The University of Michigan men and women came away with victories Sunday at the short course meters Orange Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla.
The men’s team put up a standard 231 points to defeat the U.S Air Force Academy’s 187 points. On the women’s side the Michigan girls managed to score 265 points over George Mason’s 85.
Michigan won the first event on the women’s side, the 200 medley relay in 1:54.99. Clara Smiddy put up a 29.11 backstroke split to put the team in first where they remained for the rest of the race. The men narrowly lost the medley relay to Air Force 1:40.48 to 1:40.53.
Kicking off some impressive individual performances was Gillian Ryan in the 400m freestyle. Ryan put up a time of 4:15.21 to win the first individual event of the meet over Becca Postoll’s 4:18.72.
Kevin Jackson of Air Force raced to a fast 4:02.93 in the men’s version of the event, making the Air Force men undefeated two events into the meet.
George Mason’s first victory of the competition came shortly after as Sydney Fisher dropped a 28.04 to win the 50m butterfly over Michigan’s Ali DeLoof. Deloof was second in 28.24 just ahead of Zoe Mattingly’s 28.30.
For the most part it was a Michigan take over from then on. Clara Smiddy put the women even farther in front with a smooth 1:01.12 100m backstroke win. Gabby DeLoof finished second behind her in 1:02.64.
Kyle Dudzinski stormed to a 55.02 in the men’s 100m backstroke to take the win over teammate Aaron Whitaker. Whitaker was right behind him in 55.25 to take second in front of Air Force swimmer Kris Tillery.
Michael Barnosky of Air Force put up arguably some of the best swims of the meet. In the men’s 50m breaststroke he claimed gold with a 27.97, winning by over half-a-second to solidify him as the only one under 28-seconds. Later on in the meet he also won gold in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.91.
On the women’s side it was Siobhan Haughey of Michigan who dropped one of the fastest times. Haughey put up a 55.86 in the 100m freestyle to fall short of her seed time, but indefinitely win the event by a solid amount over teammate Sharalynn Missiuna.
Michigan’s Paul Powers was also able to show off his speed, although his win came in the men’s 50m freestyle. Powers was a 22.19 to win by almost a full second. He was the only competitor under 23-seconds.
The University of Michigan finished off the event with relay victories in both the men’s and women’s 200 freestyle relay.
22.19 really solid time