Big Ten Saturday Recap: Michigan Sweeps Louisville; Northwestern Edged on Final Relay

Felix Aubeck Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Dan D’Addona.

The Michigan men’s and women’s swim teams completed impressive two-day sweeps at Louisville on Saturday with plenty of top performances, and yes another battle between Siobhan Haughey and Mallory Comerford.

While Haughey topped defending NCAA champion Comerford in the 200 freestyle, the Michigan men made an equally impressive statement.

The No. 12-ranked Wolverines got winning performances from the underclassmen to help it close out No. 7 Louisville, 230-119, on Saturday.

Freshmen and sophomores accounted for five of the team’s seven individual wins on Saturday. Three second-years got individual victories: Jacob Montague in the 100-yard breaststroke (54.43), Felix Auböck in the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.42) and Tommy Cope in the 400-yard IM (3:52.62).

Ricardo Vargas got his first career victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle (8:58.22). In the diving well, Ross Todd had a huge bounce-back performance, scoring nearly 400 points to win on the three-meter springboard (399.98). And though he didn’t place in the top two, sophomore Jake Herremans scored over 350 points for the second consecutive day, finishing third (355.58).

Senior Paul Powers and graduate student James Peek went 1-2 in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing within .02 seconds of each other (20.12/20.14). Senior Evan White also claimed an individual win, taking the 100-yard butterfly (47.57).

The Wolverines also claimed both relays. They finished 1-2 in the 200-yard medley relay to open the morning, but it was the ‘B’ team of sophomore Alex Martin, Cope, sophomore James Jones and freshman Luiz Gustavo Borges who touched first (1:27.80), thanks to a 19.14 split on the final leg by Borges. Jones, Borges, Auböck and Powers won the 400-yard freestyle relay to end the meet (2:56.86).

In the women’s meet, Haughey and senior Gabby DeLoof claimed NCAA ‘A’ times in the 200-yard freestyle to help the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women’s swimming and diving team close out a 220-127 win over No. 9 Louisville.

The 200-yard freestyle had a lot of firepower with three of the top six finishers at last year’s NCAA Championships in Haughey, DeLoof and Louisville’s Comerford, the defending NCAA champion. Haughey topped Comerford for the second consecutive day in a freestyle event, completing the reversal from last week’s SMU Classic in which Comerford won both the 100 and 200. She won on Saturday by nearly two seconds over DeLoof, who also came in under the NCAA ‘A’ standard (1:46.46).

The Wolverines went 1-2-3 in a pair of events. Junior Yirong Bi led the way in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:43.40, a pool record), followed by freshman Sierra Schmidt (9:51.89) and junior Katie Duggan (10:06.18). Senior Clara Smiddy won another backstroke race, taking top honors in the 200-yard backstroke (1:55.77) ahead of DeLoof (1:57.25) and sophomore Jacqui Schafer (1:58.70).

Other victors included sophomores Miranda Tucker in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.92) and Vanessa Krause in the 100-yard butterfly (54.07).

Michigan also won both relays, taking first in the 200-yard medley relay with junior Taylor Garcia, Tucker, Krause and Haughey (1:40.01) and in the 400-yard freestyle relay with DeLoof, junior Catie DeLoof, Krause and Haughey (3:17.27).

The Wolverines put three divers in the top four on the one-meter springboard, led by freshman Nikki Canale in second (264.38).

Purdue wins Indiana Intercollegiates

Purdue won all 10 men’s swimming events to coast to victory in the team scoring at the annual Indiana Intercollegiates meet, which featured a nine-university field this year.

Senior Adam Noens led the way for the Boilermakers by sweeping the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle. Erik Juliusson won the 200 individual medley, finished as the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke and contributed to the victorious 200 free relay. Eddy Zawatski won the 50 free and swam the leadoff leg on the victorious 200 free relay.

Keith Gill (100 free), Nick McDowell (500 free), Chris Bals (100 breast) and Trent Pellini (100 fly) also won individual events for Purdue.

Men
1.) Purdue 838
2.) Evansville 236
3.) Rose-Hulman 230.5
4.) Wabash 223
5.) DePauw 177
6.) Valparaiso 102.5
7.) Manchester 50

Women
1.) Ball State 624
2.) Evansville 542
3.) DePauw 267
4.) Rose-Hulman 146
5.) Indiana Wesleyan 143
6.) Valparaiso 133
7.) Manchester 48

Northwestern falls to Georgia Tech

The Northwestern women led Georgia Tech until the final relay but were edged 153-147 on Saturday.

The ‘Cats came out strong from the beginning, starting the meet off with a win by the 200 medley relay team of first years Calypso Sheridan, Sophie Angus, Ilektra Lebl and senior Mary Warren. They took the top spot with a time of 1:43.40.Sheridan won the 100 back in 55.52, followed by Angus taking the 100 breast for the second meet in a row with a time of 1:03.96. Northwestern went 1-2 in the 200 fly with junior Alex Grimes in first, followed by Lebl just .05 seconds after. To grab the fourth win, Warren set a new season-best in the 50 free, winning in 23.19. The team took the top two spots again in the 200 back, this time with a win from Sheridan in 1:59.49, and second place finish by sophomore Nicole Aarts with a time of 2:02.97.

For the final win of the day, sophomore Krystal Lara beat out her competition with a time of 5:02.86 in the 500 free. Sydney Modeas posted 10:23.20 to win the 1,000 free.

Northwestern men’s swimming set seven additional season-high times against Georgia Tech, but Georgia Tech came away with a 209-85 victory Saturday afternoon.

DJ Hwang won the 1000 free with a time of 9:28.47. He then improved on his season-best time in the 500 free by swimming the event in 4:37.17.

Junior Jack Thorne won the 100 back with a time of 50.47. Liam Gately won the 500 free and tallied a season-high time of 4:35.48. Lyon Zhang improved his season-best time in the 100 breast by finishing in 58.74.

Nebraska beats Iowa State

Six members of the Nebraska swimming and diving team set career bests in the home opener against the Iowa State Cyclones. The Huskers remain undefeated with a final score of 193-102.

The Big Red started the meet off strong in the 200-yard medley relay with Carla Gonzalez-Garcia, Tori Beeler, Dana Posthuma and Lindsay Helferich in the lane (1:44.97) for first place. Autumn Haebig, Gwen Worlton, Izzie Murray and Allie Worrall followed for second (1:45.80).

After Flatt set a new career best with her time of 10:09.89 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Haebig set a personal best of her own in the 200-yard freestyle with her time of 1:52.01.

Morgan McCafferty recorded a first place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with her time of 57.20.

The Huskers swept the 100-yard breaststroke with Beeler (1:03.00), senior captain Jordan Ehly (1:03.72) and Worlton (1:04.48) rounding out the top-three finishes, respectively.

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