Michigan
NCAA Championships
Wolverines Take 17th Place at NCAA Championships
3/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
ATHENS, Ga. -- The University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team finished with a three-day total of 67.5 points to place 17th at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which wrapped up Saturday night (March 18) at Gabrielsen Natatorium. Auburn (518.5) took home the team national championship, edging out host Georgia (515.5) by three points.
The Wolverines failed to place any swimmers or divers in the final evening session. The 400-yard freestyle relay quartet of Kaitlyn Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant), Hannah Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter), Abby Seskevics (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven), and Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter), which came into the meet with the ninth-fastest national time, missed the consolation cut by a just 0.04 seconds. Arizona won the race, breaking the national record with a time of 3:12.77.
Juniors Brady and Lindsey Smith had the Maize and Blue's best finishes in the preliminary session as they placed 22nd in their respective events. Brady, who entered the meet ranked ninth in the 200-yard backstroke, clocked in at 1:58.61 to miss the consolation final by less than a second. In the 100-yard freestyle, Smith touched the wall in 49.76, 0.12 seconds shy of the consolation final.
Complete meet results along with postseason awards can be found at the NCAA Championships website: www.ncaasports.com.
Final Team Standings (Top 20)
1. Auburn 518.5 2. Georgia 515.5 3. Arizona 415 4. California 291 5. Stanford 209 6. Southern California 193 7. Southern Methodist 161.5 8. Texas 151 9. Wisconsin 146 10. Florida 135 11. Texas A&M 118 12. Tennessee 104 13. Kentucky 98.5 14. Indiana 91 15. Hawaii 90 16. Florida State 84 17. MICHIGAN 67.5 18. Rutgers 61 19. Penn State 55 20. UCLA 53
Top Eight/U-M Finishes (Day 3)
1,650-yard Freestyle 1. Hayley Peirsol, Auburn 15:49.48 2. Flavia Rigamonti, SMU 15:54.67 3. Adrienne Binder, Auburn 15:57.64 4. Laura Conway, Georgia 16:04.41 5. Kim Routh, Clemson 16:10.28 6. Nicole Collins, Penn State 16:13.35 7. Anja Carman, SMU 16:14.38 8. Katie Nelson, UCLA 16:15.23 37. Emily Brunemann, U-M 16:45.68 200-yard Backstroke 1. Helen Silver, California 1:53.01% 2. Aleksandra Putra, Georgia 1:54.59 3. Kelly Harrigan, Rutgers 1:54.77 4. Brielle White, Virginia 1:55.67 5. Rachel Goh, Auburn 1:55.74 6. Elizabeth Wycliffe, Texas 1:56.01 7. Jeri Moss, Auburn 1:56.11 8. Susan Johnson, Wisconsin 1:56.39 22. Kaitlyn Brady, U-M 1:58.61 38. Hannah Smith, U-M 2:01.13 42. Carolina Sierra, U-M 2:05.40 100-yard Freestyle 1. Kara Lynn Joyce, Georgia 47.41% 2. Lacey Nymeyer, Arizona 48.43 3. Emily Silver, California 48.47 4. Emily Kukors, Auburn 48.52 5. Courtney Cushion, Arizona 48.57 6. Rhiannon Jeffrey, Southern Cal 48.87 7. Jenny Bradford, Kentucky 48.93 8. Kara Denby, Auburn 49.13 22. Lindsey Smith, U-M 49.76 200-yard Breaststroke 1. Rebecca Soni, Southern Cal 2:09.37 2. Vipa Bernhardt, Florida 2:10.13 3. Alicia Jensen, Auburn 2:10.81 4. Ellie Weberg, Florida Atlantic 2:11.43 5. Kristen Caverly, Stanford 2:12.00 6. Yi Ting Siow, Wisconsin 2:12.77 7. Sarah Poewe, Georgia 2:12.89 Lauren Duerk, Auburn 2:12.89 24. Justine Mueller, U-M 2:15.90 200-yard Butterfly 1. Mary Descenza, Georgia 1:53.78 2. Kimberly Vandenberg, UCLA 1:56.02 3. Whitney Myers, Arizona 1:56.26 4. Candace Weiman, Florida 1:56.54 5. Elizabeth Hill, Georgia 1:57.61 6. Saori Haruguchi, Oregon State 1:57.98 7. Gulsah Gunenc, Ohio State 1:59.51 8. Rachel Ridgeway, California 1:59.79 34. Payton Johnson, U-M 2:01.90 400-yard Freestyle relay 1. Arizona 3:12.77@ (Courtney Cashion, Jenna Gresdal, Whitney Myers, Lacey Nymeyer) 2. Georgia 3:13.38 3. Auburn 3:15.00 4. Southern Methodist 3:17.13 5. Texas A&M 3:17.43 6. California 3:17.49 7. Texas 3:18.18 8. Wisconsin 3:20.10 17. MICHIGAN 3:21.59 (Kaitlyn Brady, Hannah Smith, Abby Seskevics, Lindsey Smith) Platform Diving 1. Taryn Ignacio, Kentucky 335.30 2. Rui Wang, Hawaii 320.00 3. Lindsay Weigle, Indiana 317.05 4. Jessica Livingston, Texas 298.40 5. Amanda Miller, Purdue 296.90 6. Christina Loukas, Indiana 290.10 7. Blythe Hartley, Southern Cal 275.30 8. Anna Kiess, Houston 227.65 25. Elyse Lee, U-M 168.95
Michigan All-Americans
Kaitlyn Brady (2): 100-yard Butterfly (5th), 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th)
Abby Seskevics (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th)
Hannah Smith (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th)
Lindsey Smith (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay (8th)
Michigan Honorable Mention All-Americans
Kaitlyn Brady (3): 50-yard Freestyle (11th), 400-yard medley relay (12th), 200-yard medley relay (10th)
