The Michigan Wolverine men won their third-straight Orange Bowl Classic meet at the Jacobs Aquatic Center in Key Largo, Florida, and the Kansas Jayhawks took the victory on the women’s side.
This event, which coincides with the month long celebration of college football’s Orange Bowl game just up the road in Miami, closes out winter training trips for teams in the South Florida area. It’s part of the month-long festivities surrounding the game, and often serves as a great reset meet for programs coming off of brutal holiday training. The meet is held in short course meters and typically follows a sprint format that includes individual 50 meter races.
This year, the Michigan men won with a final score of 372 over their competitors from George Mason, who had 187. While the timing of the meet doesn’t usually allow for season-best times, the Wolverines still had some very good swims en route to sweeping the events. Among those was Daniel Madwed’s 54.13 100 fly (48.5 converted) and Miguel Ortiz’s 25.59 50 back (roughly 23.0 converted).
On the women’s side, Kansas was the dominant force in taking 11 of 12 events, and finished with 297.5 points. Behind them were George Mason (87), Vermont (68.5), and FIU (65). For Kansas, Iulia Kuzhil swept the backstroke events, and senior Amanda Maez won the 50 free in 27.05 (24.2 converted). That mark is just off of her season-best time: a good sign for the Jayhawk relays.
The lone swimmer to break the perfect day for the Jayhawks was Ashley Danner, who took the 50 breaststroke in 32.86 (roughly 29.5 converted). Danner was a breakout performer at last year’s NCAA’s with a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.
Both winning coaches emphasized the meet as a kick-off for the spring semester to jumpstart themselves back to racing after a long time off. Michigan’s Mike Bottom said “This is a proving ground, before we go back and start our racing season.
Other Tuesday Results
North Carolina and Penn State showed down in a non-scored post-training meet in Naples, Florida. Notable times for the men- Jo Kinderwater (UNC) took the 1000 free in 9:11.01 and Sean Grier (Penn State) swims a 51.15 in the 100 fly. On the women’s side, Amy Modglin (Penn State) won the 200 back in 1:58.56, and Carly Smith (UNC) victored in the women’s 100 back in 57.32…