Third-Place 200 Medley Relay Kicks Off Big Ten Championships

Wednesday, February 16

Bloomington, Ind.

6:30 PM

Michigan

Big Ten Championships (Day 1)

Third-Place 200 Medley Relay Kicks Off Big Ten Championships

2/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

Feb. 16, 2011

Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman-Billinglsey Aquatic Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 1 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: 7th Place of 11 Teams (54 points) After Day One
Next U-M Event: Thursday, Feb. 17 -- at Big Ten Championships - Day Two (Bloomington, Ind.), 11 a.m./6:30 p.m.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The 2011 Big Ten Championships began on Wednesday (Feb. 16), and after two relays, the No. 16-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming & diving team sits in seventh place after day one of the four-day event held at the Counsilman-Billinglsey Aquatic Center.

The first event of the championships was the 200-yard medley relay, and Michigan's quartet of sophomore Mattie Kukors (Auburn, Wash./Mountainview), freshman Angela Chokran (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North), junior Caitlin Dauw (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and senior Natasha Moodie (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) finished in third place with an NCAA 'B' cut of 1:38.35. The time the foursome received was close to five seconds faster than their previous best (1:43.03, set Jan. 8 at Indiana) and more than four seconds faster than the previous team season high (1:42.90, set Jan. 21 vs. Ohio State). The time was also a new University of Michigan record, breaking the old record by nearly a second (1:39.23, set in 2007).

The other race of the evening was the 800-yard freestyle. Sophomore Adrienne Bicek (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North), sophomore Deirdre Jones (Nashville, Tenn./University School of Nashville), Kukors and junior Liz Johnson (Milford, Mich./Milford) finished in eighth place, meeting the NCAA consideration standard (7:15.48). The time beat the previous season best in the event by more than six seconds.

The Big Ten Championships continue tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 17) at 11 a.m. in Bloomington, Ind., with preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and 50-yard freestyle. One-meter diving begins at 1 p.m., and the 200-yard freestyle relay, along with the finals of the three other swimming races, will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Team Standings (After Day One)

 1. Indiana         68    Wisconsin       68 3. Minnesota       66 4. Ohio State      58 5. Purdue          56    Penn State      56 7. MICHIGAN        54 8. Northwestern    46 9. Illinois        32    Iowa            3211. Michigan State  24

Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day One)

200-yard Medley Relay 1. Wisconsin                      1:36.68*   (Margaret Meyer, Ashley Wanland,    Rebecka Palm, Rebecca Thompson) 3. MICHIGAN                       1:38.35#$   (Mattie Kukors, Angela Chokran,    Caitlin Dauw, Natasha Moodie) 800-yard Freestyle Relay 1. Indiana                        7:01.13*   (Brittany Strumbel, Jessica White,   Taylor Wohrley, Margaux Farrell) 8. MICHIGAN                       7:15.48#   (Adrienne Bicek, Deirdre Jones,    Mattie Kukors, Liz Johnson) * NCAA automatic qualifying time# NCAA provisional qualifying time
$ U-M Record