Michigan Swimming and Diving Teams Take Down Notre Dame, Northwestern

Photo Credit: Griffin Scott

ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan swimming and diving teams had a strong showing Saturday afternoon against Northwestern and Notre Dame, as both squads picked up wins over the Wildcats and Fighting Irish. The Northwestern women and men also beat Notre Dame in the tri-meet.

Michigan Women’s Press Release

The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan women’s swimming and diving team turned in a dominant performance Saturday (Jan. 10) to top Big Ten rival Northwestern, 199.5-100.5, and Notre Dame, 182-118, inside Canham Natatorium.

The Maize and Blue tallied nine event wins in the tri-meet.

Senior Ali DeLoof turned in a day of strong swimming, sweeping the freestyle sprints and assisting on two relay wins. The Grosse Pointe, Michigan, native won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.90. Following a 20-minute break, she outraced the field in the 100-yard freestyle, going 50.33.

In the three distance events, a pair of U-M freshmen led the charge. Gillian Ryan won both the 200 and 500-yard freestyles. She went 1:49.83 in the 200 and 4:52.14 in the 500. Sophomore Claudia Goswell took second in the 500 (4:56.11) and third in the 200 (1:50.40).

Freshman Hannah Moore paced the field in the 1,650-yard freestyle, going 16:27.79 to take first place. Her time is an NCAA ‘B’ cut. Teammate Jessica Wolf placed second at 16:31.68. Moore also took second in the 200-yard backstroke.

In the diving well, senior Carey Chen was Michigan’s top performer. The senior took first in the one-meter competition with a score of 274.95. She also placed second on three-meter at 273.30. Junior Sarah Kamstra placed fourth on three-meter and fifth on one-meter.

U-M’s other individual event was freshman Clara Smiddy; she won the 100-yard backstroke at 54.71. Smiddy also took second in the 200-yard individual medley behind Notre Dame All-American Emma Reaney. Freshman Emily Kopas turned in a pair of strong breaststrokes, finishing second in both the 100 (1:03.31) and the 200 (2:14.02) to Reaney.

DeLoof, Kopas, junior Zoe Mattingly and sophomore Madeline Frost won the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet (1:42.22). To close the meet, DeLoof, her sister, freshman Gabby DeLoof, Mattingly and Ryan raced to a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.21).

The Wolverines will next compete against Ohio State in coed dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 24, at noon inside Canham Natatorium. Admission to the meet is free.

Michigan Men’s Press Release

In its first competition in almost a month, the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men’s swimming and diving team showed no signs of rust, defeating Northwestern, 178-114, and Notre Dame, 177-117, on Saturday (Jan. 10) inside Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines won 13 of 16 events, finishing 1-2 in six of them.

The Wolverines looked dominant on relays, sweeping the top three spots in the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet with the winning team of Aaron Whitaker, Bruno Ortiz, Jeremy Raisky and Paul Powers touching the wall collectively at 1:27.57. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Tristan Sanders, Ortiz, Jack Mangan and Justin Glanda was also victorious to close out the meet (2:59.50).

The only non-winner during the first half of the meet was junior Anders Nielsen, who finished second in the 1,650-yard freestyle (15:09.64) to current U.S. National Team member Jordan Wilimovsky. Despite the second-place finish, Nielsen’s time was an NCAA ‘B’ cut. He was followed by sophomore Cameron Stitt in third (15:38.18) and freshman PJ Ransford in fourth (15:40.45).

After that, Michigan was rolling. The 200-yard freestyle was a tight finish, with junior Dylan Bosch (1:37.10) out-touching Glanda (1:37.30) at the wall. Whitaker (48.38 in the 100-yard backstroke) and Ortiz (55.63 in the 100-yard breaststroke) followed him with victories, before a pair of 1-2 finishes closed out the first portion of the meet: sophomore Bryan Hughes (1:50.12) and freshman Evan White (1:50.37) in the 200-yard butterfly) and Powers (20.07) and sophomore Vinny Tafuto (20.43) in the 50-yard freestyle.

