Michigan
NCAA Championships - Day 1
Wolverines Gearing Up for NCAA Championships
3/14/2021 12:28:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
» The Wolverines qualified 11 swimmers, one diver and all five relays for the NCAA Championships.
» Michigan is coming off two top-four finishes at the NCAA Championships (fourth in 2018, third in 2019).
» Maggie MacNeil is a top-three seed in three events, including the top seed in the 100-yard butterfly.
THIS WEEK
Wed-Sat., March 17-20 -- at NCAA Championships (Greensboro, N.C.)
Championships Central
Wednesday, March 17 -- at NCAA Championships, 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results: Swimming / Diving | Live Video
Thursday, March 18 -- at NCAA Championships, 10 a.m./6 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results: Swimming / Diving | Live Video: Prelims / Finals
Friday, March 19 -- at NCAA Championships, 10 a.m./6 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results: Swimming / Diving | Live Video: Prelims / Finals
Saturday, March 20 -- at NCAA Championships, 10 a.m./6 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results: Swimming / Diving | Live Video: Prelims / Finals
• Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Twelve members of the University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team are slated to compete at the 2021 NCAA Championships, Wednesday through Saturday (March 17-20) at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. The action begins with the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday at 6 p.m. For the remaining three days, preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. with finals at 6 p.m.
Live championship coverage will air on ESPN3 for preliminary and finals sessions Wednesday through Saturday. ESPNU will air a two-hour show at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, April 6.
Schedule of Events and Michigan Invited Participants
Wednesday, March 17 (6 p.m.)
800-yard Freestyle Relay
Thursday, March 18 (10 a.m./6 p.m.)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
500-yard Freestyle: Kaitlynn Sims
200-yard IM: Olivia Carter
50-yard Freestyle: Maggie MacNeil
One-Meter Diving: Nikki Canale
400-yard Medley Relay
Friday, March 19 (10 a.m./6 p.m.)
400-yard IM: Kathryn Ackerman, Claire Donan, Victoria Kwan
200-yard Freestyle: Megan Glass, Sophie Housey
100-yard Butterfly: Olivia Carter, Maggie MacNeil
200-yard Medley Relay
Saturday, March 20 (10 a.m./6 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle: Sierra Schmidt, Kaitlynn Sims, Caroline Sisson
200-yard Backstroke: Mariella Venter
100-yard Freestyle: Maggie MacNeil
200-yard Butterfly: Olivia Carter, Sophie Housey, Victoria Kwan
400-yard Freestyle Relay
Scoring Format
The top eight times (places 1-8) in each preliminary race will advance to the evening's finals and earn NCAA All-America (the only exception is the 1,650-yard freestyle, which is a timed final). The next eight times (places 9-16) will swim in the 'B' final and earn NCAA All-America honorable mention. The top 16 finishers will score points for their team.
NOTE: A change to the schedule involves relays. All relays will be timed finals instead of the traditional prelims-finals cadence. Each heat will have only four relays with one empty lane separating each team.
NCAA Championships Tidbits
History: The Wolverines have scored points at the NCAA Championships every season since 1983. It has five top-five finishes in program history: 1993 (5th), 1995 (2nd), 1996 (3rd), 2018 (4th) and 2019 (3rd). The program has never had three consecutive top-four or top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships. The last time the program had three consecutive top-10 finishes came between 1997-99 (6th, 7th, 7th).
Champions: U-M has 14 NCAA champions in its history (10 in individual swimming events, three in diving, one relay). The last champion was Emily Brunemann in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 2008.
Best Events: The Wolverines have tabulated a total of 184 CSCAA All-America honors (120 in individual swimming events, 48 relays, 21 in diving). That figure does not include the 17 swimmers and divers who received All-America honors in last year's COVID-19-shortened season. Due to the cancellation of the NCAA Championships because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CSCAA board adjusted the selection criteria for each division. For Division I, All-America honors were awarded to any swimmer on a relay that achieved the NCAA 'A' standard, any individual who had qualified for the NCAA Championships and any diver who had qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships (Michigan is in Zone C; the meet was canceled midway through the first day of competition).
Traditionally, the best events for Michigan have been the 200-yard freestyle (16 All-Americans), the 200-yard IM (14), the 400-yard IM (12) and 200-yard breaststroke (12).
Last Time Out
Big Ten Championships (Feb. 23-27): The Wolverines finished second at the Big Ten Championships (Feb. 23-27) in Minneapolis. Junior Maggie MacNeil won three individual events and was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships for the second consecutive year. Other Big Ten champions came courtesy of Olivia Carter, Kaitlynn Sims and both the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays. [ Recap ]
Wolverine Bites
• With freshmen and including participants who were invited to last year's meet before the COVID-19 cancellation, nine of the team's 12 individual qualifiers will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the first time as Wolverines. The only ones who are returning to NCAAs are Nikki Canale, Maggie MacNeil and Sierra Schmidt. Olivia Carter went to NCAAs as a freshman with Georgia in 2019.
• Junior Maggie MacNeil enters the meet as a top-three seed in all three of her individual swims: first in the 100-yard butterfly, second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle. She was a seven-time CSCAA All-American as a freshman. In January, MacNeil learned she had provisionally qualified to represent Canada at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
• Junior Olivia Carter is seeded to score in both the 200-yard butterfly (third) and 100-yard butterfly (eighth). She is also 20th in the 200-yard IM. Two years ago as a freshman at Georgia, Carter was seventh in the 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA Championships. She won that event at last month's Big Ten Championships, setting a new conference record (1:52.17).
• Michigan will have a presence in the distance events, qualifying three swimmers in the 1,650-yard freestyle in Sierra Schmidt, Kaitlynn Sims and Caroline Sisson. Schmidt was an All-American in that event back in 2019 (sixth), while Sims was this year's Big Ten champion and had received an invite to last year's meet before the cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sisson is making her NCAA Championships debut after a breakthrough swim at the Big Ten Championships. She qualified for the meet out of heat one and was swimming the event for the first time in her collegiate career. She went 16:15.74 to finish seventh.
• The Wolverines also are slated to have three qualifiers in the 400-yard IM, including three swimmers making their NCAA Championships debuts. Kathryn Ackerman set the school record back in the fall (4:05.58) and is seeded 16th after her fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Junior Victoria Kwan had qualified for last year's meet before the cancellation.
The other qualifier is freshman Claire Donan, who was recruited a breaststroke specialist -- she was back-to-back Kentucky state champion in the 100-yard breaststroke -- but has since transitioned into the backstroke and IM events. She scored points in all three of her individual swims at the Big Ten Championships, including two top-16 finishes.
• Senior Nikki Canale will represent the Michigan diving program at the NCAA Championships, slated to compete on one-meter. She earned her spot after finishing fourth at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships on Sunday (March 7) in Lexington, Ky. It is her second NCAA Championships appearance after qualifying as a freshman in 2018. Her qualification this year has added significance being that the NCAA Championships are being held in her home state (Canale is from Waxhaw, N.C.).
• Senior Daria Pyshnenko had qualified for the NCAA Championships, but elected to retire. She will not compete next week.
Players Mentioned
