Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverines Win 34th Big Ten Championship
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 3)
U-M Team Standing: 1st of 10 Teams (829 Points)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 1 -- at Boilermaker Make It Last Chance (West Lafayette, Ind.), 11 a.m.
Notes & Quotes | Photo Gallery
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team captured its 34th Big Ten Conference championship on Saturday evening (Feb. 28) at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. U-M won its second straight conference crown with a dominating 829 points, 308 more than second-place Ohio State. Senior Matt Patton(Matthews, N.C./Butler), sophomore Tyler Clary(Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly), senior Bobby Savulich(Edison, N.J./Saint Joseph) and the 400-yard freestyle relay all won events on the final night of the competition.
Patton opened the final session of the championship with a victory for the Maize and Blue in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Patton clocked in at 14:57.09, the first of four Wolverines to score in the event. Junior Adam DeJong(Holland, Mich./Holland) was the next-fastest U-M swimmer, touching the wall in a season-best 15:07.16 to take fourth. Freshman Dane Vanderkaay(Rochester, Mich./Adams) took eighth with a season-best 15:12.42 swim and senior Gunnar Schmidt(Scottsdale, Ariz./Arcadia Prep) recorded a pair of points for Michigan with his 15:24.70, 15th-place finish -- also a season-best time.
Clary continued his magnificent Big Ten meet with his third individual event victory of the weekend, this time in the 200-yard backstroke. Clary was first to the wall in a U-M record time of 1:39.59, breaking a record he set earlier this season. Junior Andr Schultz(Sao Paolo, Brazil/Colegio Palmares) and junior Alon Mandel (Netanya, Israel/Eldad) took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 'A' final. Schultz swam a season-best 1:42.23, just edging his teammate Mandel, who also swam a season-best time, by one-tenth of a second (1:42.33). Junior Shaun Weinberg(Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) and senior Sal Barba (Hudson, Mass./St. Johns) picked up additional points for the Wolverines in the 'B' final when Weinberg earned 12th overall with a season-best swim of 1:45.70 and Barba took 15th, clocking in at 1:47.34.
Savulich earned the Big Ten crown in the 100-yard freestyle with a championship-winning time of 42.87, his best time of the season. Junior Chris Brady(Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant) also qualified for the championship final for the Maize and Blue, finishing seventh in an NCAA consideration time of 43.65. Senior/junior Evan Ryser(Katy, Texas/James E. Taylor) gave Michigan another scorer with his 10th-place finish, clocking in at 43.69, also an NCAA 'B' time.
Savulich, Brady and Ryser then came back in the final event of the evening, along with junior Charlie Houchin(Raleigh, N.C./William G. Enloe), and won the 400-yard freestyle relay in school-record time. The quartet clocked in at 2:51.28, bettering second-place Minnesota by almost a full second (2:52.20).
In the 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore Jared Miller(Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota East) met the NCAA consideration standard in finishing third in a time of 1:57.05. Ohio State's Sam Pelkey won the event in 1:55.19. Sophomore Neal Kennedy(Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) took 11th to pick up more points for the Wolverines, touching the wall in 1:59.29.
Scottie Rice of Wisconsin took the top spot in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:43.59, but a pair of U-M swimmers were close behind as freshman Dan Madwed(Stamford, Conn./Towson) took second and senior Curtis Dauw(St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) tied for third. Madwed clocked in at 1:44.15 and Dauw tied with Nadav Kochavi of Minnesota at 1:44.42. Both Madwed and Dauw's times are season bests.
In the diving well, senior Kyle Schroeder(Milan, Mich./Milan) scored points for the Maize and Blue, registering a score of 320.25 in platform diving to finish 14th. Purdue's David Boudia took top honors with a score of 533.60.
The Wolverines will be back in the pool on Sunday (March 1) at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in the Boilermaker Make It Last Chance meet in West Lafayette, Ind. The meet will begin at 11 a.m.
