The Michigan department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that the Norovirus was the ailment that sickened more than 100 students over the weekend at the University of Michigan, which was playing host to the 2016 Women’s Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships.
After initial reports that the championship would be delayed, the Big Ten Conference, along with its coaches, decided that the event would proceed as scheduled – though teams were not allowed to use the Michigan pool (or any other pool) for most of the day on Wednesday before the meet began.
While individual student-athlete diagnoses cannot be confirmed as a matter of privacy, 3 swimmers from the University of Michigan and 1 diver from the University of Indiana were quarantined through the first 2 days of competition in case that their ailments were the same highly contagious Norovirus that was spreading throughout the university’s campus.
University staff disinfected the entire natatorium, including the pool, before the beginning of the meet in order to mitigate the risk to other student-athletes. There were no other reports coming out of the Big Ten Championships of any further swimmers taking ill, though that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.
Despite the early setback, the Michigan women came out with their first Big Ten title since 2004.
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