Michigan
Florida
Wolverines Open Season with Victory Over Florida
10/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Result: Michigan 137, Florida 106
Records: U-M (1-0), Florida (4-1)
Next U-M Meet: Saturday, Oct. 27 -- vs. Eastern Michigan (Canham Natatorium), 1 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team won its opening dual meet of the season for the 34th consecutive year with a 137-106 victory over Florida on Friday afternoon (Oct. 26) at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines captured first place in eight events, including victories by freshmen in three events.
The turning point for Michigan actually did not come by a first-place finish. With only a two-point lead, U-M entered into the 200-meter butterfly facing one of Florida's strengths as the Gators feature two of the best in the nation in Eric Donnelly and Duncan Sherrard. However, freshman Zayd Ma (Ann Arbor, Mich./Clonlara HS) posted a personal-best time of 2:05.80 and senior Eric Wilson (Portland, Ore./Sunset HS) followed in third at 2:06.58 to prevent Florida from pulling away in the dual meet.
Michigan then responded by winning the next three events to seal the victory. Junior All-American Garrett Mangieri (Closter, N.J./Mercersburg Academy, Pa.) continued the momentum swing for the Wolverines by winning the 100-meter freestyle (51.88) and freshman Chuck Sayao (Mississauga, Ontario/Cawthra Park HS) followed with a victory in the 200-meter backstroke (2:05.87).
Holding a four-point advantage at 96-92, Michigan put itself in the driver's seat by sweeping the top three spots in the 400-meter freestyle. Freshman Brendan Neligan (Hempstead, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy HS) won his second race of the day (4:08.65), after having won the 800-meter freestyle earlier in the afternoon. Finishing behind Neligan in the 400 free were fellow freshman Andrew Hurd (Oakville, Ontario/Universal HS) in second (4:10.92) and senior All-American Tim Siciliano (San Marcos, Calif./San Marcos HS) in third (4:12.47).
Michigan didn't allow Florida an opportunity to get back into the race after that point as junior All-American Jeff Hopwood (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto HS) won the 200-meter breaststroke, and the Wolverines also were victorious in the 400-meter freestyle relay. Hopwood, who missed all of last season with an injury, was able to cover the 200 meters in a time of 2:22.12, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Dan Ketchum (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS), sophomore Michael Porth (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Jesuit HS), Hurd and Mangieri cruised to victory in 3:31.84.
Ketchum also added a victory for the Maize and Blue in the 200-meter freestyle (1:56.26) to go along with diver Jason Coben's (Newtown Square, Pa./Maple Newtown HS) first-place finish on the one-meter springboard (307.12). Coben posted NCAA zone-qualifying marks in both the one-meter and three-meter (310.27) events.
Michigan's next meet will be on Saturday (Oct. 27) when it hosts Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. at Canham Natatorium.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Jon Urbanchek
On the meet ... This was a good performance for our team. We got the rust out and we started to get going like an engine that needs oil. It went well overall."
On Zayd Ma ... "The biggest surprise of the meet for us was Zayd Ma. His second-place finish in the 200 fly was a big momentum shift for us. He was able to split up their top guys' finishes and he had the swim of the meet by posting a personal best."
Senior All-American Tim Siciliano
On the performance of the freshmen ... "I'm really impressed with how well the freshmen did. That's what we needed, was for the younger guys to contribute and obviously they did. To do what Zayd (Ma) did is impressive and everyone else did really well. I'm not surprised though because they all work hard and we knew coming into this year we had one of the best freshman classes in the nation."
Freshman Zayd Ma
On his performance ... "Most of it was just mental attitude. I wanted to help out the team and I pushed myself as hard as I could. It will take a while for it to set in, but I felt like it was a great swim."
Freshman Brendan Neligan
On winning his first two events in a collegiate dual meet ... "I knew I had a shot in both of my events and I just wanted to go out and race hard and race for Michigan. It's great for our confidence to get a win and the freshmen are happy with their performance. We want to be considered as the best freshman class in the nation and today we gave a good effort."
Players Mentioned
