Seven Michigan seniors stood out in their final meet at Canham Natatorium, putting on a clinic against in-state rival Michigan State.
A loud and sometimes emotional crowd looked on as the Wolverines honored senior swimmers Kristyne Cole, Megan Craig, Caitlin Dauw, Liz Johnson, Liz Koselka, Alexa Mehesan and diver Amanda Lohman before the senior night meet on Friday.
“It’s always emotional,” said Michigan coach Jim Richardson. “I mean you go through four years with people, and you watch them grow and mature both in the pool and out of the pool. You’re proud of them and happy for them, but you’re sad because you’re going to miss them.”
After the ceremonies concluded, an efficient and focused Michigan team — which is 33-2 all time in dual meets against the Spartans — left its rival without an answer. The Wolverines took 15 of 16 events on their way to a 171-120 win.
Three-time 2011-12 Big Ten Diver of the Week Amanda Lohman continued to make her case as one of the top divers in the nation, sweeping first place in both the one- and three-meter dives, scoring 363.15 and 323.77, respectively.
“Those were both personal bests, and I just kind of wanted to go out there and have fun at my last dual meet at home,” Lohman said.
Koselka used the home crowd as inspiration on her way to a first place finish in the 1,000-yard backstroke.
“It was a nice surprise,” Koselka said. “I don’t do that event very often so it was really fun to try it out. I was happy with it.”
Richardson kept his team focused throughout a hard week of practice, leading up to the meet, and the team managed to put the emotions of senior night aside. At this point in the season, the team is focused on the Big Ten championships as its regular season comes to a close. Its dominant performance in the dual meet with the Spartans punctuated its regular season.
“We always talk about controlling the controllables,” Richardson said. “You can’t control what other people are going to do, all you can do is control your own preparation daily. (We had a) really hard practice on Wednesday. … Everybody raced hard and I was really pleased about that.”
The Wolverines will try and ride the momentum of their 4-1 dual meet record in the month of January — as well as Friday night’s emotional victory against Michigan State — on their way to the Big Ten championships on Feb. 15.