Michigan Swims Past Louisville in 1st of Tripleheader

Michigan's Clara Smiddy. Photo Courtesy: Mike Comer/ProSwimVisuals.com

By Dan D’Addona.

The University of Michigan men’s swim team won five individual events and defeated Louisville 246.5-188.5 in the first of a best-of-three tripleheader meet this weekend in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines won the women’s first session 257-179. The next two sessions are Saturday.

In this tripleheader format, a roll of the dice determined the distances of the session’s events, producing some rare races.

The Michigan distance group set the tone early, going 1-2-3-4 in the 800-yard freestyle. Junior PJ Ransford took top honors (7:11.91), followed by freshmen Felix Auböck (7:16.55) and Charlie Swanson (7:25.39) and senior Cameron Stitt (7:25.43). Other Wolverines to take home victories included senior Vinny Tafuto in the 50-yard butterfly (21.71) and senior Chris Klein in the 100-yard individual medley (50.28).

Michigan freshman Jacob Montague, who won the 50-yard breaststroke in 25.36, and freshman diver Jake Herremans won the 1-meter springboard competition with an NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score (300.45).

In the women’s meet, Michigan’s Yirong Bi won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.75) and the 800-yard freestyle (7:39.09), winning the 800 by a 10-second margin. The sophomore from China also recorded the meet’s fastest split on the 800-yard freestyle relay (1:47.87), helping secure the win (7:17.02) teaming with junior Gabby DeLoof, sophomore Siobhán Haughey and junior Clara Smiddy.

In her first meet since representing Hong Kong in Rio, Haughey won the 100-yard individual medley by nearly two seconds (57.11), while Smiddy led a 1-2-3 effort in the 200-yard backstroke. She touched at 1:56.97 and was followed by DeLoof (1:58.92) and freshman Jacqui Schafer (1:59.66). The relay team earned an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

Meanwhile, three Wolverines qualified for the NCAA diving zones on 3-meter. Freshman Kristen Hayden took top honors (312.37), while seniors Allie Murphy (283.35) and Keegan McCaffrey (281.70) also qualified.

Louisville had some strong swims, too, starting with the opening race as Grigory Tarasevich, Carlos Claverie, Grace Oglesby and Mallory Comerford won the 400-yard mixed medley relay in 3:26.30.

Oglesby (24.76) won the women’s 50-butterfly, while Andrea Cottrell (28.25) won the women’s 50-yard breaststroke.

In the men’s meet, Trevor Carroll won 200-freestyle, posting a time of 1:37.51.
Tarasevich took first in the 200-backstroke (1:45.4). Louisville’s ‘A’ team of Carroll, Matthias Lindenbauer, Zach Harting, and Tarasevich took first in the 800-freestyle relay (6:35.45).

The second session begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday.

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