Michigan’s Katii Tang Time Trials 1:45 in 200 Free at Big Ten Championships

2022 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Tuesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 19th Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00 pm (Tuesday 11:00am/4:30pm)
• Where: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions
  • Women: University of Virginia (17x) (results)
  • Men: University of Louisville (1x) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Tuesday (prelims/finals)
  • Wednesday (prelims/finals)
  • Thursday (prelims/finals)
  • Friday (prelims/finals)
  • Saturday (prelims/1650s/finals)
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Friday Finals Heat Sheets
• Day 4 Finals Live Recap

University of Michigan junior Tsoi Lam “Katii” Tang swam 1:45.66 in a 200 yard free time trial on Friday. Tang is not on Michigan’s scoring roster, but if she were, that time would have qualified her for the A Final on Friday and placed her 6th overall in the event.

Tang swam 1:46.34 in the prelims on Friday morning, which shaved .05 seconds off her previous best time from Michigan’s First Chance Meet earlier this month. That time would have placed her into the “B” final if she were on Michigan’s scoring roster.

Instead, she swam the evening time trial to sort of “simulate” a finals race, and managed to go well-under her previous best time.

That time would have earned an invite to last year’s NCAA Championship meet, though this year’s cutline is expected to be faster.

Her teammate Sophia Kudryashova was 2nd in the Time Trial swim in 1:46.63.

Tang also swam 4:49.46 in the 500 free at this meet, a time that would have qualified for the C Final.

We have seen a few misses at this meet from coaches trying to adapt to the new roster limits that cut back on the number of scoring swimmers each team can have.

The most notable also came on Friday, where Ohio State freshman Nyah Funderburke swam a non-scoring 51.62 100 back in prelims, which was the fastest time in the heats and the second-best overall.

Even though these athletes are exhibitioned in the standings, their times do count and can earn them NCAA Championship meet qualifications.

Tang is a junior from Hong Kong, the latest of Hong Kong’s top female swimmers to train at Michigan. Two of the country’s 7 female Olympic swimmers at the Tokyo 2020 Games attended college at the University of Michigan, including Siobhan Haughey, who won silver medals in both the 100 and 200 freestyles. She and Jamie Yeung both trained primarily under Rick Bishop, who is now the head coach at LSU.

Other Notable Time Trials from Thursday & Friday:

• Illinois junior Athena Salafatinos swam 54.51 in a 100 fly time trial, which is her best time by 1.3 seconds. Her previous fastest was a 55.84 from a mid-season meet. In total, she dropped 1.4 seconds this season in the 100 fly, dramatically improving that event to complement her specialty the 100 back. In the 100 back prelims, she was 28th in 55.02, missing her best time and just-missing the C Final; in the 100 fly prelims, she was 55.56, which was also under her former best time, to sit 30th. Her time trial swim would have just-missed the C-Final by .07 seconds. She also missed the school record by just .05 seconds.
• Ohio State’s Aislinn Walsh swam 1:59.08 in a 200 fly time trial, which cuts half-a-second off her personal best.
• Ohio State’s Janessa Mathews time-trialed a 1:00.54 in the 100 breaststroke. A member of the Buckeyes’ non-scoring roster, she swam 1:00.82 in prelims. Her lifetime best is a 1:00.0. 1:00.54 would have been the 10th-best time in prelims.