Pool records, victories mark women results

A lifetime best, two pool records and a handful of victories were the results of the first day of a three-day tournament for the Michigan women's swimming team. And that's on an off day. The flu-ridden Wolverines traveled to South Bend yesterday to partake in the Notre Dame Invitational against Syracuse, Notre Dame and Ohio University.

While the team usually relies on its stars - such as Shannon Shakespeare and Jen Eberwein - for this meet, at least, times have changed. The Wolverines were led by a stellar performance from Jennifer Arndt. She swam her career-best in the 500-yard freestyle, knocking eight seconds off her previous record.

KELLY McKINNELL/Daily The Michigan women's swimming team blasted to two team pool records in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays at the Notre Dame invitational.

"She was absolutely outstanding," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "To knock off that much time is a really great sign of progress."

The time of 4:58 was good enough for second place.

In the 200 and 400 free relays, the Wolverines set pool records. This happened even though one of Michigan's top swimmers, Talor Bendel, was sick and not even expected to swim.

"Talor swam well considering her illness," Richardson said. "She had a great leg in the 200 and swam anchor in the 400."

Freshman Kasey Harris was once again impressive. In one of the major meets of the season, she won the 200 individual medley.

"Kasey's a very talented swimmer," Richardson said. "She's gaining more and more confidence as the season progresses."

The Wolverines were also victorious in the 50 free. While none of the times were NCAA qualifiers, the Wolverines came pretty close.

"They made some of the consideration cuts in both relays, and the 200 IM," said diving coach Richard Kimball. "There are a lot of people sick, so they're swimming really well. A meet like this with qualifying in the morning and the event finals in the afternoon is pretty exhausting. It's a lot of swimming in a little amount of time."

It was an impressive performance on a day when Shakespeare, a former Olympian, was in Ann Arbor taking an exam. Eberwein, a U.S. national team member, was still recovering from an illness.

12-05-97