Team Standings
1. MICHIGAN 829 2. Ohio State 521 3. Minnesota 449.5 4. Purdue 494 5. Indiana 449.5 6. Wisconsin 248.5 7. Penn State 246 8. Northwestern 213 9. Iowa 144 10. Michigan State 108
Event Winners/U-M Finishes
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time)
1,650-yard freestyle 1. Matt Patton, U-M 14:57.09# 4. Adam DeJong, U-M 15:07.16# 8. Dane Vanderkaay, U-M 15:12.42# 15. Gunnar Schmidt, U-M 15:24.70 21. Christian Sprang, U-M 15:28.57 25. Chris Douville, U-M 15:37.09 200-yard backstroke 1. Tyler Clary, U-M 1:39.59*$ 4. Andr Schultz, U-M 1:42.23# 5. Alon Mandel, U-M 1:43.33# 12. Shaun Weinberg, U-M 1:45.70 15. Sal Barba, U-M 1:47.34 (1:46.44) 24. Chris Douville, U-M 1:50.99 (1:47.98) 100-yard freestyle 1. Bobby Savulich, U-M 42.87# 7. Chris Brady, U-M 43.65# (43.17#) 10. Evan Ryser, U-M 43.69# (43.54#) 17. Charlie Houchin, U-M 44.30 31. Jamie Martone, U-M 44.76 200-yard breaststroke 1. Sam Pelkey, Ohio State 1:55.19# 3. Jared Miller, U-M 1:57.05# 11. Neal Kennedy, U-M 1:59.29 (1:59.20) 17. Jonathan Hiett, U-M 2:00.26 29. James Ridgeway, U-M 2:02.61 200-yard butterfly 1. Scottie Rice, Wisconsin 1:43.59# 2. Dan Madwed, U-M 1:44.15# 3t. Curtis Dauw, U-M 1:44.42# 17. Tony Wahl, U-M 1:47.04 Platform diving 1. David Boudia, Purdue 533.60 14. Kyle Schroeder, U-M 320.25 19. Chris Morrison, U-M 226.15 400-yard freestyle relay 1. MICHIGAN 2:51.28*$ (Bobby Savulich, Chris Brady, Evan Ryser, Charlie Houchin)
# denotes NCAA provisional qualifying time * denotes NCAA automatic qualifying time ! denotes Big Ten record $ denotes U-M school record
Day 1 Results | Day 2 Results
Michigan Big Ten Champions
Sal Barba (1): 800-yard freestyle relay
Chris Brady (4): 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard freestyle relay
Tyler Clary (4): 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard backstroke
Curtis Dauw (1): 200-yard freestyle relay
Jonathan Hiett (1): 400-yard medley relay
Charlie Houchin (1): 400-yard freestyle relay
Dan Madwed (2): 200-yard freestyle, 800-yard freestyle relay
Alon Mandel (2): 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard backstroke
Matt Patton (2): 500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle
Evan Ryser (2): 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard freestyle relay
Bobby Savulich (4): 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle relay
Andr Schultz (1): 800-yard freestyle relay
2009 Michigan All-Big Ten Selections
First Team: Sal Barba, Chris Brady, Tyler Clary, Curtis Dauw, Jonathan Hiett, Charlie Houchin, Dan Madwed, Alon Mandel, Matt Patton, Evan Ryser, Bobby Savulich and Andr Schultz
Big Ten Award Winners
Swimmer of the Year:Tyler Clary, Michigan
Swimmer of the Championships:Tyler Clary, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: David Boudia, Purdue
Diver of the Year: David Boudia, Purdue
Diver of the Championships: David Boudia, Purdue
Coach of the Year: Dan Ross, Purdue
Diving Coach of the Year: Adam Soldati, Purdue
N O T E S
Michigan's team championship is the second consecutive for the Maize and Blue and a conference-record 34th overall.
