Quotes: NCAA Championships - Day 3
3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 28, 2015
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Michigan Head Coach Mike Bottom
On the team's finish this year ... "How crazy is that? We lost the class of the century last year. You can name them. It was a lot of points to replace. Nobody thought we'd have a shot at this. We had some great seniors that led us -- Richard Funk, Justin Glanda, Bruno Ortiz. Those guys kept moving us forward and giving the rest of the team confidence, and we are taking some hardware home because of it."
On PJ Ransford ... "Josh (White) gave him explicit instructions to not really turn it up until the 300 mark, and then when he hit it, he built into low 26s and held on to those for a good portion of the race. Yeah, they caught him, but he was tough the whole way through."
On the rest of the freshman class ... "It says a lot about the team. We didn't win a title this whole meet. Every other team that was up there won something, but this was another example of this team doing things the Michigan way. We scored all the way across the board, freshmen through seniors. Those relays were made up of everyone. That's how we do it."
U-M Junior Dylan Bosch
On his busy weekend ... "Overall, I'm very happy with how it went. The team needed me to do some things in other areas. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little heartbroken, but it's just one swim, one event. My main focus is swimming for Michigan and getting points on the board for our team. They needed me elsewhere and I was very happy to do that. We're walking away with third place, so that's the best feeling right now, doing better than we did last year."
On if he would trade his individual title last year for a higher finish ... "Definitely. I would give up anything to see those guys happy. That's just the Michigan way. I didn't come here to win an individual title. I came here with these guys so that we could collectively do the best we could for Michigan. And we're going home with some hardware, so I think we did our job."
On what he learned in his third NCAA Championships ... "I think you keep learning every time you swim and every time you're in the water. You do. I don't know exactly what it is. It's hard to pinpoint. As an upperclassman now, you feel like you learn something a little more every year. These captains, they are my best friends and they've taught me so much. You don't necessarily learn anything about swimming, but you learn more about yourself and the character of the guys on the team."
U-M Freshman PJ Ransford
On his strategy for the 1,650-yard freestyle ... "At Big Tens, I took it out really hard and ended up not having the swim I wanted to. The first 300, Josh and I talked about taking it slow. So I did. At the 500, I was about three seconds slower than I was at Big Tens, but the rest of the race went so much faster. He knows what he's talking about! I'll try to listen to him more!"
On swimming in lane eight ... "It was great being there because at the end, when it started hurting really bad, I just looked to my right and saw all my teammates and coaches banging on the banner and yelling at me. I told myself to just finish the race, for them. It really inspired me that last 300 yards or so. I had nothing left. But despite that, I was still able to finish pretty strong."
On if his performance surprised him ... "Honestly, I just came in trying to beat as many people as I could. I told Anders (Nielsen) that if we could score 13 points collectively, then we'd be in a good position to score more points in this meet than we were projected to. I wasn't sure I was in the lead, actually. At the 600-yard mark, I was like, 'Wait, I'm in the lead.' It was an awesome swim. I'm very happy."
Players Mentioned
