Wolverines Claim Sixth at Big Ten Championships

Saturday, February 19

Bloomington, Ind.

11:00 AM

Michigan

Big Ten Championships (Day 4)

2/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving

Feb. 19, 2011

• Notes & Quotes
• Photo Galleries: Prelims | Finals

Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 4 of 4)
U-M Team Result: 6th Place of 11 Teams (367 points)
Next U-M Event: Thu-Sat., March 10-12 -- at NCAA Zone C Diving Regionals (Columbus, Ohio)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The No. 16-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team wrapped up action at the 2011 Big Ten Championships, earning a sixth-place finish (367 points) at the four-day event held at Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Indiana won the team title for the third year in a row (821 points).

Over the course of the four-day event, Michigan swimmers recorded 28 NCAA consideration times, 60 season-best times and three new school records (50-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard medley relay). Michigan had two conference champions crowned over the weekend: junior Caitlin Dauw (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which included Dauw, senior Natasha Moodie (Miramar, Fla./Miramar), junior Alexa Mehesan (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) and sophomore Deirdre Jones (Nashville, Tenn./University School of Nashville). All four were first team All-Big Ten picks, while sophomore Mattie Kukors (Auburn, Wash./Mountainview) made the second team.

Three NCAA 'B' times were earned in the finals of the 200-yard backstroke tonight, first of which came from Kukors, who placed sixth (1:56.13). Fellow sophomore Ashley Cohagen (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) narrowly missed out on the 'A' final but managed to take nearly eight-tenths of a second off her time from the preliminaries earlier in the day, finishing in 10th (1:55.87). Junior Liz Johnson (Milford, Mich./Milford) also had a better race in evening, taking 17th (1:57.91), down from her time of 1:59.19 in the morning's preliminaries.

In her final appearance at the Big Ten Championships, Moodie led the way for the Wolverines with a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (49.38), an NCAA 'B' time. Her preliminaries time of 49.08 gives her the fourth-best career performance in school history in the 100-yard freestyle.

The Wolverines had two 'A' finalists in the next two races. First, in the 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Angela Chokran (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) and sophomore Julia Andracki (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Chokran finished in 2:12.12, while Andracki touched the wall in 2:12.50, though their times in the preliminaries were faster than those in the finals. Still, both surpassed the NCAA consideration standard with their performances.

Michigan's other 'A' finalists came in the 200-yard butterfly. Dauw, who already won two Big Ten titles this week, finished fifth (1:57.95), with teammate Adrienne Bicek (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) right behind her in sixth (1:58.10). Both are NCAA 'B' times.

Junior Megan Craig (Ann Arbor, Mich./Mercy) was the Wolverines' only participant in the 1,650-yard freestyle, clocking in 23rd (17:02.64).

Senior Rachael Ropeik(Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) led the Michigan diving contingent off the platform, scoring 14th (285.55).

The meet concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay, and Michigan's quartet of Moodie, Mehesan, Dauw and Kukors touched the wall seventh (3:20.88) in an NCAA 'B' time.

The Michigan divers will return to action for the NCAA Zone C Diving Regionals, held March 10-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The rest of the team will wait until the field for the NCAA Championships is set; the national meet runs from March 17-19 in Austin, Texas.

Final Team Standings

 1. Indiana             821 2. Minnesota           578 3. Ohio State          456 4. Penn State          391 5. Purdue              385.5 6. MICHIGAN            367 7. Wisconsin           360.5 8. Northwestern        178 9. Iowa                15110. Michigan State       8611. Illinois             82

Event Winners/U-M Finishers
Preliminaries time in parenthesis if faster than finals time

