Michigan Places Third at Big Ten Championships

Saturday, February 20

West Lafayette, Ind.

11:00 AM

Michigan

Big Ten Championships (Day 4)

2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

Feb. 20, 2010

• Notes & Quotes | Award Winners
• Prelims | Finals

Site: West Lafayette, Ind. (Boilermaker Aquatic Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 4 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: 3rd Place of 11 Teams (462.5 Points)
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sun., March 12-14 -- at NCAA Diving Regionals (West Lafayette, Ind.), TBA

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Senior Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) was denied her bid for a seventh Big Ten title for the second straight day, but the No. 16-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team moved up a spot to finish in third place on Saturday (Feb. 20) at the 2010 Big Ten Championships, held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. Kelly was named first team All-Big Ten, while fifth-year senior Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky./Notre Dame Academy), senior Leigh Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), junior Natasha Moodie (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) and sophomore Alexa Mehesan (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) were second team All-Big Ten selections. Indiana took the crown with 758 points, followed by Minnesota (572.5) and Michigan (462.5).

Brunemann began the night as the favorite to win the 1,650-yard freestyle but was upended by Ashley Steenvoorden of Minnesota, finishing in third place, four seconds behind Steenvoorden. Senior Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) won the 'B' final with a time of 16:30.85 (ninth place).

Kelly finished third in the 100-yard freestyle and will end her career as a six-time Big Ten champion after being denied three opportunities over the last two days to garner the seventh. Despite the setback, Kelly, Moodie and Cole combined to give the Wolverines 44 points in that event. Moodie finished behind Kelly in fourth (49.58), while Cole finished seventh (49.71).

The Wolverines got points in two races' consolation finals from freshmen. Mattie Kukors (Auburn, Wash./Mountainview) took first (ninth overall) in the 'B' final of the 200-yard backstroke (1:57.23), while Melissa Lang (Edison, N.J./Bishop George) shaved close to two seconds off her preliminary time to finish 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke. Earlier Saturday morning, Lang was 16th with a time of 2:17.29 but touched the wall in 2:15.72, an increase of five places.

Sophomore Caitlin Dauw (St. Charles, Ill./East) finished sixth in the 200-yard butterfly, the Wolverines' highest finisher in that event. Freshman Kally Fayhee (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) and senior Keenan Koss (Bridgeport, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe), competing in her last Big Ten event, scored points for Michigan in the 'B' final of the 200-yard butterfly, taking 14th and 16th, respectively.

With Big Tens over, the Wolverines turn their attention to NCAAs next month. The U-M diving contingent will be back in West Lafayette from March 12-14 for the NCAA Zone C Diving Regionals, while the swimmers will await on NCAA selections. The NCAA Championships will also be held in West Lafayette from March 18-20.

Final Team Standings

 1. Indiana         758 2. Minnesota       572.5 3. MICHIGAN        462.5 4. Purdue          460 5. Ohio State      399.5 6. Wisconsin       384.5 7. Penn State      333 8. Northwestern    238 9. Iowa            12010. Michigan State   8911. Illinois         51

Event Winners/U-M Finishers

1,650-yard Freestyle 1. Ashley Steenvoorden, Minnesota   16:01.22# 3. Emily Brunemann, U-M             16:05.13# 9. Emily Hanson, U-M                16:30.85#15. Kally Fayhee, U-M                16:44.24
200-yard Backstroke 1. Kate Fesenko, Indiana             1:51.32* 9. Mattie Kukors, U-M                1:57.23#14. Liz Johnson, U-M                  1:58.57#17. Ashley Cohagen, U-M               1:58.56#
100-yard Freestyle 1. Donna Smailis, Indiana              48.98# 3. Margaret Kelly, U-M                 49.32# (49.31) 4. Natasha Moodie, U-M                 49.58# (49.46) 7. Leigh Cole, U-M                     49.71# (49.51)17. Deirdre Jones, U-M                  50.8223. Kristyne Cole, U-M                  51.31 (50.78)34. Katherine Carl, U-M                 51.1648. Catherine Nosal, U-M                51.8056. Liz Koselka, U-M                    52.16
200-yard Breaststroke 1. Haley Spencer, Minnesota          2:08.48%*11. Melissa Lang, U-M                 2:15.72#23. Julia Andracki, U-M               2:18.7136. Val Barthelemy, U-M               2:21.54
200-yard Butterfly 1. Kate Fesenko, Indiana             1:54.85!$* 6. Caitlin Dauw, U-M                 1:58.88#14. Kally Fayhee, U-M                 2:01.56 (2:00.30)16. Keenan Koss, U-M                  2:01.61 (2:00.37)18. Lori Morton, U-M                  2:02.36 (2:01.79)19. Claire Tyler, U-M                 2:02.4129. Emily Christy, U-M                2:04.4930. Courtney Beyer, U-M               2:04.66
400-yard Freestyle Relay 1. Indiana                           3:16.95#   (Donna Smailis, Brittany Strumbel,    Taylor Wohrley, Margaux Farrell) 4. MICHIGAN                          3:18.29#   (Margaret Kelly, Leigh Cole,    Alexa Mehesan, Natasha Moodie)
Platform Diving 1. Gabriel Agostino, Indiana          296.0011. Amanda Lohman, U-M                 230.6512. Stephanie O'Callaghan, U-M         214.1515. Rachael Ropeik, U-M                209.10
! Big Ten Conference record$ Big Ten Championship record* NCAA automatic qualifying time# NCAA consideration time% Facility record

