Michigan Aims to Reclaim Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Title

Wednesday, February 19

Iowa City, Iowa

5:00 PM CT

Michigan

Big Ten Championships

Swimming and Diving Team Celebration Generic

(Michigan Photography)

Michigan Aims to Reclaim Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Title

2/17/2020 11:59:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Brad Rudner

» No. 1-ranked Michigan will begin its postseason this week at the 2020 Big Ten Championships (Feb. 19-22) in Iowa City, Iowa.
» The Wolverines will be competing for their Big Ten-leading 18th team championship after finishing runner-up to Indiana last season.
» The first six sessions will air digitally via BTN Plus, while the final session will air on BTN on Sunday (Feb. 23) at 11 a.m. EST.

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The No. 1-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team will begin its postseason this week at the 2020 Big Ten Championships, beginning Wednesday (Feb. 19) and running through Saturday (Feb. 22) at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Iowa City, Iowa. The meet will begin with two relays on Wednesday at 5 p.m. CST, while each of the following three days will see preliminaries at 11 a.m. and event finals at 6:30 p.m. Diving preliminaries will begin at 1 p.m.

The Wolverines will be competing for their Big Ten-leading 18th team championship after finishing runner-up to Indiana last season, a finish that snapped the program's three-year winning streak.

The first six sessions can be viewed on BTN Plus. The finals session on Saturday can be seen live on the Fox Sports Go app and will be available on BTN Plus at midnight (ET). The Big Ten Network will air a tape-delayed, time-condensed version of the meet on Sunday (Feb. 23) at 11 a.m. EST. Bernie Guenther (play-by-play), Margaux Farrell (analyst), Elise Menaker (reporter) and Laura Ryan (diving analyst) will be on the call.

Schedule of Events (Times CST)

Wednesday, Feb. 19 (5 p.m.)
200-yard Medley Relay
800-yard Freestyle Relay

Thursday, Feb. 20 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
500-yard Freestyle
200-yard Individual Medley
50-yard Freestyle
One-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
400-yard Medley Relay

Friday, Feb. 21 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
100-yard Butterfly
400-yard Individual Medley
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
200-yard Freestyle Relay

Saturday, Feb. 22 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (4:15 p.m.)
400-yard Freestyle Relay

Scoring Format
A Final Scoring: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22
B Final Scoring: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11
C Final Scoring: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Relay Scoring: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-40-34-32-30-28

Note: Only A & B finals (championship & consolation) will be contested in the diving events.

Big Ten Championships History

Titles: Michigan is the most successful women's swimming and diving program in the Big Ten, leading the conference in team titles (17), individual swimming titles (138) and relay titles (61). It also has five conference diving champions.

Last Year: The Wolverines finished second at the 2019 Big Ten Championships, held in Bloomington, Indiana. The host Hoosiers won with 1,386.5 points, while Michigan finished second at 1,302.5 points. Maggie MacNeil was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after winning the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly and adding two more titles on relays. Siobhán Haughey was a five-time champion, sweeping the 100- and 200-yard freestyles and swimming legs on three winning relay teams. » Recap

Awards: Six U-M swimmers have been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships: Jen Eberwein (1998), Shannon Shakespeare (2000), Justine Mueller (2005), Kaitlyn Brady (2006), Lindsey Smith (2007) and Siobhán Haughey (2016). No U-M diver has ever won Diver of the Championships. Two Wolverines were named Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Justine Mueller (2005) and Maggie MacNeil (2019).

Relays: Michigan is the four-time defending Big Ten champion in the 800-yard freestyle relay, and U-M also won the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays at last year's meet. The Wolverines have not won a medley relay at the Big Ten Championships since 2006 (400-yard medley relay). They are ranked No. 1 in all five relays heading into this week; the last time U-M won all five relays at the Big Ten Championships was 1998.

Diving: The Wolverines have not crowned a diving champion in any of the three events since Cinnamon Woods on platform in 1994.

Pre-Meet Seeds

WEDNESDAY

200-yard Medley Relay
1st (1:35.53)
MacNeil, Tucker, Maiocco, Pyshnenko

800-yard Freestyle Relay
1st (7:05.96)
Sims, Glass, Schmidt, Hicks

THURSDAY

500-yard Freestyle
Sierra Schmidt: 2nd (4:38.36)
Kaitlynn Sims: 3rd (4:38.73)
Chloe Hicks: 7th (4:43.37)
Victoria Kwan: 18th (4:47.77)
Caroline Sisson: 19th (4:47.78)

200-yard IM
Miranda Tucker: 6th (1:57.66)
Victoria Kwan: 19th (2:00.28)
Emma Cleason: 22nd (2:00.68)

50-yard Freestyle
Maggie MacNeil: 1st (21.60)
Daria Pyshnenko: 4th (22.19)
Miranda Tucker: 6th (22.26)
Olivia Carter: 19th (22.95)
Vanessa Krause: 24th (23.06)

