Michigan
Big Ten Championships
MacNeil Grabs Gold, Michigan Remains Second on Day 2 at Big Ten Championships
2/17/2022 11:14:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
» Michigan remains in second place after two days at the Big Ten Championships with 411.50 points. Ohio State leads with 425 points.
» Maggie MacNeil won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.32 seconds.
» The 400-yard medley relay team finished second and achieved an NCAA 'A' qualifying time.
» Seven Wolverines finished in the top eight across the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and 1 meter diving.
Site: Madison, Wis. (Soderholm Family Aquatic Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 2 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: 2nd place of 13 Teams (411.5 points)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Feb. 18 -- at Big Ten Championships - Day 3 (Madison, Wis.), 10 a.m./5:30 p.m. CST
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
MADISON, Wis. -- Senior Maggie MacNeil won the 50-yard freestyle to lead the charge for the University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team as it maintained its second-place standing after day two at the Big Ten Championships on Thursday (Feb. 17) at the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center.
The Wolverines finished the day with a two-day total of 411.50 points; Ohio State leads with 425 points.
MacNeil won the Wolverines' first gold medal with her win in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 21.32, an NCAA 'A' qualifying time -- the only individual 'A' time of the night. The win also marked the fourth time in her career she has won the 50 free at Big Tens, making MacNeil the first swimmer in program history to do so.
Two other Wolverines joined MacNeil in the 'A' final with freshman Lindsay Flynn (21.94) finishing fourth and sophomore Claire Newman (22.24) finishing eighth. Freshman Natalie Kan swam in the 'C' final and earned 3.5 points with her tie for 21st place in an NCAA 'B' time of 22.63.
The evening opened with the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Kathryn Ackerman swam in the 'A' final, battling throughout all 20 laps. she finished the race in fourth, earning 26 points for the team score. She finished with a career-best time of 4:40.00, an NCAA 'B' cut. Two other Wolverines earned points in the 500-yard freestyle in freshman Kathryn Shanley and sophomore Kaitlynn Sims both swimming in the 'B' final. Shanley finished 11th in 4:44.47, and Sims finished 15th with a time of 4:48.69.
Michigan advanced all five of its swimmers from the prelims to the finals of the 200-yard individual medley. Junior Mariella Venter swam a 2:01.95 to finish 24th, and sophomore Claire Donan finished 18th in a personal-best 1:58.63. Freshman Letitia Sim won the 'B' final, touching the wall first in 1:56.31 to finish ninth, while seniors Victoria Kwan (1:56.80) and Olivia Carter (1:57.24) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 'A' final.
The day wrapped up with the 400-yard medley relay, as MacNeil, Sim, Carter, and Flynn swimming in the race. MacNeil got the Wolverines off to an early lead of more than a second, but Ohio State battled back over the course of the next three swimmers. Michigan finished second in a time of 3:27.73.
In the diving well, senior Allie Klein made it to the one-meter diving finals. She opened the finals with three big dives to put her fourth halfway through. Klein was unable to continue the impressive dives and finished in eighth place with 306.50 points, just short of her personal best.
Day three of the Big Ten Championships begin Friday (Feb. 18) with preliminaries at 10 a.m. CST and finals set to start at 5:30 p.m. CST. Three-meter diving preliminaries will begin at noon CST.
Results
Team Standings
1. Ohio State 425.0
2. Michigan 411.5
3. Indiana 405.0
4. Wisconsin 371.0
5. Minnesota 320.5
 6. Northwestern 295.0
 7. Rutgers 190.0
 8. Nebraska 171.0
 9. Purdue 160.0
10. Penn State 152.0
Illinois 152.0
12. Iowa 92.0
500-Yard Freestyle
1. Paige McKenna, Wisconsin 4:38.09# 4. Kathryn Ackerman, U-M 4:40.00# 11. Kathryn Shanley, U-M 4:46.85# 15. Kaitlynn Sims, U-M 4:47.43
200-Yard Individual Medley
1. Kristen Romano, OSU 1:54.43# 7. Victoria Kwan, U-M 1:56.80# 8. Olivia Carter, U-M 1:57.24# 9. Letitia Sim, U-M 1:56.31# 18. Claire Donan, U-M 1:58.63# 24. Mariella Venter 2:01.95
50-Yard Freestyle
1. Maggie MacNeil, U-M 21.32* 4. Lindsay Flynn, U-M 21.94# 8. Claire Newman, U-M 22.17# 21. Natalie Kan, U-M 22.63#
One-Meter Diving
1. Sarah Bacon, Minnesota 329.30%^ 8. Allie Klein, U-M 306.50^
400-yard Medley Relay
1. Ohio State      3:26.35*%   (Emily Crane, Hannah Bach,   Katherine Zenick, Amy Fulmer) 2. MICHIGAN        3:27.73*   (Maggie MacNeil, Letitia Sim,  Olivia Carter, Lindsay Flynn)
* NCAA 'A' standard
# NCAA 'B' standard
^ NCAA Zone Diving standard
% Big Ten Championships Record
Players Mentioned
