Michigan Extends Lead Over Badgers at Big Ten Meet

Thursday, February 19

Minneapolis, Minn.

11:00 AM CT

Michigan

Big Ten Championships

2/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team remains in first place after day two (Thursday, Feb. 19) of the 2004 Big Ten Championships, held at the University Aquatic Center. The Wolverines have a total of 213 points after seven events and lead Wisconsin by just 14 points (199). Highlighting the second day for U-M were runner-up finishes in both the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley races.

Johnson fell shy of repeating her title in the 200-yard IM, but her runner-up time was an NCAA automatic qualifier.

The Wolverines began the evening with a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Anne Weilbacher (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales HS), freshmen Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant HS) and Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) and sophomore Abby Seskevics (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) earned Michigan 32 points with an NCAA consideration time of 1:31.58 in the race. Indiana won the event with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:30.45, while Wisconsin finished second at 1:31.48. Weilbacher posted the fastest opening split of the three teams (23.11) before U-M fell behind in the final three legs of the relay.

Michigan was able to keep a 33-point lead over Wisconsin thanks to three top-five finishes in the 500-yard freestyle. After posting a school-record time in the preliminary round (4:42.63), freshman Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles HS) took second place in the "A" final with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 4:43.43. Junior Amy McCullough (West Bloomfield, Mich./Mercy HS) touched in right behind Gilliam at a personal-best 4:44.03 for third place, while senior Emily-Clare Fenn (Westport, Conn./Staples HS) also set a personal best in her fifth-place finish (4:44.46). Both McCullough's and Fenn's times automatically qualified them for the NCAA Championships.

Senior Sara Johnson's (West Bloomfield, Mich./Lahser HS) bid at a second straight Big Ten title in the 200-yard individual medley fell just shy, as she clocked in at 2:00.18 for second place behind Wisconsin's Beth Pendleton (1:58.25). However, Johnson's mark surpassed her previous personal best (2:00.55) and qualified her for the NCAA Championships. The Badgers' win gave them a 183-170 edge over Michigan after five events.

The Wolverines were able to crawl back within four points of Wisconsin's lead (198-194) after two top-10 times in the 50-yard freestyle race. Weilbacher swam to a seventh-place finish in the "A" final with an NCAA consideration and personal-best time of 23.38, while Smith finished second in the "B" final (10th overall) with an NCAA "B" standard of 23.31. Seskevics touched the wall in a personal-best 23.36 for 12th place.

In the final event of the night, senior Tealin Kelemen's (Riverton, N.J./Moorestown Friends School) sixth-place score of 274.70 on the one-meter board gave Michigan the 14-point edge over Wisconsin heading into the third day of competition on Friday (Feb. 20).

The 2004 Big Ten Championships run through Saturday (Feb. 21) at the University Aquatic Center. Preliminary events are contested daily beginning at 11 a.m. CST, and finals begin at 7 p.m. CST.

Team Standings (After Day 2)

 1. MICHIGAN 213 2. Wisconsin 199 3. Indiana 187 4. Penn State 186 5. Purdue 158 6. Minnesota 149 7. Iowa 76 8. Michigan State 68 9. Northwestern 65 10. Ohio State 61 11. Illinois 42

Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 2)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time)

200-yard Freestyle Relay

 1. Indiana 1:30.45* 3. Michigan 1:31.58# (Anne Weilbacher, Kaitlyn Brady, Lindsey Smith, Abby Seskevics)

500-yard Freestyle

 1. Carly Piper, Wisconsin 4:42.64* 2. Susan Gilliam, U-M 4:43.43* (4:42.63*!) 3. Amy McCullough, U-M 4:44.03* 5. Emily-Clare Fenn, U-M 4:44.46* 19. Lori Eberwein, U-M 4:54.10 38. Erica Watts, U-M 5:00.81 54. Elaine Shalla, U-M 5:10.21 57. Maya Mandel, U-M 5:12.23

200-yard Individual Medley

 1. Beth Pendleton, Wisconsin 1:58.25* 2. Sara Johnson, U-M 2:00.18* 32. Lesley Barnet, U-M 2:08.32 42. Elsa Larson, U-M 2:10.05

50-yard Freestyle

 1. Meghan Medendorp, Indiana 22.59* 7. Anne Weilbacher, U-M 23.38# (23.16#) 10. Lindsey Smith, U-M 23.31# (23.11+) 12. Abby Seskevics, U-M 23.36# (23.34#) 24. Tracy Egnatuk, U-M 23.64 52. Kelli Stein, U-M 24.23 63. Clinique Brundidge, U-M 24.50 66. Nikki Starr, U-M 24.61 83. Amanda Johnson, U-M 25.50

One-meter Diving

 1. Carrie McCambridge, Purdue 321.80 6. Tealin Kelemen, U-M 274.70 11. Alexis Goolik, U-M 250.30 18. Courtney Larson, U-M 217.15 20. Ellen Van Cleve, U-M 213.40 26. Kristen Metzger, U-M 202.25 27. Emily Koglin, U-M 201.20 34. Julie Porter, U-M 176.20 ! Michigan school record

+ Achieved in preliminary swim-off 
* NCAA automatic qualifying time # NCAA consideration time