Michigan
Northwestern
U-M Wins Three of Four in Season-Opening Duals with Indiana, Northwestern
1/16/2021 4:40:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
» Michigan opened the 2021 season on Saturday in a double-dual meet against Indiana and Northwestern. It was the program's first team competition since last February.
» The ninth-ranked women's team beat both No. 20 Indiana (174-126) and No. 24 Northwestern (185.5-112.5). Olivia Carter won three events, while Daria Pyshnenko and Sierra Schmidt won two each.
» The seventh-ranked men's team split its matchups, beating Northwestern (229.5-70.5), but falling to #9 Indiana (173-127). Will Chan, AJ Bornstein, Wyatt Davis and Jared Daigle each had individual event victories.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The University of Michigan swimming and diving program returned to team competition for the first time in nearly 11 months, facing Big Ten rivals Indiana and Northwestern on Saturday (Jan. 16) at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. The women's team swept both the Hoosiers (174-126) and the Wildcats (185.5-112.5), while the men's team earned a split, beating Northwestern (229.5-70.5) but falling to Indiana (173-127).
"Our women's team did their job. They got up, swam hard and fast, and won the meet," said head coach Mike Bottom. "A lot of fun was to be had, but there were also a lot of thoughts afterward about how we can improve."
"On the men's side, they were battling. We had a lot of freshmen out there today competing for the first time. We lost some close ones, which was discouraging. But guys AJ [Bornstein] and Jared [Daigle] got up in the second half of the meet and really fired up our team."
Women
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center)
Scores: #9 Michigan 174, #20 Indiana 126; #9 Michigan 185.5, #24 Northwestern 112.5
Records: U-M (2-0), IU (1-1), NU (0-2)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 23 -- vs. Michigan State, Rutgers (Canham Natatorium), 11 a.m.
• Complete Results (PDF)
The Wolverines led off the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, clocking in at 1:39.17. Junior Maggie MacNeil led off on backstroke (24.02), followed by freshman Claire Tuttle on breaststroke (28.09), sophomore Megan Glass on butterfly (24.93) and senior Daria Pyshnenko on freestyle (22.13).
Junior Olivia Carter was among the best swimmers in the water Saturday, taking first in all three of her individual swims. She dominated the field in the 200-yard butterfly, touching over four seconds ahead of everyone else (1:56.85) and later completed the sweep by winning the 100-yard butterfly (53.66). Carter capped her afternoon with a victory in the 200-yard IM (2:00.94).
The distance duo of senior Sierra Schmidt and sophomore Kaitlynn Sims had it working, finishing 1-2 in both the 500-yard freestyle (4:49.61/4:51.05) and 1,000-yard freestyle (9:50.93/9:59.31).
The backstroke group piled on the points, going 1-2-4 in the 100-yard backstroke and 1-2-3 in the 200-yard backstroke. Freshman Casey Chung (54.41/1:59.70) and sophomore Mariella Venter (55.76/1:58.36) alternated first- and second-place finishes, while freshman Sophia Tuinman was third in both events (56.22/2:00.30).
Pyshnenko bookended the first break with wins, taking the 50-yard freestyle (22.67) and 100-yard freestyle (49.91). Meanwhile, MacNeil ventured outside her normal events in the 200-yard freestyle, winning by nearly two seconds (1:47.00). Freshman Sophie Housey had an impressive debut, finishing second in the 200-yard IM (2:02.20) and third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.25).
The Wolverines closed out the meet the same way it started it, winning the 400-yard freestyle relay by nearly a two-and-a-half second margin (3:19.20). MacNeil (49.24) and Pyshnenko (49.52) each cracked 50 seconds on the front half, pushing Michigan to a lead it did not relinquish.
Men
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center)
Score: #9 Indiana 173, #7 Michigan 127; #7 Michigan 229.5, Northwestern 70.5
Records: IU (2-0), U-M (1-1), NU (0-2)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 22 -- vs. Michigan State (Canham Natatorium), 5:30 p.m.
• Complete Results (PDF)
The Wolverines kicked off the meet with a nail-biting win in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing in 1:26.14, just .23 seconds ahead of Indiana. Freshman Wyatt Davis, a native of Carmel, Ind., led off with a 21.88 backstroke split, followed by junior Mason Hunter on breaststroke (24.23), sophomore River Wright on butterfly (20.89) and senior Luiz Gustavo Borges on freestyle (19.14).
Junior Will Chan stormed off the blocks in the 100-yard breaststroke and secured the win, touching in 53.99, more than a half-second ahead of IU's Zane Backes. Classmate AJ Bornstein, who took fourth in the event, pulled off a gutsy win in the 200-yard breaststroke, getting his hand on the wall for the win in 1:58.61, just .04 seconds ahead of Northwestern's Marcus Mok.
Davis charged home late in the 100-yard backstroke, but ran out of room, coming up less than one-tenth of a second short to finish second (47.45, an NCAA 'B' cut). He avenged that loss later in the meet, winning the 200-yard backstroke by nearly a second (1:43.95).
Junior Jared Daigle engineered an impressive swim in the 200-yard IM, touching first by more than a second (1:47.39). Davis was behind him in second (1:48.49).
Several Wolverines had close calls at the wall, including junior Patrick Callan in the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.65) and Borges in the 50-yard freestyle (19.70). Both men took second place in their respective events by similarly slim margins: .25 for Callan and just .01 for Borges.
Senior Ross Todd, the reigning Big Ten Diver of the Year, was the team's top finisher, going second on three-meter (407.93) and third on one-meter (354.00). Senior Chris Canning was third on three-meter (366.53).
Players Mentioned
