Season Preview: 2019-20 Michigan Women's Swimming and Diving
9/13/2019 11:51:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team heads into the 2019-20 season on the heels of back-to-back top-four team finishes at the NCAA Championships. Despite losing a highly-decorated senior class from last year's team, the Wolverines look to rebuild on the fly with balance across all strokes and the largest diving group in recent history.
Michigan will open the season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20-21, at Canham Natatorium against Miami University and Navy. The tri-meet will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 20) and will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 21). Admission is free.
2018-19 Season Review
• Record: 8-0 (5-0 Big Ten)
• Big Ten Championships: 2nd place (1,302.5 points)
• NCAA Championships: 3rd place (314 points)
• Big Ten Champions (7): Siobhán Haughey (100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle), Maggie MacNeil (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly), 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay, 800-yard Freestyle Relay
• CSCAA All-Americans (14): Catie DeLoof (100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle), Siobhán Haughey (100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle), Maggie MacNeil (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke), Sierra Schmidt (1,650-yard freestyle), Miranda Tucker (100-yard breaststroke), 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay, 800-yard Freestyle Relay, 200-yard Medley Relay, 400-yard Medley Relay
• CSCAA All-America Honorable Mentions (5): Yirong Bi (500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle), Catie DeLoof (50-yard freestyle), Sierra Schmidt (500-yard freestyle), Jamie Yeung (100-yard breaststroke)
Roster Breakdown
• Distance: The headliner is junior Sierra Schmidt, who was named to the 2019-20 U.S. National Team last week. She represented Team USA at the World University Games in July, where she won bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. Schmidt was an All-American last year in the 1,650-yard freestyle (sixth) and scored top-eight finishes in all three individual events at the Big Ten Championships.
Freshmen Kaitlynn Sims and Octavia Lau have experience representing their countries internationally: Sims (United States) at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Lau (Canada) at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
• Sprint & Mid-Distance Freestyle: With graduations to some major contributors, the sprint group looks to reload and retool, beginning with four-time All-American Daria Pyshnenko. She is one of the Big Ten's best returning sprinters, having finished third in the 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the 50-yard freestyle at last February's Big Ten Championships.
Junior Claire Maiocco could be primed for a larger role after two years in the sprint group, while freshmen Sophia Kudryashova and Katii Tang provide intrigue in the mid-distance events.
• Backstroke: The Wolverines will rely on seniors Chloe Hicks and Jacqui Schafer to lead the backstroke group. Hicks, the former Virginia Tech transfer, is a three-time NCAA Championships individual qualifier and had a big summer, finishing sixth in the 200-meter backstroke at the Phillips 66 National Championships. Schafer, the team's captain this season, battled illness last season, though she was a Big Ten finalist in the 200-yard backstroke as a sophomore in 2018.
Freshman Mariella Venter will make her U-M debut this fall after representing South Africa at this summer's FINA World Championships.
• Butterfly: Arguably the deepest group on the team, headlined by sophomore Maggie MacNeil, the Canadian who stunned the swimming community by winning gold in the 100-meter butterfly at this summer's FINA World Championships in South Korea. MacNeil was a three-time finalist at last year's NCAA Championships -- hauling in seven All-America honors -- and was Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Behind her is senior Vanessa Krause, a former All-American and Big Ten champion; sophomore Victoria Kwan, another Canadian who swam at this summer's World University Games; junior Alexis Margett, another FINA World Championships qualifier (Bolivia); and freshman Megan Glass, a three-time Ohio state champion in the 100-yard butterfly whose parents swam at Michigan (Kevin Glass, 1991-94; Beth Jackson, 1993-96).
• Breaststroke: Fifth-year senior Miranda Tucker is back for one final season and has plenty of accomplishments already on her resume, having won seven individual medals at the Big Ten Championships and hauling in five All-America citations. She won a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at this summer's Phillips 66 National Championships. Behind her, U-M will look to junior Alex Hughes and sophomore Caroline Sisson to provide depth and scoring potential.
• Diving: With nine divers on the roster, the group is deep with both experience and potential. Junior Christy Cutshaw is a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier and former Big Ten Championships finalist, while classmates Nikki Canale and Camryn McPherson have previously qualified for the NCAA Championships (Canale in 2018, McPherson in 2019). Adding to the group are four freshmen: Lauren Cheetham, Anna Hansen, Lucy Hogan and Paige Sundermann.
2019-20 Schedule
• The Wolverines have eight dual meets this season: Navy/Miami Univ. (Sept. 20-21), Tennessee/Virginia (Oct. 18-19), at Iowa (Nov. 1), Indiana (Jan. 11), at Ohio State (Jan. 18) and Michigan State (Jan. 31). Coming into the season, U-M is riding a 22-meet win streak.
• For its midseason meet, U-M will travel to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Invite (Dec. 4-8). The Wolverines will attempt to hit this year's NCAA Championships qualifying standards.
• The Big Ten Championships will be held Feb. 19-22 in Iowa City, Iowa. Divers will attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, March 12-14 in Lexington, Kentucky. The NCAA Championships will be held March 18-21 in Athens, Georgia.
Players Mentioned
