Michigan
Michigan Water Carnival
Cannonballs, Harbaugh Five-Meter Jackknife Highlight Water Carnival
9/30/2017 2:43:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Event: Michigan Water Carnival
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., Oct. 13-14 -- at SMU Classic (Dallas, Texas), TBA
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's and women's swimming and diving programs brought the fun to Canham Natatorium on Saturday (Sept. 30), hosting the Michigan Water Carnival alongside Oakland and Calvin College.
"The whole point of this meet is to have fun, and show how enjoyable these sports can be," said head swimming and diving coach Mike Bottom. "Our team was looking forward to this all week, and I think they'll be begging to bring it back next year."
Kicking off the competition was the cannonball contest featuring Bottom, head baseball coach Erik Bakich and even a surprise attempt from head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who upped both of them by doing a jackknife off the five-meter platform.
Tweet of the Day 
Jim Harbaugh with solid form, but questionable attire off the platform (via @umichswimdive) pic.twitter.com/E3Bh3vw4Ce
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 30, 2017
Opposing coaches from Oakland and Calvin College also participated, getting rousing cheers from their own teams, while Harbaugh, head women's basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico and new head women's lacrosse coach Hannah Nielsen were on the judging panel.
Longtime former diving coach Dick Kimball took over from there and stole the show as he always does. Alongside current members of the team and current diving coach Mike Hilde, the 81-year old Kimball put on his patented clown diving show, utilizing costumes and props (including a bicycle) off both springboard and platform.
There were eight swimming events going on concurrently in the competition pool. Individual winners included Jacqui Schafer in the 300-yard butterfly with fins (2:57.03), Alexis Margett in the 50-yard freestyle underwater with fins (21.17), Siobhán Haughey in the 100-yard IM (55.24) and Yirong Bi in the 300-yard IM (3:14.86). Catie DeLoof also outlasted Becca Postoll in the 50-yard freestyle knockout, winning by two tenths-of-a-second (10.86/11.16).
Seven women's swimmer and one diver will represent Michigan at the SMU Classic, held Oct.13-14 in Dallas, Texas. The next competition for the full team comes a week later, Oct. 20-21, in a road dual meet at Louisville.
Players Mentioned
