The Michigan women’s swimming and diving team viewed its dominant win over conference rival Michigan State at McCaffree Pool on Friday as a confidence-builder.

Michigan tallied its second consecutive Big Ten victory in a 141-96 blowout of the Spartans.

Early in the season, when the Wolverines competed against a pair of top-10 teams in consecutive weeks, they were easily overmatched by the competition. Michigan (2-3 Big Ten, 3-6 overall) struggled to find a rhythm in the pool.

But lately, the Michigan swimmers have found their stroke and easily outpaced the competition.

The Wolverines won an impressive 10 out of 13 events to secure the win and set a pool record.

“We continue to look a little better, and I think any time you can go to a pool and set the pool record you have to be happy with your performances,” Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. “We are just continuing to compare how we look during the week and how we look during the weekend.”

Richardson established a practice schedule that will better prepare the team for Big Ten meets. Many swimmers have been fatigued from the team's rigorous training camp over winter break, which has forced Richardson to implement more recovery days and allow swimmers the option for more difficult workouts. The system gives several swimmers a lighter workload heading into the postseason.

And it seems that the balanced training has paid off for some swimmers. Richardson stressed that the Wolverines' supporting cast must step up and contribute for the team to have strong performances in postseason meets.

“They give points all the way to 16th place, and every point counts,” said Richardson. “There are times when a meet may come down to one or two points so every swim is important because it’s an opportunity to go fast, do something for your team.”

The dual meet was an opportunity for those unheralded swimmers to compete in a meet.

Junior Emily Hanson had a banner day, leading the Wolverines with two event titles. Hanson took an early lead in the 1,000-yard freestyle and touched the wall first with a time of 10:12.48, 16 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and freshman teammate Liz Koselka (10:28.55). Her second title came in the 500-yard freestyle (5:02.85).

Following a strong performance last week against Ohio State, junior Leigh Cole continued her success in the sprint events. Cole picked up victories in the 50-yard freestyle (24.14) and 100-yard freestyle (51.69), a season-best.

"It always feels good to get a few wins,” Cole said. “We are really excited as we head into Big Tens. We don't look at these meets as meaning that much.”

The 200-medley relay highlighted the evening events as the team of Cole, seniors Payton Johnson and Hannah Smith, and junior Margaret Kelly broke the pool record (1:34.01) in the exhibition race.

Though Kelly and Smith have led the team in individual victories, it will be the efforts of their teammates which will determine the success of the team.

Confidence will be key for the Wolverines to compete among the conference elite as they host the Big Ten Championships in two weeks. But they are peaking at the right time.

“It is important for those people to be in races where they have a chance to get their hand on the wall first, to be in tight races,” Richardson said. “Those are all important things to develop before Big Tens, and it is going to do nothing but help us."