Michigan Women Swim to SMU Title by 1 Point

University of Michigan junior Marie Georger, touches the wall Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, at the Orange Bowl Swimming Classic in Key Largo, Fla. Michigan placed first in the women's division while West Virginia University won the men's division. The event, staged at the Jacobs Aquatic Center, was the highlight of the winter collegiate swimming training season in the Florida Keys. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Stephen Frink/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)

Photo Courtesy: Stephen Frink

By Dan D’Addona.

The Michigan women’s swim team used a balanced attack to hold off several of the nation’s top programs and win the SMU Classic on Saturday, edging Louisville by just one point.

The Wolverines scored 325, followed by Louisville (324), USC (303), UCLA (266.5), SMU (237) and Miami (184.5).

The Wolverines secured the victory win by finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle relay to close the meet (1:30.75). Louisville won that race, so any finish lower than second would have given the Cardinals the meet win. U-M also took third in the 200-yard medley relay (1:39.93).

An unusual format, the SMU Classic features eight swimmers and a diver from each competing school. Swimmers may swim 3 events per day, one of which must be a relay.

Six different Michigan women won individual events.

Freshman Kristen Hayden finished first on the 3-meter springboard (316.00) to earn High-Point Diver of the Meet honors.

In the pool, sophomore Yirong Bi and freshman Vanessa Krause each won events by slim margins: Bi in the 500-yard freestyle (4:37.62), two tenths-of-a-second ahead of Louisville’s Mallory Comerford; Krause in the 200-yard butterfly (1:56.46), one tenth-of-a-second in front of USC’s Maddie Wright.

Three other student-athletes won races in ‘B’ finals: sophomore Becca Postoll in the 500-yard freestyle (4:41.90), sophomore Siobhán Haughey in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.05) and junior Gabby DeLoof in the 200-yard backstroke (1:56.27).

Junior Clara Smiddy finished second in the 200-yard backstroke (1:54.33) and fourth in the 200-yard IM (1:59.58). Other ‘A’-final swims came from Haughey in the 100-yard freestyle (third, 49.03) and junior Emily Kopas in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:11.04).

SMU junior Matea Samardzic led the SMU women’s swimming and diving team winning the Swimming High Point award. The 2016 Olympian scored the most points as an individual swimmer, combining placements from individual and relay events.

Samardzic posted the fastest time in the country in the 200-yard backstroke, clocking a 1:53.69 for the win and meet record. She also posted a provisional time in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing second in a time of 1:59.43.

Louisville came out and won the first relay of the night with a record-setting 200 medley relay. Alina Kendzior (24.99), Andrea Cottrell (26.98), Grace Oglesby (23.94) and Casey Fanz (22.18) combined for a time of 1:38.09 and the win.

Comerford touched second in the 500-free with a school record of 4:37.64 in a wild finish, just .02 behind Bi. Comerford won the 100-free in 47.89.

Cottrell took first in the 200-breast with a 2:08.74.

Louisville won the 200-freestyle relay with Comerford (22.32), Abigail Houck (22.77), Oglesby (22.76) and Fanz 22.20 combined for 1:30.05 and a new meet record.

USC’s Louise Hansson, a Swedish Olympian, took first in the 200 IM in 1:55.95, a meet record and 0.60 off of an NCAA A cut. She won the race by 3.48 seconds.

UCLA’s Linnea Mack took second in the 100 freestyle (48.63).

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