Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan Rallies to Blast Buckeyes
1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Result: #21 Michigan 169.5, Ohio State 129.5
Records: U-M (2-6, 1-3 Big Ten), Ohio State (4-3, 0-2 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 30 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 5 p.m.
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 21-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team won eight of the final nine events to defeat Ohio State and win 169.5-129.5 in a Big Ten dual meet on Friday (Jan. 23) at Canham Natatorium. Senior Hannah Smith(Dexter, Mich./Dexter), junior Leigh Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and junior Margaret Kelly(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) each earned two victories on the evening for the Wolverines.
Michigan started the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. The race remained close through the first two legs, but a stellar butterfly leg by freshman Caitlin Dauw(St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) opened up a lead that the Wolverines refused to relinquish. Michigan finished with a time of 1:43.27, three seconds ahead of the Buckeyes' squad.
After OSU picked up back-to-back wins in the 1000- and 200-yard freestyle events to open a 24-21 lead, U-M responded by finishing 1-2-3 in the 100-yard backstroke. Smith picked up her eighth win of the year, touching the wall in 55.28. Fifth-year senior Caroline Rodriquez(St. Louis, Mo./Stanford), a newcomer to the Wolverines' squad, picked up a second-place finish with a time of 56.95, and freshman Liz Johnson(Milford, Mich./Milford) touched the wall in 57.03 for a third-place finish.
Cole swam a season-best 23.89 in the 50-yard freestyle to earn U-M's next win, her second victory of the season. Swimming in lane No. 7, Cole controlled the race from the beginning as she finished .20 seconds ahead of senior Noelle Martin(Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds), who finished in second.
Cole made it two straight wins on the evening with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. In the closest race of the evening, Cole battled Ohio State's Lisa Narum throughout the entire race but reached the wall first with a time of 51.69, .24 seconds ahead of Narum.
Smith picked up her second win of the evening and the third straight for the Wolverines with a top finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Smith battled OSU's Sam Cheverton through the first 100 yards, but the senior opened up a lead over the final 100 before touching the wall in 1:58.66.
Junior Stephanie O'Callaghan(Howell, Mich./Howell) and freshman Amanda Lohman(Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) helped to extend the Wolverine lead in one-meter diving event. O'Callaghan earned a win in the event for the second straight week, scoring a career-best 288.30, the best score by any Michigan diver in the event this season. Lohman followed closely behind with a career-best score of her own, 284.10.
Kelly won the Wolverines' fifth straight event, finishing first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.01. Kelly controlled the race throughout on the way to her team-leading 11th win of the season. The win extended Kelly's streak of competitions with a win to seven.
Michigan continued to extend its lead with a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Dauw picked up her first win of the evening when touched the wall in 55.81. She was closely followed by Rodriquez, who earned her second No. 2 finish of the competition with a time of 56.12. Junior Emily Christy(Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford Area School) rounded out the sweep of the top three, touching the wall in a time of 56.90.
Kelly's second win of the night came in the 200-yard individual medley when she touched the wall two seconds ahead of the rest of the field at 2:03.85. The Ann Arbor, Mich., native used a split of 31.08 in the backstroke leg to separate herself from the rest of the pack.
U-M ended the evening with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the Michigan "A" squad of Smith, Cole, Martin and Kelly clocked in at 3:26.55, four seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The Wolverines next hit the road as they travel north to swim against Michigan State on Friday, Jan. 30, at McCaffree Pool in East Lansing, Mich. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the win... "It was back-and-forth, touch-and-go a little bit. There were some good races. I thought Ohio State swam better than they did last week and so did we, so it made for an interesting meet. (Ohio State Head Coach Bill Dorenkott) had some decisions to make with Sam Cheverton because she is a real good swimmer and can swim a number of events and we had the same kind of decision to make with Margaret Kelly and Hannah Smith. We opted to simply go with events that we thought would help prepare them well for NCAAs and Big Tens and just let the chips fall where they may. Both of them stepped up and swam very well, and we had a number of other swimmers pick up their game from last week. I like what I am seeing."
On Leigh Cole... "Leigh has looked great all week long. She has opted to do the more difficult things this week when we have given them choices. I think she is just becoming stronger in the water and more confident. She is really holding the water nicely. I really like her lines when she swims. She is anchoring really well; she is getting a lot of distance per stroke. I think she is setting herself up to have a very good Big Tens. She is certainly faster in season than she has ever been before."
On the Michigan-Ohio State Rivalry... "It is always fun to race with a rival. I think the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is the best in sports. It is like I told them before the meet; I don't care if it is tiddlywinks or 47-man squamish. Whatever it is, it is Michigan and Ohio State and everyone is going to pick it up a notch. And that is what's great about college sports, those kinds of rivalries, and this is the best one of the bunch."
U-M Junior Leigh Cole
On the meet... "We had another hard week of training and we were ready for this meet because it was Ohio State, our rival. So we were going to just give it our best and I think a lot of people had a lot of great swims; some were better than expected. I think overall it was a really good meet. It is always nice to get a win. We have had a lot of hard dry land this year, a lot harder than previous years. When it comes down to our final meet I think we will be ready. We are going to have some fast swimmers there. We aren't rested yet and we haven't been all season."
On her wins in the sprint events... "It is all about helping the team. I had a lot of people behind me saying get out there and give it your best, so that always helps to have the support of the team. When everyone is behind you, it is hard not to do well."
On beating Ohio State... "It feels really good. We were ready to do that. We watched the other teams this year and we really wanted to get out there and beat Ohio State. It is such a rivalry, Michigan and Ohio State, so it was exciting."
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