Justine Mueller (3): 400-yard individual medley (16th), 400-yard medley relay (12th), 200-yard medley relay (10th)
Lindsey Smith (3): 50-yard Freestyle (16th), 400-yard medley relay (12th), 200-yard medley relay (10th)
Payton Johnson (1): 400-yard medley relay (12th)
Carolina Sierra (1): 200-yard medley relay (10th)
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the 400-yard freestyle relay ... "We didn't have a bad relay. It was a just a very fast relay field this year. The top 16 was three seconds faster than it was last year."
On the past three days ... "Overall, I am proud of the effort our team made. I am proud of the way we trained and we have disciplined ourselves in the training process. We were a very, very good team this year and it's just unfortunate that at the end we really weren't able to show the kind of team that we are. I think we showed flashes along the way, but at the end we just really couldn't put it together."
On finishing 17th ... "For me, it's disappointing; not in the team, but for them because I think that they worked hard and gave us what we asked for. There were still a lot of positive things that came out of this meet; not the least of which is us knowing that we belong here and we can swim with the teams that are in the top 10. We need a little more depth so we have more opportunities to score. I think that is going to come with the maturity of some of our younger swimmers along with hopefully the freshmen coming in next year to help us in the depth area, particularly in the 800 freestyle relay. But overall, we had a good season. It was one of those seasons that is almost. We almost put it over the top but couldn't quite and that happens in life. Probably the toughest challenge for us as a team is how quickly we rebound from some of the disappointments after we take a couple of weeks off to decompress and come down from the stress of training and competing."
On graduating senior and All-American Abby Seskevics ... "Abby was just really, really steady. She had steady performances for us in everything we asked her to do, particularly in relays. Her swim this morning was better than her swim last year at NCAAs. For a morning swim, it was very, very good. She has been somebody from her freshman year that we can count on and rely on. She has just given solid performances for us on sprint relays and 400 freestyle relays, and even last year when we asked her to go a leg for us on the 800 freestyle relay. She's done very well. She has won multiple All-America awards and has also done very well as a student at Michigan. We're going to be hard-pressed to find a replacement for her that is as steady and reliable."
On junior and All-American Kaitlyn Brady ... "Kaitlyn really hit her peak at Big Tens. From a training and design standpoint that wasn't the plan, but it happened. We honestly had a little bit of trouble trying to extend her peak performances into NCAAs. I think she did a solid job all the way through the meet and obviously the highlight of everything was her fifth-place finish in the 100 butterfly. And actually, when she went for it and went out fast, she was out in front at the end of the first 50 yards. I think that bodes well for next year. It shows she's got the kind of speed that next year, if she stays healthy and tries to develop the back half of her race, particularly through long-course training, she could take a run at going faster. She could go faster than 52.60 (her career-best time), which puts her in a handful of people. She is in just a handful of people right now. There were only four collegiate swimmers faster than her in that event."
N O T E S
• Senior Abby Seskevics wrapped her career up with an All-America honor in the 200-yard freestyle. The Michigan native had four All-America and four Honorable Mention awards in her career as a Wolverine.
• Senior Carolina Sierra finished her Michigan career by winning her first career national honor with a honorable mention 10th-place finish in the 200-yard medley.
• Junior Kaitlyn Brady was Michigan's top finisher at this season's NCAA Championships, winning five total awards (two All-America and three Honorable Mention). The junior had the highest placing with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. She becomes just the second Wolverine in program history to earn All-America status in the event.
• This is just the fourth time in head coach Jim Richardson's 21 years that U-M hasn't placed in the top 15.
• This marks the fourth straight season that Michigan has placed in the top 20.
• New career national honor totals (with more than one): Kaitlyn Brady (nine; four All-America and five Honorable Mention), and Lindsey Smith (11; five All-America and six Honorable Mention), Justine Mueller (five Honorable Mention).
Players Mentioned
