Iowa City, IA- The Michigan Wolverine men showed everyone why they are perennial Big Ten champion favorites, as well as NCAA title contenders, dominating Iowa 173-119 on the men’s side, and Iowa and Nebraska 191-109 and 182-112, respectively, on the women’s side, and locking up several NCAA B cuts at the season opening meets.
Men:
The men’s half of the meet featured outstanding performances from sophomore Vinny Tafuto, junior Dylan Bosch, and the individual debut of freshman Aaron Whitaker.
Tafuto secured an NCAA B cut in the 50 freestyle, with an outstanding time of 20.09,. Tafuto was also 45.87 in the 100 free.
Wolverine Junior Dylan Bosch showed the crowd why he was the conference champ, winning the 200 fly with by almost two seconds over his teammate Evan White with a 1:46.88, good enough for an NCAA B cut.
Aaron Whitaker, in his first individual race, also secured a B cut for the Wolverines, winning the 100 fly in 48.21.
In somewhat of a shock, the Michigan A medley relay was disqualified for a false. juniors Pete Brumm, senior Bruno Ortiz, junior Dylan Bosch, and Tafuto made up the relay that would have won the event for the Wolverines. Bosch was also 1:49.37 in the 200 IM, over five and half seconds ahead of Iowa’s Matt Boyd.
A star may have been born Wolverine freestyler in freshman Paul Powers, who had the fastest anchor split of anyone in the 200 medley relay, 19.64 and was 46.01 in the 100 free.
While the sprints looked good, the Michigan 400 free relay has some catching up to do, while the Texas men had two relays come in at 2:57 or faster at their intrasquad, the Wolverines had just one relay under three minutes, 2:58.90, the team of senior Justin Glanda, Tafuto, sophomore Jack Mangan and Ortiz. these four had the fastest splits for Michigan with Ortiz impressing the most, splitting 43.71 on the anchor leg.
Iowa scored just one individual victory, from senior Grant Betulius in the 100 back, who touched out Wolverine junior Pete Brumm, with a time of 49.27.
Overall, It was a strong performance from the Michigan men. They should still be the Big Ten favorites, but they have catching up to do nationally with the likes of Texas and Cal.
Women:
The Michigan women turned in an impressive performance as well, winning all but two events.
Iowa sophomore Emma Sougstad, who set the school record in the 100 breast last season, beat Michigan freshman Emily Kopas, by over a second, 1:03.36-1:04.43. Nebraska’s Alexandra Bilunas edged out Michigan’s Taryn Collura, winning the 50 free by just .02 in 23.2.
Outside of those two races, the Wolverine women were the fastest swimmers in the pool.
Michigan freshman Hannah Moore continued her domination of the distance events from friday night. She again beat Iowa senior Becky Stoughton by almost five seconds, which is an impressive margin considering it was a 500 rather than last nights 1000. She was 4:49.93 in the 500 Saturday. She turned in almost identical 200 splits between the 1000 and 500 and in both distance races this weekend, Moore never had a 50 split about 30, holding consistent 29 splits, and finished both races with sub 29 split. Moore will be a swimmer to watch as the season progresses.
The Wolverines’ A 400 free relay blew away the field to close out the meet, coming in at 3:24.35, almost six seconds ahead of Iowa’s 3:30.10. Freshman Clara Smiddy, junior Zoe Mattingly, sophomore Julia Fiks Salem, and junior Ali Deloof all split under 51.50. to put a cherry on top of the double dual meet victory.
Smiddy also secured an NCAA B cuts with her victories in the 100 and 200 back. She swam a 54.40 to beat teammate Ali Deloof. She was 1:55.99 in the 200, well under the required 1:59.19 to get that cut. Smiddy will be another swimmer to keep an eye on this season.
Full meet results can be found here