Michigan
Michigan State
U-M Finishes Unbeaten Regular Season with Win at MSU
2/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 6, 2015
| Site: East Lansing, Mich. (McCaffree Pool)
Score: #15 Michigan 199, Michigan State 95
Records: U-M (9-2, 7-0 Big Ten), MSU (5-9, 0-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Wed-Sat., Feb. 18-21 -- at Big Ten Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 11 a.m./6:30 p.m.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team ended the regular season on a high note, winning 14 of 16 events and capturing two pool records en route to a 199-95 win over in-state foe Michigan State on Friday (Feb. 6) at McCaffree Pool. The Wolverines have now won 27 consecutive meetings in the series.
With the win, U-M finishes the dual-meet season with nine victories, the most in a single season since 1997-98. Seven of those wins came against Big Ten opponents, giving Michigan its first undefeated conference slate since 2007-08, when it was 4-0.
The Wolverines looked good on the relays, winning all five on this night by a wide margin. Ali DeLoof, in particular, was a force, swimming the first leg on four of them. On the winning 400-yard medley relay (3:45.30), DeLoof tied a pool record after going 55.23 in the first 100 yards of backstroke. She also swam the first leg on the 200-yard medley relay (1:43.58) with Emily Kopas, Zoe Mattingly and Madeline Frost; on the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:34.65) with younger sister, Gabby DeLoof, Frost and Julia Fiks Salem; and on the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.87) with G. DeLoof, Claudia Goswell and Gillian Ryan. The one relay she did not swim on -- the 800-yard freestyle relay -- established a new pool record, as the team of Ryan, G. DeLoof, Goswell and Hannah Moore touched the wall collectively at 7:28.53.
Two other individuals won two events each: Marni Oldershaw in the 100-yard individual medley (57.38) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:19.34) and Carey Chen on both the one-meter (309.22) and three-meter (326.25) springboards.
Other individual event winners included Zoe Mattingly in the 50-yard backstroke (26.05), G. DeLoof in the 50-yard butterfly (25.23), Frost in the 50-yard freestyle (23.92), Ryan in the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.92) and Moore in the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.14).
The Wolverines will now prepare for its third postseason under the direction of Mike Bottom, as the Big Ten Championships run from Feb. 18-21 in Columbus, Ohio. Preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m., with finals commencing at 6:30 p.m.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Mike Bottom
On if the team met the goal of working on the details ... "Yes. One of the most important details we worked on tonight was the mental side. We're just now starting to get rest. It's a little bit of a funky feeling. Some people are feeling good; others not so much. It's important to race with what we have. I think our girls raced as hard as they could. It was fun to see them go through the process."
On the relays ... "We're pleased, but we always want to be faster. I think that's part of the drive to get better. Putting Ali (DeLoof) on the front end, we want her to feel the pressure that she'll feel at Big Tens. We wanted to put that in her face and see how she would deal with it. The same went for some others, like Marni Oldershaw. She was in some critical spots tonight so she could learn to deal with some of the pressure. And even our divers. They had a good meet, but they were feeling it. If you are a Michigan athlete, you should always desire to do well here at Michigan State. That alone makes people put pressure on themselves. It'll be multiplied at Big Tens."
On what the team needs to do between now and Big Tens ... "Recovery. We need to recover them. We also need to help them with the jitters. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on this team. We're moving forward, but we know that this is more than desire. Our alumni are watching. They're hoping for a top-three finish, which we haven't had in several years. If we can help them mentally for what's ahead, that's the best thing we can do."
Communications Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