1,650-yard Freestyle 1. Ashley Steenvoorden, Minnesota       15:58.62#%23. Megan Craig, U-M                     17:02.64 200-yard Backstroke 1. Margaret Meyer, Wisconsin             1:52.07*% 6. Mattie Kukors, U-M                    1:56.13# (1:55.65#)10. Ashley Cohagen, U-M                   1:55.87#17. Liz Johnson, U-M                      1:57.91#23. Sam Pearson, U-M                      2:00.34 (2:00.21)35. Erin Cameron, U-M                     2:02.90--  Geneviève Aubé, U-M                       SCR 100-yard Freestyle 1. Megan Detro, Ohio State                 48.58# (48.48*%) 6. Natasha Moodie, U-M                     49.38# (49.08#)22. Alexa Mehesan, U-M                      50.4523. Katherine Carl, U-M                     50.93 (50.72)31. Deirdre Jones, U-M                      50.9343. Kristyne Cole, U-M                      51.8547. Liz Koselka, U-M                        51.89--  Geneviève Aubé, U-M                       SCR 200-yard Breaststroke 1. Jillian Tyler, Minnesota              2:07.11*%!$ 6. Angela Chokran, U-M                   2:12.12# (2:11.96#) 7. Julia Andracki, U-M                   2:12.50# (2:12.04#)21. Melissa Lang, U-M                     2:16.6839. Nikki Hubbard, U-M                    2:22.71 200-yard Butterfly 1. Brittany Barwegen, Indiana            1:56.28# 5. Caitlin Dauw, U-M                     1:57.95# 6. Adrienne Bicek, U-M                   1:58.10#22. Kally Fayhee, U-M                     2:02.47 (2:02.06)29. Val Barthelemy, U-M                   2:02.7334. Linnea Johnson, U-M                   2:04.2551. Courtney Beidler, U-M                 2:13.50 400-yard Freestyle Relay 1. Wisconsin                             3:15.06#%   (Rebecka Palm, Rebecca Thompson,    Ruby Martin, Margaret Meyer) 7. MICHIGAN                              3:20.88#   (Natasha Moodie, Alexa Mehesan,    Caitlin Dauw, Mattie Kukors) Platform Diving 1. Laura Ryan, Indiana                    348.5514. Rachael Ropeik, U-M                    285.5517. Amanda Lohman, U-M                     230.9524. Erin Bridgewater, U-M                  196.7525. Brianna Maroukis, U-M                  190.75 * NCAA automatic qualifying time# NCAA consideration time^ NCAA zone diving qualifying mark% Pool Record$ Big Ten Meet Record! Big Ten Conference Record@ University of Michigan Record

• Previous Results: Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Michigan Big Ten Champions
Caitlin Dauw (2): 100-yard Butterfly, 200-yard Freestyle Relay
Natasha Moodie (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay
Alexa Mehesan (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay
Deirdre Jones (1): 200-yard Freestyle Relay

2011 Michigan All-Big Ten Selections
First Team: Caitlin Dauw, Deirdre Jones, Alexa Mehesan, Natasha Moodie
Second Team: Mattie Kukors

Big Ten Award Winners
Swimmer of the Championships: Jillian Tyler, Minnesota
Diver of the Championships: Kelci Bryant, Minnesota
Freshman of the Year: Chelsea Weedman, Penn State
Swimming Coach of the Year: Ray Looze, Indiana

N O T E S

• Head coach Jim Richardson did not make the trip to Bloomington due to illness. He is back in Ann Arbor recovering. Assistant coach Stefanie Kerska is with the team and assumed coaching duties in Richardson's absence.

• The Wolverines' sixth-place finish snaps a stretch of eight straight top-four team finishes, dating back to 2002, where they were fifth. The Wolverines won the team title in 2004, and were second in 2007 and 2008, third in 2006 and 2010, and fourth in 2003, 2005 and 2009.

• Michigan scored 112 of its 367 points on the final day.

• Dauw, Jones, Kukors and Mehesan all earned All-Big Ten distinction for the first time in their careers. Moodie was a second team All-Big Ten pick in 2010.

• On Friday (Feb. 18), senior swimmer Natasha Moodie was named Michigan's nominee to the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

• Kukors' preliminaries time of 1:55.65 in the 200-yard backstroke puts her third on Michigan's all-time list for that event, based on top career time.

• Chokran and Andracki now appear third and fourth, respectively, on Michigan's all-time list for the 200-yard breaststroke, counting their times from the preliminaries.

• On Thursday (Feb. 17), the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced that Michigan (as a team) earned Scholar All-America honors, with a cumulative team grade-point average of more than 3.0.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Assistant Coach Stefanie Kerska
On the team's performance ... "We had a really solid, great morning. All the stroke people looked so good and we were very well represented in the finals. A lot of people made second swims tonight. This is the hardest day of the meet. After having gone through five sessions and getting up for a couple more, I thought they did well. They fought hard, and a lot of them made changes and improvements. I'm very proud of them and they should be proud of themselves."

On if the team met or exceeded expectations ... "I think we exceed. We DQed that relay, otherwise we would have been higher. I don't know if sixth place is a fair representation for where we are as a team, and I know that's disappointing to the girls. Nationally, a lot of those girls are going to make an impact and I think they were noticed, not only by the Big Ten but across the nation. It has turned out to be one of the fastest conferences around, no doubt."

On how the team handled Jim Richardson's absence ... "There wasn't a coach that didn't come by and comment on how the team did and how they didn't skip a beat with Jim not being here. We had a ton of lifetime bests, and the kids consistently performed well. We had a couple of champions and had a couple people make the NCAA meet, so this is what we hoped for with everything running smoothly. I'm confident that this is how they would have performed with Jim here. They prepared well and weren't going to let anything stop them."

Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423