Week #1: Wolverines Prepare for Tripleheader with Louisville
10/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 4, 2016
• | Parking Notice
THIS WEEK
Friday, Oct. 7 -- vs. Louisville (Canham Natatorium), 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 8 -- vs. Louisville (Canham Natatorium), 10 a.m./4 p.m.
• Social Media: Facebook | Twitter
The University of Michigan men's and women's swimming and diving teams open the 2016-17 season this weekend with a fun and unique twist on the collegiate dual meet, hosting Louisville for a tripleheader at Canham Natatorium. The first of three sessions will be held on Friday (Oct. 7) at 6 p.m., while the remaining two sessions will take place on Saturday (Oct. 8) at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Admission is free.
FORMAT
Each session will consist of nine events for men and women: six individual (distance freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, sprint freestyle, backstroke, individual medley), two relays (freestyle, medley) and one diving event.
To determine the distance for the swimming events, a die will be thrown twice during each session -- once an hour before the start of the meet and once again before diving. For example, on Friday, a 1 or 2 corresponds to the shortest distance, a 3 or 4 to the middle distance (and the 400-yard medley relay), and a 5 or 6 to the longest distance (and the 400-yard mixed medley relay). On Saturday morning, a 1, 2 or 3 corresponds to the shortest distance remaining, and a 4, 5 or 6 to the longest distance remaining.
Swimmers can be entered in three events with a maximum of two individual events. The event order is as follows:
• Medley Relay: 200, 400, Mixed 400
• Distance Freestyle: 500, 800, 1,000
• Butterfly: 50, 100, 200
• Breaststroke: 50, 100, 200
Teams will roll die again to determine distance for second half of session.
• Diving: 1M, 3M, Mixed Synchro
• Freestyle: 50, 100, 200
• Backstroke: 50, 100, 200
• Individual Medley: 100, 200, 400
• Freestyle Relay: 200, 400, 800
Scoring will be as follows:
• Individual Swimming Events (8): 11-8-7-6-5-4-3-1
• Diving (6): 11-8-7-6-5-3
• Mixed Synchro Diving (8): 11-8-7-6-5-4-3-1
• Relays (6): 22-16-14-12-10-6
• Mixed Medley Relay (8): 22-16-14-12-10-8-6-2)
The team that wins two of the three sessions will win the meet.
WOLVERINE BITES
• Michigan returns 21 letterwinners off last year's squad that won the Big Ten championship and finished 10th at the NCAA Championships. Eight of those student-athletes (seven swimmers, one diver) were individual qualifiers to last year's NCAA Championships: Yirong Bi, Gabby DeLoof, Siobhán Haughey, Emily Kopas, Allie Murphy, Becca Postoll, G Ryan and Clara Smiddy. Bi (500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle), Haughey (200-yard freestyle) and Smiddy (200-yard backstroke) are all returning NCAA All-Americans. At the Big Ten level, U-M returns 68 percent of its individual scoring from last season (727.5 points).
• The women's team has made considerable strides in four years under Mike Bottom, going from 36th (NCAA) and sixth (Big Ten) in 2013 to 10th (NCAA) and first (Big Ten) last season. The team also improved in dual meets, going 11-9 in Bottom's first two years (2013, 2014) to 17-3 in the previous two years (2015, 2016).
• The Wolverines have nine freshmen on the 2016-17 roster: Monica Babits (Mississauga, Ontario), Jackie DeLoof (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), Emily Eastin (Irvine, Calif.), Kristen Hayden (Hillsborough, N.J.), Vanessa Krause (Chesterton, Ind.), Millie Macdonald (Auckland, New Zealand), Annalisa Perez (San Jose, Calif.), Lucy Roberts (Portland, Ore.) and Jacqui Schafer (Sydney, Australia).
• Sophomore Siobhán Haughey represented Hong Kong at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, reaching the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle. She finished 13th (1:57.56). Her time in preliminaries (1:56.91) was a Hong Kong national record. Haughey was also the first swimmer from Hong Kong to reach an Olympic semifinal in 64 years.
• Junior Clara Smiddy was named to the 2016-17 U.S. National Team last month after finishing sixth in the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.12) at U.S. Olympic Trials.
• Freshman diver Kristen Hayden will represent Team USA at the 2016 Junior World Championships, to be held Nov. 29-Dec. 4 in Kazan, Russia. She earned the spot by winning two silver (senior -- one-meter, senior; three-meter, junior) and two bronze medals (senior -- three-meter, platform) at the 2016 ATT Diving National Championships in August.
• Mike Bottom is in his ninth year at Michigan, holding dual-meet records of 70-3-1 (men) and 28-12 (women). Last year, he led the men's and women's teams to Big Ten titles and served as an assistant coach with Team USA at the Olympics in Rio. The coaching staff features two new assistants -- Sam Wensman, who was promoted to full-time after spending three years as a volunteer assistant; and Kristy Brager, who is in her first year at Michigan after coaching at Iowa for four years. Also on staff is new volunteer diving assistant Jamie Bissett, a former four-year diver at Purdue.
• Former men's swimming and diving head coach Jon Urbanchek was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor last Friday (Sept. 30). Urbanchek coached the men's team for 22 years (1982-2004), guiding the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten titles -- including 10 straight from 1986-95 -- and the 1995 national championship. Also a five-time assistant coach for the United States at the Olympics, Urbanchek is also enshrined in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. [ Induction Video | Photos ]
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Louisville -- Last year, Louisville finished eighth at the NCAA Championships and fourth at the ACC Championships. The Cardinals are led by Olympic Trials finalist and U.S. National Team member Andrea Cottrell (breaststroke) and sophomore Mallory Comerford (freestyle/butterfly), a native of Kalamazoo who was named to the U.S. Junior National Team.
The Wolverines are 1-0 all-time against Louisville. The only previous meeting between the two teams came Oct. 24-25, 2014, with Michigan winning, 232.5-120.5.
UP NEXT
Fri-Sat., Oct. 14-15 -- at SMU Classic (Dallas, Texas), 6:35 p.m. CDT
Saturday, Oct. 22 -- host Intrasquad/Alumni Meet (Canham Natatorium), 10:30 a.m.
Fri-Sat., Nov. 4-5 -- at Virginia, vs. Penn State (Charlottesville, Va.), 5 p.m./Noon
Players Mentioned
