Minnesota (72 points) and No. 13-ranked Indiana (68 points).
Fifth-year senior Caroline Rodriguez (St. Louis, Mo./Stanford), senior Christine Nichols (Fairfax, Va./Woodson), senior Payton Johnson(Champaign, Ill./Centennial) and sophomore Natasha Moodie (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) finished fifth in the 200-yard medley relay with a season-best and NCAA consideration time of 1:39.39. Wisconsin finished first in the event with a Big Ten record time of 1:36.29. The Badgers' time also shattered the pool record of 1:40.90, which was set in 1996. In all, six teams finished under the previous pool record.
Moodie attempted to pull the Wolverines back in to the race with an anchor split of just 21.96 in the freestyle leg, but the sophomore was unable to close the gap between U-M and the first four teams.
In the second of two events on the night, the quartet of senior Hannah Smith(Dexter, Mich./Dexter), junior Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mi./Pioneer) and freshman Kristyne Cole(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and freshman Liz Koselka (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) turned in a Michigan school-record time of 7:06.32 to surpass the NCAA consideration mark and finish third in the 800-yard freestyle relay. U-M's time fell under the previous Big Ten record of 7:07.30, making it the third-fastest time in the history of the conference.
Smith kept Michigan close with a career-best time of 1:46.42 to open the race, but Minnesota steadily pulled away from the field throughout the race, touching the wall first with a time of 7:01.65 to shatter the pool record by over 10 seconds and the Big Ten record by almost six seconds.
The Big Ten Championships continue tomorrow as preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. and will run to 1 p.m. The diving finals will follow at 1 p.m. and the final swimming heats will start at 6:30 p.m.
Team Standings (After Day 1)
1. Minnesota 72 2. Indiana 68 3. MICHIGAN 60 4. Penn State 58 5. Northwestern 52 6. Purdue 48 7. Iowa 44 8. Ohio State 42 9. Wisconsin 40 10. Illinois 32 Michigan State 32
Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 1)
200-Yard Medley Relay 1. Wisconsin 1:36.29*$%! (Maggie Meyer, Ashley Wanland, Christine Zwiegers, Rebecca Thompson) 5. MICHIGAN 1:40.70# (Caroline Rodriguez, Christine Nichols, Payton Johnson, Natasha Moodie)
800-Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Minnesota 7:01.65*!$% (J. Shaughnessy, M. McCarthy, Y. Kobayashi, C. Jennings) 3. MICHIGAN 7:06.32#@ (Hannah Smith, Margaret Kelly, Kristyne Cole, Liz Koselka)
* NCAA automatic qualifying time # NCAA consideration time ! Big Ten Conference record $ Big Ten meet record % Canham Natatorium record @ Michigan School Record
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the team's performance in the relays... "I think our 200-yard medley relay we probably practiced better than the team performed. I think we made a couple of technical errors, but I think overall it was a good relay. It almost broke the school record. Our 800-yard freestyle relay, I thought, was very good. I thought we really went after it. We tried to stick with some older, more mature swimmers and that may have cost us on the last 50 a little bit, but overall that was a school record for us and the third-fastest time in the history of the conference, so it was a very very good swim."
On where the team is... "I think we look good. I think we have some people who are really on their 'A' game right now. They are ready to get up there and go faster than they have ever gone before. I think we showed that today. I think every swimmer we had today was faster than they had gone before in their lives. So we just need to keep it going, have a good morning tomorrow and see what we can do."
Minnesota Head Coach Terry Nieszner
On the first session... "I was really happy with our day. We have a lot of great senior leadership and our 800-freestyle relay to finish the section, they are all seniors and this is their fourth year in a row winning that relay. I am really proud of them and I think that was a nice way to start of the championship season."
Wisconsin Head Coach Eric Hanson
On the win in the 200-yard medley relay... "I was really proud with how they swam. Our preparation has been great since we set our time in Texas. Our focus is definitely on NCAAs, so this is kind of our lead up to that. I was really proud of how they swam and I think they could be significantly better than that."
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
