Michigan
Illinois
Michigan Cruises Past Illinois at Notre Dame Invitational
1/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The No. 13 University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team remained undefeated in Big Ten Conference dual meet competition with a 204-163 victory over Illinois Saturday afternoon (Jan. 15) at Notre Dame's Rolfs Aquatic Center. The Wolverines (3-1, 3-0 Big Ten), who led the Fighting Illini 61-48 after the first day of the tri-meet with Notre Dame, won six of 14 events on the final day of action to seal the team win. The Irish, who did not score against Michigan because of the two teams' dual meet on Jan. 28, defeated the Illini 183-181.
Freshman Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich./Monroe HS) completed her weekend sweep of the individual medleys, claiming the top time in the 400-yard event with an NCAA consideration time of 4:22.08, more than three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant HS) earned her second individual title of the weekend, posting a time of 57.26 to win the 100-yard backstroke. Brady later added a win in the 200-yard backstroke with an NCAA 'B' standard of 2:01.60, more than five seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Sophomore Susan Gilliam (Los Angeles, Calif./Bolles HS) posted an NCAA consideration time of 16:38.52 in her 1,650-yard freestyle victory, touching the wall more than 20 seconds before the second-place swimmer.
Michigan's last victory came in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as Brady, Mueller, junior Abby Seskevics (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) and sophomore Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) clocked in at 3:27.46 to close the meet.
In the lone diving event of the afternoon, freshman Elyse Lee (Albion, Mich./Albion HS) was the top U-M scorer on the three-meter board with a second-place total of 465.25. Sophomore Ellen Van Cleve (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) finished third (446.75) and senior Alexis Goolik (Highland, Ind./Highland HS) took fourth (446.35).
Other U-M top performances on day two included Smith's pair of runner-up finishes in the 100-yard (51.68) and 200-yard (1:52.66) freestyle events, Mueller's second-place showing in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:19.35) and freshman Valeria Silva's (Lima, Peru/Alexander von Humboldt) second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke (2:06.69).
Junior Carolina Sierra (Medellin, Colombia/Colegio Palermo de San Jose) tied for second place in the 100-yard backstroke (58.58), while freshman Wendy Shieh (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) had a strong showing on the final day, claiming third place in both the 100-yard (57.80) and 200-yard (2:06.11) butterfly.
Sierra, Silva, Brady and senior Amy McCullough (West Bloomfield, Mich./Mercy HS) nearly gave Michigan a win in the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay, but the quartet's time of 1:46.53 was just shy of Illinois' top time of 1:46.38.
The Wolverines will close out their Big Ten schedule on the road next Saturday (Jan. 22) against Northwestern. The dual meet with the Wildcats is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the Norris Aquatics Center in Evanston, Ill.
Day 1 Results
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
