In the first session on Saturday of Michigan’s “first chance meet,” the Wolverines’ 200 free relay broke a Canham Pool Record in 1:17.06.
The team of:
- Paul Powers – 19.51
- Vinny Tafuto – 19.33 (RT .09)
- Justin Glanda – 19.30 (RT .18)
- Bruno Ortiz – 18.92 (RT .23)
combined for the record-breaking swim, which is an important one in that it knocks a relay set in 2014 by rivals Ohio State (and Penn State – a tie) off of the board. Michigan now owns all 5 of the men’s relay pool records (25y) in its home pools (though all 5 women’s records still belong to visiting teams).
The meet, which thus far has included participants from Eastern Michigan and Purdue, will run through Sunday.
There were several season-best times on Saturday morning as well, though no other swims that were really earth-shattering. Michigan’s Colin Eaton swam a 20.03 in the 50 free, Bryan Hughes was 1:48.96 in the 200 IM, and Nick Killeen was 4:27.10 in the 500 free to take the fastest times in the rest of the session’s events.
I really like the idea of the first chance meet. This year, there is one spot open for the Big 10 Championship team (last year there were two) and thirteen swimmers to choose from. Instead of Mike Bottom just picking the full roster for Big 10’s, he usually leaves one or two spots open and let’s the rest of the team battle it out for the last spot or two. I love this competition aspect and allows for the one (or two) that truly deserve to go, show what they have when they are fully rested.
I agree with you on that. The other thing is that it highlights the reality that, even though there is no award for it, the guys who narrowly miss the squad are so valuable in pushing their teammates to go faster to make it. And another way it fosters team unity is by erasing the ambiguity of a more subjective selection process that might leave a few left wondering whether they should have been on the squad.