Michigan
JDRF Awareness Relay Meet
Wolverines Have Fun on Relays, Raise Awareness for JDRF
9/29/2018 12:53:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Event: JDRF Awareness Relay Meet
Scores: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., Oct. 19-20 -- vs. Northwestern (Canham Natatorium)
• Complete Results (PDF)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's and women's swimming and diving teams hosted a relay-only meet on Saturday (Sept. 29) at Canham Natatorium, helping raise awareness for JDRF.
"It's still very early in our season, but we saw a lot of encouraging things from our team yesterday and then again today," said head coach Mike Bottom. "Not only in the water but also on deck, everybody was being supportive for each other. We swam fast, we competed, and we had fun."
In addition, U.S. Olympian Gary Hall Jr. was in attendance. He spoke to all competitors near the starting blocks before the meet and later answered questions during the break, talking about living and training at an elite level after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1999. Hall is a former Bottom pupil and won 10 Olympic medals at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games.
"Having Gary here was great," Bottom added. "He spoke at the beginning of the meet about what makes a champion. That's something we talk to our team about all the time: how to make changes, overcome adversity and get better. Gary really struck those chords."
Thrilled to have 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. here talking to our team before this morning's meet. Looking good in that Michigan hat, too! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/y3xu1pg2mN
— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) September 29, 2018
The meet itself featured traditional relays like the 200-yard medley, the 800-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle, but there were also several out-of-the-ordinary relays that featured both men's and women's swimmers.
In the mixed 200-yard butterfly relay, the foursome of Maggie MacNeil, Tim Hanson, Miranda Tucker and Alex King swam to a first-place finish (1:35.38). In the 500-yard mixed freestyle crescendo relay -- in which the four swimmers went 50-100-150-200 in length -- the grouping of Claire Maiocco, Dylan Boyd, Mokhtar Al-Yamani and Yirong Bi also touched first, winning by nearly three seconds (4:17.79).
Oakland beat the Michigan foursome of Eric Storms, Jeremy Babinet, Katie Duggan and Catie DeLoof in the mixed 200-yard backstroke relay by a small margin of just .04 seconds. But the Wolverines went 1-2-3 in the 3x300-yard mixed freestyle relay, with the trio of Felix Auböck, Bi and Hanson taking the win (8:13.30).
In the 200-yard mixed breaststroke relay, Miranda Tucker, Mason Hunter, Eric Storms and Alexis Margett finished first (1:52.86), while the 700-yard descending IM relay saw Ricardo Vargas (400 IM), Margett (200 IM) and Will Chan (100 IM) take the win in 6:51.59.
The Wolverines will be back in action in three weeks, hosting Big Ten foe Northwestern at Canham Natatorium for a two-day dual meet on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19-20. The action will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and pick up again at 10 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
Players Mentioned
