Michigan
NCAA Championships (Day 1)
Vanderkaay Breaks American, NCAA Marks in 500 Free
3/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, Ga. -- Breaking the 11-year-old American, U.S. Open, NCAA and school records in a time of 4:08.60, senior captain Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams) ran away with his third consecutive mid-distance NCAA freestyle title to lead the University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team on the first day (Thursday, March 23) of the NCAA Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. U-M sits in 12th place with 44 points.
Vanderkaay's 4:08.60 pace bettered former Wolverine Tom Dolan's (1994-96) time of 4:08.75, which Dolan set at the 1995 NCAA Championships. Defeating his next closest competitor by more than four seconds, Vanderkaay earned his fourth individual NCAA title and became the first Wolverine to repeat in the event since Dolan went back-to-back in 1995 and 1996. Vanderkaay also won the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyles in 2004.
Brother Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams) was U-M's second representative in the 500 "A" final and took seventh. The sophomore swam a personal best (4:17.88) by nearly five seconds to give the Maize and Blue an additional 12 points toward its score. Earlier in the preliminaries, freshman Matt Patton (Matthews, N.C./Butler) narrowly missed swimming the 500-yard freestyle at night as he placed 17th. His time of 4:21.28 was a personal best and just 0.27 seconds from the consolation final cut.
The quartet of Chris DeJong (Holland, Mich./Holland), Grant Burtch (Holland, Mich./Holland), Davis Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn./Webb School) and Peter Vanderkaay clocked in at 3:11.35 in the consolation final of the 400-yard medley relay, good for third place (11th overall). The time is U-M's second fastest swim ever in the event.
U-M's 200-yard freestyle relay team also missed the consolation final by a spot in the morning's preliminaries, taking 17th in a time of 1:20.09.
The Wolverines will return to the pool Friday (March 24) for day two of the championships with preliminaries beginning at noon and finals to follow at 7 p.m.
Top 12 Teams (After Day 1)
1. Auburn 178.5 2. Arizona 136.5 3. Stanford 132 4. Florida 97 5. Texas 82 6. California 72 7. Southern Cal 63 8. Northwestern 60.5 9. Georgia 52 10. Minnesota 50 11. Alabama 45.5 12. MICHIGAN 44
Top Eight/U-M Finishes (Day 1)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
1. Auburn 1:16.15$% (Cesar Cielo, Matt Targett, Bryan Lundquist, George Bovell) 2. Arizona 1:16.54 3. California 1:16.72 4. Stanford 1:17.32 5. Texas 1:17.90 6. Minnesota 1:18.81 7. Northwestern 1:19.01 8. Alabama 1:19.68 17. Michigan 1:20.09 (Davis Tarwater, Chris DeJong, Bobby Savulich, Peter Vanderkaay)
500-yard Freestyle
1. Peter Vanderkaay, U-M 4:08.60*#$^!@% 2. Ous Mellouli, Southern Cal 4:12.92 3. Sebastien Rouault, Georgia 4:12.94 4. Larsen Jensen, Southern Cal 4:13.90 5. Michael Klueh, Texas 4:14.10 6. Shaun Phillipsm Stanford 4:14.20 7. Alex Vanderkaay, U-M 4:17.88 8. Dominik Meichtry, California 4:20.10 17. Matt Patton, U-M 4:21.28
200-yard Individual Medley
1. Ryan Lochte, Florida 1:40.55*#$^% 2. Adam Ritter, Arizona 1:44.20 3. Eric Shanteau, Auburn 1:44.24 4. James Wike, Auburn 1:44.37 5. Dave Rollins, Arizona 1:44.75 6. Bradley Ally, Florida 1:45.16 7. Nate Cass, Stanford 1:45.84 8. Keenan Newman, Stanford 1:47.73
50-yard Freestyle
1. Cullen Jones, NC State 19.18% 2. Ben Wilman-Torbriner, Stanford 19.22 3. Simon Burnett, Arizona 19.32 4. George Bovell, Auburn 19.34 4. Lyndon Ferns, Arizona 19.34 6. Cesar Cielo, Auburn 19.37 7. Garrett Weber-Gale, Texas 19.44 8. Alexei Puninski, Auburn 19.65
One-Meter Springboard
1. Chris Cowill, Georgia 407.10 2. Joona Puhakka, Arizona State 498.20 3. Steven Segerlin, Auburn 382.80 4. Derek Starks, Miami 354.55 5. Sterling Richards, Utah 340.55 6. Eric Sehn, Texas A&M 335.35 7. Steve LoBue, Purdue 321.90 8. Jonathan Wilcox, Florida 301.40
400-yard Medley Relay
1. Arizona 3:06.45% (Nick Thoman, Ivan Barns, Albert Subirats, Adam Ritter) 2. Auburn 3:07.43 3. Stanford 3:07.96 4. Northwestern 3:08.10 5. Texas 3:08.42 6. Southern Cal 3:09.60 7. Florida 3:09.95 8. Minnesota 3:15.91 11. Michigan 3:11.49 (Chris DeJong, Grant Burtch, Davis Tarwater, Peter Vanderkaay) * NCAA record # U.S. Open record $ American record ^ NCAA Meet record ! Big Ten Conference record @ Michigan school record % Georgia Tech Aquatic Center record
Contact: Jed Shein (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
