Michigan
NCAA Championships (Day 2)
Rodriguez, Relay Shine on Day Two of NCAA Championships
3/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Event: NCAA Championships (Day 2)
U-M Team Standing: 22nd of 43 Teams (23 Points) after Day Two
Next U-M Event: Saturday, March 21 -- at NCAA Championships (College Station, Texas), 11 a.m./7 p.m.
Notes & Quotes
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Fifth-year senior Caroline Rodriguez(St. Louis, Mo./Stanford) placed 11th in the 100-yard butterfly and U-M's 800-yard freestyle relay squad of senior Hannah Smith(Dexter, Mich./Dexter), junior Margaret Kelly(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), freshman Liz Koselka(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and freshman Kristyne Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) earned 14th as the University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team claimed two All-America honorable mention awards on day two of the NCAA Championships at Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium. The Maize and Blue currently sits in 22nd place with 23 team points, while No. 9 California leads the team standings with 302 points.
Rodriguez, the 2009 Big Ten champion in the 100-yard butterfly, found herself in a pack of four swimmers within two-tenths of second of one another at the 75-yard mark, but she used a pool-best split of just 13.97 over her final 25 yards to close the gap on the leaders before finishing in third in the consolation heat.
Meanwhile, competing in the second heat, the Wolverine 800-yard freestyle quartet competed in a tight race as U-M entered the anchor leg in a virtual five-way tie for third place. Cole swam a strong 1:48.99 in the final leg, but the Maize and Blue finished in sixth place in the 'B' final with a time of 7:10.56.
Michigan concludes the 2009 NCAA Championships on Saturday (March 21) with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. and the finals scheduled for 7 p.m.
Team Standings (After Day 2)
1. California 302 2. Georgia 295.5 3. Arizona 282.5 4. Stanford 213.5 5. Auburn 195 6. Texas 169 7. Texas A&M 144 8. Florida 136 9. USC 116 10. Indiana 114 22. MICHIGAN 23
Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 2)
200-Yard Medley Relay 1. Georgia 1:36.45 (Kristen Shickora, Kelly McNichols, Lisa Caprioglio, Anne-Marie Botek) 20. MICHIGAN 1:40.21 (Hannah Smith, Margaret Kelly, Caroline Rodriguez, Kristyne Cole)
400-yard Individual Medley 1. Julia Smit, Stanford 4:00.56 100-yard Butterfly 1. Amanda Sims, Cal 51.28 11. Caroline Rodriguez, U-M 52.32 21. Margaret Kelly, U-M 52.74 200-yard Freestyle 1. Dana Vollmer, Cal 1:42.01$ 61. Liz Koselka, U-M 1:48.95 64. Kristyne Cole, U-M 1:49.89 100-yard Breaststroke 1. Rebecca Soni, USC 58.36$ 100-yard Backstroke 1. Gemma Spofforth, Florida 50.55 33. Caroline Rodriguez, U-M 53.62 39. Hannah Smith, U-M 54.00 One-meter Diving 1. Christina Loukas, Indiana 437.75 800-Yard Freestyle Relay 1. California 6:52.69*$ (Sara Isokovic, Hannah Wilson, Liv Jensen, Dana Vollmer) 14. MICHIGAN 7:10.56 (Hannah Smith, Margaret Kelly, Liz Koselka, Kristyne Cole)
* NCAA Record ! Big Ten Conference record $ NCAA meet record @ Michigan school record % American record
N O T E S
Caroline Rodriguez earned the first individual All-America honorable mention of her career with an 11th-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Rodriguez had previously earned All-America honors in 2007 as part of Stanford University's 200-yard medley relay team, which finished fourth.
This is the third straight season that a U-M swimmer has earned All-America honorable mention in the 100-yard butterfly at the NCAA Championships. Both Margaret Kelly and Melissa Jaeger earned the distinction in 2008, while Kaitlyn Brady joined Kelly in earning the distinction in 2007.
This is the third straight season U-M has earned All-America honorable mention in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The Wolverines finished in 12th in 2007 and 14th in 2008.
Margaret Kelly's time of 52.74 in the 100-yard butterfly preliminaries is a season-best time for the junior.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On the team's performance... "I think we swam our races this morning well. Margaret swam a season best and the second-fastest time in her life in the 100-yard butterfly. Caroline got in her second swim with a good swim this morning. Hannah swam the best morning swim of her life this morning in the 100-yard backstroke; she was faster than she was in the morning at Big Tens. So overall I think we swam well. The medley relay was okay; it was kind of makeshift, but they swam alright."
On Caroline Rodriguez's 100-yard butterfly... "I thought Caroline swam the best back 75 yards of her life. Her last 75 yards were terrific. It was the best controlled 100 yards that she has swum in her life. Even though she has been a little faster, that was a really really good race. I think she is still learning how to swim it with this new found speed she has."
On the 800-yard freestyle relay... "I thought we swam a really really tough relay. That is a hard event to swim well. You can notice across the board out there how many teams have a hard time duplicating what they did to get to the meet. It is hard and we swam tough. We swam really well, so I am very happy for them. They are honorable mention All-American for that relay and they deserve it."
U-M Fifth-year Senior Caroline Rodriguez
On swimming for Michigan... "I had an amazing time putting on that winged helmet cap today. Being able to represent Michigan in the finals tonight was just a blast. I had so much fun; I enjoyed every minute of it."
On the team's performance... "The relay tonight swam a really gutsy swim. The determination they showed tonight is unbelievable. That is a tough relay and I admire those girls for finishing. It is 9:30 at night and for those girls to do that is pretty cool."
U-M Senior Hannah Smith
On the 800-yard freestyle relay... "It is hard after a full taper at Big Tens to swim as fast here, but I think we swam well, we swam tough. I thought we swam a tough race."
On the team's performance... "I think we are doing a good job of staying positive and motivated. Our times aren't quite where they were at Big Tens, but we are doing a good job staying excited. We are doing a good job preparing for our swims. The swims aren't coming easy for us, but we are doing a good job staying motivated and swimming tough races all around."
On the experience of the NCAA Championships... "It has been a lot of fun. Us seven girls, we are really close and we joke around and have a lot of fun. I think that is really important and this has been the best NCAAs I have had. We are all really close and all good friends. We make fun of each other, joke around and we have had a really good time here. I think that is more important than the times we have gone or the places we've got and the points we have scored. I am going to remember the times we have had outside of the pool."
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