400-yard Medley Relay
1st (3:29.92)
MacNeil, Tucker, Krause, Pyshnenko

FRIDAY

100-yard Butterfly
Maggie MacNeil: 1st (49.26)
Vanessa Krause: 8th (53.04)
Megan Glass: 9th (53.18)
Emma Cleason: 13th (53.70)
Daria Pyshnenko: 18th (54.19)
Olivia Carter: 19th (54.20)
Alexis Margett: 20th (54.30)

400-yard IM
Victoria Kwan: 7th (4:12.75)
Kaitlynn Sims: 13th (4:15.77)
Kate Krolikowski: 15th (4:17.16)

200-yard Freestyle
Chloe Hicks: 4th (1:45.94)
Kaitlynn Sims: 10th (1:46.83)
Sophia Kudryashova: 17th (1:47.64)
Madeleine Bauer: T-20th (1:47.81)
Sierra Schmidt: T-20th (1:47.81)

100-yard Breaststroke
Miranda Tucker: 1st (58.41)

100-yard Backstroke
Maggie MacNeil: 2nd (50.81)
Katie Minnich: 18th (54.04)
Mariella Venter: 20th (54.19)

200-yard Freestyle Relay
1st (1:28.50)
MacNeil, Pyshnenko, Tucker, Krause

SATURDAY

1,650-yard Freestyle
Sierra Schmidt: 1st (15:49.90)
Kaitlynn Sims: 2nd (15:51.06)

200-yard Backstroke
Chloe Hicks: 3rd (1:53.12)
Mariella Venter: 14th (1:56.53)
Jacqui Schafer: 20th (1:57.23)
Katie Minnich: 22nd (1:57.57)

100-yard Freestyle
Maggie MacNeil: 1st (47.16)
Daria Pyshnenko: 3rd (48.12)

200-yard Breaststroke
Miranda Tucker: 1st (2:08.01)
Caroline Sisson: 24th (2:15.78)

200-yard Butterfly
Vanessa Krause: 2nd (1:55.99)
Olivia Carter: 4th (1:56.36)
Victoria Kwan: 7th (1:57.85)
Emma Cleason: 9th (1:57.89)
Alexis Margett: 22nd (1:59.88)
Kate Krolikowski: 24th (2:00.11)

400-yard Freestyle Relay
1st (3:13.85)
MacNeil, Pyshnenko, Tucker, Hicks

• 2019-20 Michigan Bests: Swimming | Diving

Team Notes

• The Wolverines are ranked No. 1 in the CSCAA/TYR Top 25 rankings, released on Jan. 22. » Rankings

• Michigan defeated Michigan State, 181-83, at Canham Natatorium on Jan. 31, capping off the program's third consecutive undefeated dual-meet season (6-0).

• Heading into the Big Ten Championships, U-M has amassed 45 NCAA qualifying standards (7 A, 23 B, 15 diving). At last year's Big Ten Championships, the Wolverines had 73 NCAA qualifying standards (13 A, 53 B, 7 diving).

• Four swimmers have already qualified for the NCAA Championships in individual events: Maggie MacNeil (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle), Sierra Schmidt (1,650-yard freestyle), Kaitlynn Sims (1,650-yard freestyle) and Miranda Tucker (100-yard breaststroke). Additionally, three other swimmers -- Daria Pyshnenko, Vanessa Krause and Chloe Hicks -- all have a time in at least one event that is below last year's invited time.

Student-Athlete Notes

• Sophomore Maggie MacNeil is the defending Big Ten champion in the 100-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle. At the Minnesota Invite back in December, MacNeil tied the NCAA record in the 100-yard butterfly (49.26).

• The Wolverines got a boost in the form of sophomore Olivia Carter, who joined the team at the semester break after completing a transfer from the University of Georgia. Carter was the 2019 Southeastern Conference Freshman Swimmer of the Year and was the SEC champion in the 200-yard butterfly.

• Michigan has the conference's best distance duo in junior Sierra Schmidt and freshman Kaitlynn Sims. Schmidt and Sims rank 1-2 in the Big Ten in the 1,650-yard freestyle and are 2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle.

• Senior Chloe Hicks is having her best collegiate season, setting career bests in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.94), 500-yard freestyle (4:43.37) and 200-yard backstroke (1:53.12) at the Minnesota Invite in December. Entering this week, Hicks ranks third in the Big Ten in the 200-yard backstroke, fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, and seventh in the 500-yard freestyle.

• As a team, the Wolverines appear deepest in the butterfly events. Heading into this week, U-M has seven swimmers ranked in the top 24 of the Big Ten in the 100-yard butterfly and six in the 200-yard butterfly. Maggie MacNeil (100-yard butterfly) and senior Vanessa Krause (200-yard butterfly) each hold Big Ten records.

• The Wolverines are slated to take a large diving contingent to the Big Ten Championships. Seven of the team's eight divers have at least one NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score, led by Christy Cutshaw and Lucy Hogan, both of whom have zone cuts in all three diving events.

Up Next

Sunday, March 1 -- at OSU Last Chance Meet (Columbus, Ohio)
Thu-Sat., March 12-14 -- at NCAA Zone C Diving Championships (Lexington, Ky.)
Wed-Sat., March 18-21 -- at NCAA Championships (Athens, Ga.)