THE MICHIGAN DAILY rimming Team Repeats as N CAA Champi By DICK MINTZ igan, traditionally one of ation's outstanding swim surpassed all previous rec- rformances last year with a power-laden varsity that swept to its second consecutive NCAA swim championship. The NCAA victory climaxed an undefeated season that included a 4 ... :. d. . . . ... ... - Iets.eitthe /xe4 By CARL RISEMAN Mann's Suecessors [ATT MANN STEPPED down in 1954. He had. begun as swimming' coach at Michigan in 1926 and had guided the Wolverines to 16 Big Ten Championships and six National Collegiate crowns. It was truly an outstanding record. He was recognized as the greatest coach n the sport and' had produced many champion swimmers and coaches. Who could replace Mann? Two youthful coaches were selected. Swimming coach Gus Stager and diving coach Bruce Harlan. Stager had been a great swimmer for Mann in the 1940's and later a high school coach. Harlan had been tutored by. Mann's rival, Mike Peppe of Ohio State, and became an Olympic diver. He had also coached In high schools. The coaches had rough going at first. They had to settle for a third in the 1955 Big Ten meet. The following year the Wardrop twins, Jack and Bert, were removed from the team in midseason be- cause they wouldn't cooperate with their mentors. This was the low point for Stager and Harlan. A great deal of grunillng was heard on the Michigan campus for the removal of the' Scottish stars from the team. This was supposed to have been Michigan's year in swimming but now all hope. was lost. Stager and Harlan climbed out of the hole which they had dug for themselves with the Wardrop incident and began a climb which put' them at the top of the swimming world by the end of the 1958 season -- proving themselves capable of filling' the shoes of their worthy predecessor. Somehow in that dismal 1956 season, the Wolverines were able to finish second in the Big Ten meet right behind powerful Ohio State. The Sophomore Team... BEFORE THE SEASON began in 1957, the team was of questionable potential. It was mainly made up of untried sophomores and a few good veterans like .Fritz Myers, Don Adamski and John Narcy. The team turned out to be good as sophomores Cy Hopkins 'nd Dick MIanley blossomed out into championship swimmers and Dick Kimball became a ranking diver in his first season. The team mowed over its opposition in its dual meets but failed to take the Big Ten title as. the Spartans of Michigan State emerged as victors because of their tre- mendous depth. Michigan was keyed up for the NCAA meet which was held that year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Michigan's chances. were sup- posedly slim against favored Yale spearheaded by its sophomore star, Tim Jecko. The Wolverines couldn't stop Jecko, he was a triple winner; but they were .able to stop Yale and thus gain the, first NCAA title for Michigan since 1948. It was a great victory but still more thrills were in line for the '58 season. The '58 squad was even stronger than the '57 one. The Wolverines were bolstered by sophomore swimmers Tony Tashnick and John. Smith; the addition of diver Alvaro Qaxiola; eligibility reinstatement of versatile Carl Woolley. The team quickly won its early contests b'ut both Stager and Harlan were wondering how powerful the squad actually was. The test came in a dual meet with Michigan State. MSU was swamped 67-30 and Michigan had one of its greatest two year skein of 16 dual-meet vic- tories and its first Big Ten title since 1948. Wolverine coach Gus Stager, a former great Michigan swim star himself, stated, "this team was: certainly the greatest I've ever coached and the greatest I've ever seen." All Agree After the three day NCAA swim' spectacular held at Michigan's Varsity Pool, contending swim- mers, coaches, and the thousands of gathered fans were in full agreement. Michigan, producing a 72-point1 total; decisively defeated Yale, the perennial Eastern champion who1 totaled 63 pts. and Big Ten runner- up, Michigan State. The other 56 teams represented by 244 of the nation's foremost collegiate swimmers followed far behind in the point score. Great Depth The key to Michigan's over- whelming victory lay in the tre- mendous depth and versatility found in their line-up. Picking up valuable points in every one of the 14 events they entered, the Wol- verines forged a chain that had no weak links. Tony Tashnick, the brilliant Wolverine sophomore,rose to peak performance in his young career, cracking two NCAA records in the 100 and 200 yd. butterfly events' and produced the only individual Wolverine victory. Tashnick easily outdistanced Yale's