TOLEDO, Ohio — When a team breaks one record, it’s
commendable. When it breaks six, it’s incredible.
- Janna Hutz
- Kelli Stein was a member of the record-setting 200-yard relay team, finishing with a time of 1:45.29. (TONY DING/Daily)
The Michigan women’s swimming and diving team went to
Toledo last night knowing it had to make up for its disappointing
weekend against nationally-ranked Florida. With that in mind, the
Wolverines overpowered the Rockets 179-113 and broke six pool
records.
The Wolverines got started early, knocking off Toledo’s
record in the 200-yard relay. Consisting of Kaitlyn Brady, Kelli
Stein, Anne Weilbacher and Abby Seskevics, the relay finished with
a time of 1:48.54, breaking the record by one-hundredth of a
second.
“I told the girls that there were quite a few records that
were definitely in their grasps,” Michigan head coach Jim
Richardson said. “It pushes them harder, and it always makes
for more exciting races.”
In the second event of the night, freshman Susan Gilliam broke
the 1,650-yard freestyle record. Brady and Stein also broke records
in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively. Annie
Stein broke the record in the 400 individual medley and senior
captain Anne Weilbacher broke the 100 butterfly record.
“I was really happy with the way we swam tonight,”
Weilbacher said. “It’s nice to compete in Toledo
because it is so close to Ann Arbor.”
The Wolverines had a large turnout of spectators — mostly
enthusiastic parents — to cheer them on to victory. Tom
Weilbacher drove up from Columbus to watch his daughter swim.
“There is a large nucleus of families that try to come out
and support the girls at all their meets,” he said. “We
delegate who gets to lead the cheers. It’s always a great
time.”
Richardson believes that the parents are an integral part of the
team.
“There is an incredible amount of support from the
parents,” Richardson said. “It’s part of the
tradition of great Michigan swimming.”
Even after the solid performance last night, Richardson knows
that his team is a long way from being prepared for the NCAA
Championships, and there is a lot of work to be done.
“After this past weekend, we had a lot of improving to
do,” Richardson said. “We swam a lot faster here at
Toledo than we did in Florida.”
Michigan’s next meet is Nov. 7 against Florida State and
Michigan State at Canham Natatorium.
“We’ll have two weeks of important training before
our next meet,” Richardson said. “They are going to be
uninterrupted with meets so we are going to be working really hard.
I think we are on a nice track for being a top team this
year.”