Iowa City, IA- The Michigan Wolverines turned in dominating performances in a relay meet at the University of Iowa Friday night.
The depth of the Wolverine men was apparent tonight. They took first and second in four of the five relays tonight, giving up just one second place finish to the Hawkeye men. On the women’s side, the Hawkeye women surprised by winning the 4×100 IM relay and the 100 medley relay. Although not standard events, it indicates some stroke and IM depth for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan did dominate in the 200 free relay on the men’s side, with the A and B relays finishing first and second. All eight of the Michigan men were under 21 seconds with the fastest split coming from 10 time All-American senior Bruno Ortiz in 19.69. Junior Pete Brumm led off the A relay with a 20.61, followed by Ortiz, freshman Paul in 19.92 and sophomore Vinny Tafuto in 19.85.
These times splits keep pace with the times the Texas men put up in their intrasquad meet last week, although those were from a flat start rather than a relay exchange. Saturday’s traditional meet lineup should give a better indication of where the Michigan sprinters are, especially with the 400 free relay.
The only events that were scored Friday were diving and the 1000, where the Michigan men took first, second and third, and women took first and third. There was room for improvement on the men’s side however.
Freshman Ian Rainey won the race in 9:15.54. sophomore Cameron Stitt was second in 9:20.35. It will be a long time before Michigan has another distance swimmer like Connor Jaeger, but the four that swam tonight, Rainey, Stitt, freshman PJ Ransford, and junior Paul Solely, looked very strong tonight. the top three swam a straight line across the pool for a majority of the race. Junior Andes Nielsen, who posted Michigan’s second fastest time last season did not swim tonight
In the Women’s 1000, another Michigan newcomer took over. Freshman Hannah Moore won in a time of 9:44.40, 5.11 seconds faster than Iowa senior Becky Stoughton, and almost 12 seconds faster than the Wolverines top time from last year, posted by then-junior Kelsey Cummings. Cummings swam 10:01.10 to finish fourth Friday night.
If the 100 yard free and 4×100 yard IM relays were NCAA championship events, the Wolverine men would have gone to their team hotel with A cuts.The Wolverine A relay was the same lineup that won the 200 free relay earlier in the evening. They swam an astounding 36.85 on their way to first place, fast enough to miss if you were sending a short text message. Meanwhile, the 4×100 yard IM relay, led by defending Big Ten 200 IM champion Dylan Bosch, finished in an impressive 3:21.66.
Aaron Whitaker made his college debut for the Wolverines swimming fly on the 400 medley relay with a split of 47.64 and a 20.50 on the 200 free relay. He will likely make his individual debut tomorrow.
The Wolverine men lead the Hawkeyes 20-18, with diving keeping the Hawkeye men in it.
The women lead Iowa 25-13 and Nebraska 25-13, Iowa leads Nebraska 28-10.
Competition resumes tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. and will be a better indicator of where the Wolverines are early in the season.
Live results are available here: http://www.hawkeyesports.com/livestats/c-swim/
Great to see youth rising up for wolverines….nice swimming!!!
Go Blue! Some fast swims tonight. Peter Brumm led off a strong 100 back split (which was a significant weakness last year), Ortiz n Funk have 100 breast covered, Aaron Whitaker swam a great 100 fly and could/should free up Dylan Bosch from sprint fly duties and Evan White, Paul Powers, Anders, or Ortiz all can cover the freestyle leg. Should be some great relays for Blue this year. Some fast and encouraging swims to start the year. Some sprint freestyle depth showing early too. Will be interesting to see Sat AM times in a full meet.