• Previous Results: Day Three | Day Two | Day One

Michigan Big Ten Champions
Margaret Kelly (1): 200-yard individual medley

2010 Michigan All-Big Ten Selections
First Team: Margaret Kelly
Second Team: Emily Brunemann, Leigh Cole, Alexa Mehesan, Natasha Moodie

Big Ten Award Winners
Swimmer of the Year: Kate Fesenko, Indiana
Swimmer of the Championships: Kate Fesenko, Indiana
Diver of the Year: Kelci Bryant, Minnesota
Diver of the Championships: Kelci Bryant, Minnesota
Freshman of the Year: Taylor Wohrley, Indiana
Swimming Coach of the Year: John Klinge, Purdue
Diving Coach of the Year: Wenbo Chen, Minnesota

N O T E S

• Since U-M's last Big Ten championship in 2004, Michigan has finished in the top four six consecutive seasons (2nd - 2007, 2008; 3rd - 2006, 2010; 4th - 2005, 2009).

• Michigan finished only 2.5 points ahead of fourth-place Purdue.

• Kelly was first team All-Big Ten for the third time (2007, 2008, 2010).

• Brunemann is now a two-time second team All-Big Ten selection (also in 2008).

• Cole, Mehesan and Moodie earned All-Big Ten honors for the first time in their careers.

• Kelly was defeated by Indiana's Donna Smailis in an event for the second straight evening. Smailis won the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday night and the 100-yard butterfly on Friday night. Kelly finished second (by six-hundredths of a second) in the butterfly and third in the freestyle.

• Brunemann entered the 1,650-yard freestyle having the top time of any swimmer in the Big Ten in that race. Brunemann is a two-time Big Ten champion (2008: 500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle) and a 2008 NCAA champion (2008: 1,650-yard freestyle). She will be back at NCAAs next month to try and get her second career national title in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

• Coming in to the meet, Michigan had the fastest time of any quartet in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:19.22). The next closest time was Wisconsin (3:21.07). The Wolverines still managed to finish with a season-best time (3:18.29), despite the fourth-place finish.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On his team's performance at Big Tens ... "I think third was the very best we could have hoped for. Minnesota and Indiana can score a lot of points and have a lot of depth. I knew third for this team would be a great, great accomplishment. It was tight there for a while, but the last few events made it exciting. Purdue raced hard, give them credit, but thank goodness we had enough points. We swam a really tough meet today."

On Margaret Kelly ... "She led off the 400-yard freestyle relay faster than her individual event, which tells you something about her. She's a 'team first' person and had the best Big Ten meet she's ever had this weekend. That's really terrific. Her presence on all of our relays was huge, too. If we wanted to train her for the 500, I think she would be a finalist. She can do it all."

On his senior class ... "They are a great group of people first and foremost. They get along so well together and set the tone for the rest of the team, not to mention the fact that they are some of our best swimmers. They are going to be missed."

On the performances of his freshmen ... "I'd give us a good, solid B-plus. I think they are going to be better than that in the future. I would have given Emily Brunemann a 'C' as a freshman, so it shows you what I know. They have never been to a meet like this before. You are going to see Olympians swim out there and they might be in the heat with you. It's quite a thing to come here and see how fast this meet has become. Our conference is becoming a very fast and deep conference."

On what the team will do between now and NCAAs ... "We are going to re-taper and rebuild a little bit. We will rest everybody, sharpen things up and kick it up a notch. We've had good results with that. I was real pleased with our performances last year and I am looking forward to the group we have to come back here in four weeks."

On Emily Brunemann ... "She really wasn't tapered for this meet, but she will be in the coming weeks. She swam marvelously. The mile today was painful because she wasn't rested, but I know she is saving the best she has for last."

Michigan Head Diving Coach Chris Bergére
On how he would rate his divers' performances this week ... "I thought we did pretty well, but I know we can do better. We were pretty solid on platform, but again, we can do better. We needed to score points there because we knew Purdue is good at diving and we really need to do well. Diving made an impact, which is what we want. As a coach, there's always something more we can do to prepare for the next meet."

On where his divers' mindsets are ... "Yeah, they are in a good place, I think. Three divers are committed to go regionals. Anything can happen there. Any one of them, or two, could qualify. We'll have someone go to NCAAs this year."

On what the team needs to do between now and Zone C Diving Regionals ... "I think we just need to sit down and talk about some of the things they did well this weekend and some of the things they could improve upon. They were diving well, but we need to make a couple of corrections, but they are right on track."

U-M Senior Margaret Kelly
On being named first team All-Big Ten for the third time in her career ... "It's pretty neat. Just to be amongst the best in the Big Ten is always a great thing. It's truly and honor to be up there, especially considering this conference is so deep."

On her races Saturday ... "The 100-yard free maybe isn't my best event, and it's something I don't necessarily train for. I just wanted to dive in and get my hand on the wall as fast as I could. Having Leigh [Cole] and Natasha [Moodie] in there really helped."

On what the team will do between now and NCAAs ... "We are excited to train again, I know that. We'll have a good group going to NCAAs. The time off will give us a chance to work on things that maybe didn't work this weekend."

Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423