The University of Michigan men’s swimming team played host to the First Chance Meet to end its 2013-14 regular season and to prepare to play host for the Big Ten Championship.
It may have said First Chance Meet, but it was one more opportunity for a select group of eight Eastern Michigan University swimmers to get some time in the pool before the Mid-American Conference Championship Meet.
Other schools that sent swimmers were Purdue University and Michigan State University. No points were scored for this meet.
The first day saw Michigan record top times in all eight events.
Wolverine swimmer Jason Chen placed first in two events in the 100-butterfly and 50-freestyle. Aaron Ghiglieri finished second to Chen in both of those events by a margin of .12 seconds in the 100-fly and .31 seconds in the 50-free.
Will Raynor got a pair of top finishes for the Wolverines in the 200-Individual Medley and 100-backstroke.
Tom Coates was the only Eagles swimmer in the 50-freestyle and won the first of two heats in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.20. The time was good for seventh after two heats in the 50-free with Chen punching the wall at 20.05.
Christopher Hodges placed fifth in the 200-IM with Ethan McNally finishing behind.
McNally got the highest finish for the Eagles with a fourth place in the 400-IM with Aaron Lawson taking fifth out of five swimmers in the event.
Hodges also finished fifth in the 100-breaststroke as EMU’s Conner Finnigan, Grant Schwarz and Dan Proctor took an 8-9-10 finish in the same event. Axel Schmitter-Sanchez participated in the 100-butterfly and took sixth place in a field of six swimmers.
“I think people are swimming on or under their times,” Coates said after the first day of competition. “Generally, I think the mood is pretty good and we’re pretty happy.”
Purdue had two swimmers place second with Matt Quinlan in the 100-breaststroke and Ted Curtiss in the 100-backstroke.
Michigan State had only one swimmer compete with Bryan Williams placing third in the 100-butterfly with a time of 47.90, which was .16 slower than Chen’s time.
The Eagles used this meet as an opportunity to see how they matched up against some Big Ten swimming programs.
“It can be hard to race against some if you don’t get out in front,” Coates said. “It’s good to be swimming next to some of the world’s best swimmers in one of the world’s best pools.”
Michigan was dominant again on the second day of competition. Paul Corbae grabbed a pair of first place finishes in the 100- and 200-breastroke events.
Coates got the highest finish among the Eagle swimmers with a third place in the 200-butterfly during the timed trials and finished fourth in the same event during the morning session. Coates was also the only Eagle swimmer to compete in the timed trials.
Hodges took home sixth in the 200-breast with McNally and Schwarz finishing eighth and ninth, respectively in the same event. Lawson and Schmitter-Sanchez rounded out the order in fifth and sixth respectively in the 200-fly event. Crompton took sixth in the 100-freestyle.
The Eagles will take part in the MAC Championship meet at the University at Buffalo March 6-8.
