The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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ncaa tournament: women's swimming Michigan Shows Potential For The Future When working toward a big goal, it's important to note the small steps forward, to help chart the progress that has been made. Michigan women's swimming and diving head coach Mike Bottom was looking for just that at the NCAA Championships March 21-23 in Indianapolis. His team did not disappoint him. Of the eight total swimmers that qualified for the national meet, four advanced to the final day of the event. The eight representatives were up from the two that went a year ago. Though they didn't reach Bottom's goal of a top-25 finish, the Wolverines finished in a respectable 36th place with nine team points. Bottom is never satisfied, and refuses to let up, and he has encouraged his team to do the same. Improvement is there, but the team Junior Courtney Beidler, who notched a 36th-place finish in is far from complete. "I think we swam the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.98 at the national well, we swam best meet, said the Wolverines are "really excited for next season" times with best after a year of growth. photo courtesy U of M Photography morning times on a regular basis," he said. "We were faster than we were at Big Tens. We had a good meet, and it needs to be better. We have eight ambassadors to go back to the team and help the rest of the women learn that we need to work harder and be more intense and get better." One of those eight is junior Courtney Beidler. She placed 36th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.98. Freshman Marni Oldershaw also swam in the event, ending up in 46th place (2:00.12). The day also featured an appropriate swan song from a senior swimming in her last race for the Maize and Blue. Swimming in the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle, Adrienne Bicek clocked a 16:37.36 to nab 32nd place. Five Wolverines earned honorable mention All-America honors: freshman Ali DeLoof and Zoe Mattingly shared honors with seniors Ashley Cohagen and