Michigan won 13 events at the Big Ten Championships, giving the Maize and Blue 420 all-time conference crowns. There were 12 different U-M swimmers that won individual titles or were part of championship relays. Tyler Clary won four championships, including a team-best three individual crowns. Bobby Savulich and Chris Brady also won four titles; the pair each obtained one individual and three relay honors.
Matt Patton's crown in the 1,650-yard freestyle is his third straight and the sixth consecutive for Michigan. Overall, it is the 22nd victory for a Wolverine in the event.
Dane Vanderkaay became the third U-M swimmer to meet the NCAA standard in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Vanderkaay and Adam DeJong have each met the NCAA 'B' standard, while Matt Patton has achieved the NCAA 'A' cut.
Tyler Clary's 1:39.59 swim in the 200-yard backstroke broke the U-M record of 1:40.85 that he set earlier this season at the USA Swimming Short Course Nationals on Dec. 6. Prior to this season, the record was 1:41.26, set byChris DeJong in 2005.
Tyler Clary became the seventh different Michigan swimmer to win the Big Ten crown in the 200-yard backstroke; the last Wolverine to achieve the feat was Chris DeJong in 2006. Clary's championship is the 14th in school history in the event.
Alon Mandel became the third Michigan swimmer to meet the NCAA qualifying standard in the 200-yard backstroke. Mandel and Andr Schultz have both met the 'B' standard, while Tyler Clary, the current U-M record-holder in the event, has achieved the NCAA 'A' standard.
Bobby Savulich won his second straight 100-yard freestyle Big Ten championship. It is the 30th victory in the event for a Michigan swimmer. Prior to Savulich's victory last season, the last U-M win in the event came in 1997 by John Piersma.
Bobby Savulich became the first U-M swimmer this season to break 43 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle with his 42.93 finish in the prelims. With their performances in the prelims, Chris Brady and Evan Ryser joined Savulich and Charlie Houchin as Wolverines that have met the NCAA 'B' standard in the event.
Jared Miller became the first Wolverine this season to meet the NCAA consideration standard in the 200-yard breaststroke with his fourth-place preliminary swim of 1:57.74.
Michigan's victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay broke the previous school record of 2:53.58 set at last season's Big Ten Championships by Bobby Savulich, Chris Brady, Tyler Clary and Alex Vanderkaay. The win is the second straight for U-M and the 31st in school history.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Mike Bottom
On the championship... "It was a team championship, I don't know how much we won by but it was truly a team championship. It was a great meet, the excitement tonight was terrific. Matt Patton won the mile and said it was the most painful race of his entire career. He is not tapered but he just battled through it because he is a Michigan man. On the other side of that, Tony Wahl, swimming in the C final (of the 200-yard butterfly) battled back after being ill for a month and got close to his best time in that final. I think that is the spirit of what went on today with a bunch of guys fighting for something greater than points, they were fighting for each other, and they were swimming to their potential because they were striving to be better as people and as swimmers."
On Matt Patton's performance... "He is such a quiet leader that even when he steps into the limelight he doesn't attract the light he passes it around to the rest of the guys. Bobby Savulich is the same way, he won the 100 free tonight, he is a captain and it is the second year in a row he has won the 100 free but he passes that to the team, the win goes to the team. That what these guys are, that is what I stepped into, it is a great bunch of guys who swim for each other and support each other from top-to-bottom."
On Tyler Clary's meet... "I think everybody, including the other coaches, acknowledged that he was the swimmer of the meet. He broke records in everything he swam and that was exciting."
U-M Senior Matt Patton
On winning the Big Ten team championships... "That is the goal every year but we also want it to be a stepping stone toward bigger and better things at the NCAA Championships."
On winning the 1650-yard freestyle... "I was just happy to get the win for the team, for Michigan and for the people that came before me. It is an honor to be a part of that tradition and to keep carrying it forward into the future."
U-M Senior Bobby Savulich
On winning the 100-yard freestyle... "It was great winning another 100 free title. I was doing it for my teammates, family, and mostly for Michigan."
Players Mentioned