Following the break, Ortiz (44.85) and Nielsen (45.04) were 1-2 in the 100-yard freestyle, while Sanders picked up a win in the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.93). Senior Richard Funk got in the win column also, finishing first in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:59.04). Then, in one of the more exciting races of the afternoon, Glanda chased down Wilimovsky down the stretch to take first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:28.65). To close the meet, Michigan also went 1-2-3-4 in the 100-yard butterfly (Tafuto winning at 48.68) and junior Will Raynor won the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.89).

Fifth-year senior Thomas Jahnke led the Wolverines over in the diving well. He was third on the three-meter springboard (305.65) and fourth on one-meter (298.35).

Michigan takes a week off from competition before getting back into the pool on Saturday, Jan. 24, against rival Ohio State. The dual meet will begin at noon at Canham Natatorium, and admission is free.

Northwestern Women’s Press Release

The Northwestern women left Saturday’s double dual meet in Ann Arbor, Mich. with a thrilling 154-146 win over Notre Dame after a 1-2 finish against ND in the afternoon’s final race pushed Northwestern past the Irish.

In the 400 yard free, the Northwestern B team of Mary Warren, Aja Malone, Valerie Nubbe and Annika Winsnes came in behind only Michigan with a time of 3:25.99. They were quickly followed by the `Cats A team of Madeline Sims, Julia Pratt, Katherine Senseman and Anna Keane finished in 3:29.30. The highest-placing Notre Dame team was fifth.

Several Wildcats put forth great individual efforts Saturday.

Sophomore Lacey Locke won convincingly in the 200 back in a time of 1:59.54. Locke trailed coming out of the second split but turned it on in the second half of the race to edge out Michigan’s Hannah Moore.

Ellen Stello was a winner in the 200 fly, using a late push in the final quarter of the race to beat out Bridget Casey of the Irish. Stello won with a time of 2:00.82.

Malone swam a solid 100 fly, narrowly finishing runner-up to Notre Dame’s Cat Galletti. The Northwestern freshman was four-tenths of a second behind, coming in at 55.80. Winsnes also picked up a second place finish in the 200 free, missing the top spot by half a second.

In the 1650 free, Lauren Abruzzo earned a top three finish, after a pair of Wolverines took spots one and two. Abruzzo swam the distance race in 16:45.20, and fellow Wildcats Megan Purdy and Sydney Modeas followed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The eighth-ranked Wolverines earned a 199.5-100.5 win over Northwestern.

For complete results from Saturday’s action at Michigan, follow the link at the top of the page.

The Wildcats are back in action on Senior Day next Friday, Jan. 16 when they host Milwaukee at 5 p.m. in the Norris Aquatics Center.

Northwestern Men’s Press Release

The Northwestern men split a double dual meet at Michigan Saturday with a dominant 173-127 win over Notre Dame. The win was the Wildcats’ sixth of the season.

Jordan Wilimovsky provided a major highlight from the meet with his performance in the 1650 free. The race came down to Wilimovksy and one of his biggest national competitors in Michigan’s Anders Nielsen. Wilimovsky trailed in the early going but quickly captured the lead and didn’t let it go. His time of 15:06.53 was more than three seconds better than Nielsen’s.

Wilimovsky then took Michigan’s Justin Glanda to the very end of the 500 free but came up just .09 seconds short of the win. The Northwestern junior grabbed the lead midday through the race, but Glanda was able to swim past in the final lap for the victory.

In the 100 back, Mark Ferguson swam the second-best time with a 49.67, and Uula Auren came in second in the 100 breaststroke in 55.95. Both were edged by swimmers from Michigan, but Ferguson and Auren both helped the team’s effort against Notre Dame by finishing ahead of any Irish swimmers.

The Wildcats picked up a couple more runner-ups with Alex Snarski finishing the 200 back in 1:49.46 and the 400 free relay team of Ferguson, Almog Olshtein, Auren, and Andrew Jovanovic swam a 3:01.93 to finish the meet.

Michigan ultimately proved too strong for the Wildcats, winning 178-114.

For complete results from Saturday’s action at Michigan, follow the link at the top of the page.

The Wildcats are back in action on Senior Day next Friday, Jan. 16 when they host Milwaukee at 5 p.m. in the Norris Aquatics Center.

