Michigan, Louisville to Compete in “Tripleheader” Next Weekend

Photo Courtesy: Dave Wegiel

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When the University of Michigan swimming and diving program welcomes Louisville to Canham Natatorium next weekend, it won’t be a typical dual meet.

Drawing influence from the baseball and softball teams, the two programs will compete in a “tripleheader” featuring three separately-scored sessions — Friday (Oct. 7) at 6 p.m. and Saturday (Oct. 8) at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The team that wins two of the three sessions will win the meet. Admission is free.

“We’re always looking for creative ways to make our sport more enjoyable for student-athletes and fans alike,” said head coachMike Bottom. “Our baseball and softball teams play multiple games in a series with an opponent, and the coaches get to make calls on the fly. We are going to emulate that in this series.”

Each session will consist of nine events: six individual (distance freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, sprint freestyle, backstroke, individual medley), two relays (freestyle, medley) and one diving event. Before warm-up, the distance for each of the swimming events will be chosen at random and coaches will have to make their entries on the spot. Swimmers can be entered in three events with a maximum of two individual events. The same process will be done for the second and third sessions with the distances remaining. They are as follows:

Medley Relay: 200, 400, Mixed 400
Distance Freestyle: 500, 800, 1,000
Sprint Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Backstroke: 50, 100, 200
Individual Medley: 100, 200, 400
Freestyle Relay: 200, 400, 800
Diving: 1M, 3M, Synchro

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
Relays* (6): 22-16-14-12-10-6

* Excluding the mixed medley relay (eight places, 22-16-14-12-10-8-6-2)

Following the meet, select members of the team will sign autographs.

Press release courtesy of the University of Michigan.

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