Haughey's Record Paces Wolverines at UGA Fall Invitational

Friday, December 1

Athens, Ga.

9:30 AM

Michigan

Georgia Fall Invitational

Siobhan Haughey

Haughey's Record Paces Wolverines at UGA Fall Invitational

12/1/2017 9:25:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Brad Rudner

» Siobhán Haughey won the 200-yard IM, re-establishing her school record (1:53.48).
» Yirong Bi won the 500-yard freestyle, posting the second-fastest time in the NCAA this year (4:35.02).
» The 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay each achieved NCAA "A" cuts.

Site: Athens, Ga. (Gabrielsen Natatorium)
Event: UGA Fall Invitational -- Day 1 of 3
U-M Team Standing: 1st of 7 teams (296.5 points)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Dec. 2 -- at UGA Fall Invitational, Day Two (Athens, Ga.), 9:30 a.m./5 p.m.

• Complete Results (PDF)

ATHENS, Ga. -- Junior Siobhán Haughey broke her own school record in the 200-yard IM and provided one of four NCAA "A" cuts for the No. 4-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team on the first night of the UGA Fall Invitational, held Friday (Dec. 1) at Gabrielsen Natatorium. The Wolverines are in first place after one day of action (296.5 points), 25 points clear of California.

"Part of the excitement is seeing everyone repeat and build off of their progress from the morning," said head coach Mike Bottom. "Siobhán, obviously, was very sharp tonight. Our distance group, as a whole, was superior. They've been training really hard and getting G (Ryan) back only makes us stronger.

"Getting better in the evening, it's what we have to do. It's important for them to take care of business, get back to the bench and cheer on their teammates. It's part of what we want to accomplish, learning the different ways in which we can support each other."

At the halfway point of her record-breaking swim, Haughey was in second, but crushed the field on the breaststroke and freestyle legs to touch first (1:53.48). She went 1:57.00 and was the fourth seed coming out of the morning's preliminaries, but clearly saved her best for the final, breaking her old record -- 1:54.97 from 2016 -- by one-and-a-half seconds.

Behind Haughey, the Wolverines showed their depth in the 200-yard IM with three others in the final, including senior Clara Smiddy in third (1:55.74), senior Samantha Yeo in seventh (1:58.34) and sophomore Miranda Tucker in eighth (1:58.35). The latter two, along with freshman Emma Cleason (10th, 1:58.28), now hold the eighth-, ninth- and 10th-fastest times in school history. In total, six of the seven who got second swims improved their times from the morning.

Junior Yirong Bi led the distance contingent with a commanding win in the 500-yard freestyle. She touched in 4:35.02, an NCAA "A" cut and the second-fastest in the NCAA this year behind Stanford's Katie Ledecky. Freshman Sierra Schmidt was third (4:38.91) and junior Becca Postoll was sixth (4:42.58). Also of note was senior G Ryan, who made their season debut on Friday by posting a huge time drop of over seven seconds to win the consolation final (4:39.72).

The Wolverines also got NCAA "A" cuts on both relays. The foursome of Catie DeLoof, Gabby DeLoof, Vanessa Krause and Haughey took third in 1:28.57, coming within two tenths-of-a-second of the school record that they set last season. They also had two of the top four teams in the 400-yard medley relay, as the quartet of Smiddy, Tucker, Krause and Haughey finished second (3:31.88).

Catie DeLoof improved two spots over her seed in the 50-yard freestyle final, finishing fourth (22.33). Her fastest time came in the earlier relay, leading off the 200-yard freestyle relay in 22.30.

In diving, freshman Nikki Canale tied for fourth on the one-meter springboard (270.70). She had a 23-point improvement from preliminaries to finals, enough to surpass the NCAA Zone Diving standard.

The UGA Fall Invitational continues Saturday (Dec. 2). Preliminaries begin at 9:30 a.m. with finals following at 5 p.m.

NCAA QUALIFYING TIMES/SCORES
Preliminaries - p
Achieved on relay - r

200-yard Freestyle Relay
A -- 1:28.57 (Catie DeLoof, Gabby DeLoof, Vanessa Krause, Siobhán Haughey)

400-yard Medley Relay
A -- 3:31.88 (Clara Smiddy, Miranda Tucker, Vanessa Krause, Siobhán Haughey)
B -- 3:33.55 (Taylor Garcia, Emily Kopas, Emma Cleason, Gabby DeLoof)

500-yard Freestyle
A -- Yirong Bi, 4:35.02
B -- Sierra Schmidt, 4:38.54p (No. 4 at U-M)
B -- G Ryan, 4:39.72
B -- Becca Postoll, 4:41.90p
B -- Jacqui Schafer, 4:47.29

200-yard IM
A -- Siobhán Haughey, 1:53.48
B -- Clara Smiddy, 1:55.74
B -- Emma Cleason, 1:58.28 (No. 8 at U-M)
B -- Samantha Yeo, 1:58.34 (No. 9 at U-M)
B -- Miranda Tucker, 1:58.35 (No. 10 at U-M)
B -- Jamie Yeung, 2:00.97
B -- Kate Krolikowski, 2:01.07p