Notre Dame Women’s Press Release

After a grueling week-plus of training over winter break, the University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving squad took to the pool for the first time in 2015, as it competed against Big Ten opponents Michigan and Northwestern Saturday afternoon at the Donald B. Canham Natatorium on the University of Michigan campus.

The Irish (4-7) won five events, including three from senior All-American Emma Reaney, but fell to the Wolverines (182-118) and the Wildcats (154-146).

Reaney, who was last seen competing in Doha, Qatar for the U.S. squad at the FINA Short Course World Championships in early December, picked up where she left off with wins in the 100 (1:01.57) and 200 breast (2:13.48) and the 200 IM (2:01.76). She also notched a pair of NCAA B cuts in both breaststroke events.

Junior Catherine Galletti won the 100 fly in 55.32 and senior Allison Casareto took first in the 3-meter dive (295.30). The pair also tallied a couple of second-place finishes, as Galletti secured the runner-up position in the 100 back (55.36), while Casareto claimed second on the 1-meter board (273.80).

Other runner-up finishes included senior Bridget Casey in the 200 fly (2:01.39) and the foursome of sophomore Catherine Mulquin, Reaney, senior Courtney Whyte and Galletti in the 200 medley relay (1:43.03).

Notre Dame had especially impressive showings in the 200 breast and 3-meter dive. In addition to Reaney’s win in the 200 breast, freshman Sherri McIntee claimed third (2:18.59) and sophomore Danielle Margheret touched the pad fourth (2:19.03) to give the Irish a 1-3-4 finish. The Irish faired similarly in the 3-meter as Casareto was followed by teammates Lindsey Streepey (3rd – 266.25) and Emma Gaboury (4th – 257.65).

The Irish continue their Big Ten road swing next weekend with a two-day, double-dual meet in Madison, Wisconsin against the Wisconsin Badgers and the Indiana Hoosiers. Action gets underway at 6 p.m. ET Friday and continues at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.

Notre Dame Men’s Press Release

The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team suffered a tough road loss against top-ranked Michigan and Northwestern Saturday. The Irish lost to the Wolverines 177 to 117, while the Wildcats beat them 173 to 127.

“We were definitely tired heading into today’s meet,” Irish head coach Matt Tallman says. “The guys did a great job training in San Juan (Puerto Rico), and that will pay huge dividends for us at the end of the season.

“Unfortunately, it was not conducive to racing well today.”

One bright spot for the Irish was their diving squad, which claimed first and second in the men’s three-meter event and took first in the one-meter event. Ann Arbor native Nick Nemetz dove to first place in the one-meter (314.35) and took second in the three-meter (316.60) behind sophomore teammate Joseph Coumos (353.55).

“It was very encouraging to have old friends supporting me in Ann Arbor,” the senior squad member admits. “I had people come to the meet today that haven’t seen me dive since high school, and I felt very comfortable performing in front of them.”

Breaststroker Zachary Stephens also had strong swims for the Irish, taking second in the 200 breast (2:02.02) and third in the 200 IM (1:52.90). He also finished seventh in the 50 free (20.95).

Fellow seniors Cameron Miller and John Nappi put in strong performances for the Irish as well, as Miller came in third in the 100 breast (56.17) and fifth in the 200 breast (2:04.78). Nappi placed fifth in the 1650 free (15:50.45) and came in seventh in the 500 free (4:38.77).

One of Notre Dame’s strongest performers came in the form of junior Bogac Ayhan who clinched third in the 100 back (49.91) before placing eighth in the 100 fly (50.50). Sophomore Kevin Bradley also posted his own third-place finish, touching in just behind two Wolverine swimmers in the 200 fly (1:52.53).

Michigan native Joseph Krause claimed sixth in the 100 free, posting the top time for he Irish in the event with his 46.81 mark. Fellow freestylers Michael Hudspith and Justin Plaschka tied for ninth place (47.39).

In relay events, the A team lineup of Krause, Plaschka, Nappi and Bradley tied for third in the 400 free relay (3:06.45) while Ayhan, Miller, Stephens and Plaschka took fifth in the 200 medley relay (1:30.56).

The Irish are next in action Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16-17 at Wisconsin, facing off against the Badgers and in-state rival Indiana.

Results: Northwestern, Notre Dame vs. Michigan

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