By Dan D’Addona.
The Michigan men and women took it to rival Ohio State on Friday. The women won 212-88 and the men won 186-114 — extremely convincing victories.
But what does this mean for the Wolverines? Some weeks it seems like they are a top five team in the nation with their depth and other weeks it seems like they might be fighting just to be in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships.
So which set of Wolverines are we going to get down the stretch?
If this season is anything like last year, were are going to get a lot. Michigan won the Big Ten Championship and loses relatively few points from that meet with the graduation of Ali DeLoof and diver Sarah Kamstra.
DeLoof leaves a gap of plenty of points at the NCAA meet, however. But Siobhan Haughey and Yirong Bi have been sensational, especially in the stretch run of the season, and could have the Wolverines looking like a top five team if they can get a couple more swimmers at their level.
Haughey was at her best against rival Ohio State as she continued her strong season with three more individual wins, taking top honors in the 100-yard freestyle (48.39), 200-yard freestyle (1:46.76) and 200-yard IM (1:59.32). She also set the tone for the team in the meet’s opening relay, coming from nearly a half-second down on the anchor leg to give her team the win (1:40.31).
Meanwhile, the men were also expected to beat Ohio State, but there is a lot of uncertainty with what the Michigan men will bring to the table in the postseason. The Wolverines look like the solid No. 2 team in the conference behind Indiana, but with a couple of improved relays, who knows?
What we do know is that Michigan dominated Ohio State and, in a rivalry like that, will give the Wolverines some big-time momentum.
Here is a look at what happened in the dual meet:
Bi also stuck to her winning ways, shattering a pool record in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:35.49). The old record set by Ashley Steenvoorden (Minnesota) was 9:36.87 and did not fall at last year’s Big Ten Championships, standing for eight years until Bi’s performance on Friday. Bi also won the 500-yard freestyle later in the meet (4:44.92).
Freshman Kristen Hayden won both the one-meter (300.90) and three-meter (323.30) springboards.
Juniors Emily Kopas and Clara Smiddy were among the team’s other big winners, each sweeping their stroke disciplines. Kopas (1:01.55) formed a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with Bi (1:02.43) and later won the 200-yard breaststroke by more than two seconds (2:12.36). The Wolverines scored major points in the backstroke events led by Smiddy, who won the 100 (54.47) and 200 (1:56.08). A DeLoof was second in each race — sophomore Catie DeLoof in the 100 (54.79) and junior Gabby DeLoof in the 200 (1:56.80).
Freshman Vanessa Krause won the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.98).
In the men’s meet, the No. 9 Wolverines won 186-114 over No. 17 OSU.
Felix Auböck, a freshman from Austria, provided the highlight of the meet for the men’s side, out-touching Ohio State’s Josh Fleagle by the slimmest of margins (one one-hundredth) to win the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.85). He later won the 500-yard freestyle (4:24.14), combining with junior PJ Ransford (4:25.32) and senior Cameron Stitt (4:27.19) on a 1-2-3 finish. Ransford won the 1,000-yard freestyle by nearly eight seconds earlier in the meet (9:01.10).
Chris Klein won the 200-yard breaststroke in (1:57.20) and the 200-yard IM (1:48.05).
Two of the team’s three divers picked up NCAA Zone Diving qualifying scores: freshman Jake Herremans in a third-place finish on three-meter (335.25), and sophomore Collin DeShaw in a fourth-place finish on one-meter (303.25).
Ohio State two events, both coming from reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Liz Li. She won the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.30 and the 100 butterfly (53.39), both events that she won conference titles in last season.
In the men’s meet, OSU swimmers and divers claimed five events at the meet: three in the pool and two on the diving boards. Colin Zeng and Christo Law had great performances, going 1-2 in both diving events. Zeng’s score on one-meter was 431.70, the best of the bunch, and he won on 3-meter with a mark of 432.75. Law placed second behind his teammate with scores of 389.65 on 1-meter and 408.75 on three-meter.
Fleagle won the 100 freestyle, touching the wall at 44.15 to outpace the field. Matt McHugh won the 100 backstroke with a time of 47.64.