heralded Tim Jecko in the meet's featured con- test, the 200-yd. butterfly. Divers Great In the opening day of competi- tion Dick Kimball and Alvaro Gax- lola agilely twisted off the one- meter board to place second andj third respectively behind Ohio State's infallible Olympic star, Don Harper. Michigan's unexpect- ed strong showing in the diving, which Ohio State perenlally domi- nates, enabled them to tie for the meet lead at the end of the first night's competition. Kimball went on to take another second to Har- per on - the- three-meter board, while Gaxiola later placed fifth. Michigan stalwarts, Dick Hanley, Cy Hopkins, John Smith and Carl Woolley were able to add to the point total as they finished close behind the winners in their respec- tive events.l Hanley Upset Hanley, defending NCAA 220- yd. freestyle titlist, was upset by Yale's Roger Anderson. Anderson1 caught Hanley on the last lap ofj the race with a strong finishingj kick and won the title only by a touch. Hanley in the hotly contest- ed 100-yd. freestyle finished fifth. Hopkins, the Wolverine jack-of- all-strokes, finished a strong sec- ond in the 200-yd.individual med- ley. Overtaking Yale's tiring Tim Jecko, who was favored in the event, Hopkins placed second be- hind Illinois' Joe Hunsaker who pulled a stunning upset victory. Smith Third' John Smith, the powerfully builtj Hawaiian trained backstroker who joined the team at mid-semester, conditioned himself well enough to take a third in the 200yd. back stroke and 100-yd. bockstroke. Carl Woolley, noted primarily as a sprint swimmer during the regu- lar season showed his freestyle versatility with a sixth in the ex- hausting 1,500 meter event. At the shorter 440 yd. distance Woolley impressed with a third place. Al Maten also contributed to the point total with a sixth in the 200- yd. breaststroke. Just a finishing place in the last event of the championship, CY HOPKINS . . tank captain the 400-yd. medley relay, was needed to insure a Michigan vic- tory. Ohio State had long dropped out of contention after they showed their strength in the dive and only Yale now seriously chal- lenged. But Michigan's. third in the event turned back the Eli's final surge. The great team-spirit and coop- eration that brought Michigan the NCAA title contributed as well to their Big Ten title. No one individual was respon- sible for the victory at the rugged Big Ten Championship meet at Iowa City. "It was the most amaz- ing team performance I've ever seen',' coach Stager exuberantly stated. Stars and Balance Tony Tashnick, Cy Hopkins and Dick Hanley combined f'or seven of the Wolverines' eight first places, but in the Big Ten Meet, as was soon to be true in the NCAA, the winning team needed depth; it needed to be able to place several men in every race to win. This Michigan was able. to do. Pete Fries, Ed Pongracz, Carl Woolley, Al Maten, and John Smith were unable to gain first places, but their second, third, fourth and fifth place finishes all bolstered the Michigan point total.' Woolley Stars Woolley recorded two seconds and a third. In the gruelling 1,- 500-meter freestyle and also the 440-freestyle he finished second. He also finished behind teammate Hanley who won the 220-yd. free- style. Smith's two second places in the 100 and 200-yd. backstroke secured the Michigan lead. Fries placed in his three events, the 1500 meters, the 440-yd free- style and the 220-yd. freestyle. Stager was pleased, too, with the performance of Maten and Pon- gracz. Both men were on the win- ning 400-yd. medley relay team. Maten also finished fourth in the 100-yd. breaststroke and sixth in the 200-yd. breaststroke. Tashnick Surprises Sophomore Tashnick, who in less than a month would play such a prominent role in leading Michi- gan to the NCAA title wasn't re- garded at the beginning of the season as a title- threat. But he was thrust into national promi- nence by his brilliant performance at the Big Ten show. He captured three record-breaking firsts: the 100 and 200-yd.- butterfly and the individual medley. Hanley and Hopkins each won two races. "By the second day of the meet, stated Stager, "Hanley and Hopkins had completely de moralized our opposition." Another Year And what of the 1958-1959 sea- son? Can Michigan again achieve their double victory? The return of the varsity that won the NCAA title and the graduation of a pow- erful freshman squad to varsity ranks indicates that the Wolver- ines will have an even more pow- erful lineup. Making his debut at Michigan, Sophomore Dave Gillanders, the former All-America high school star, bettered the school record, with a 2.11 clocking in the 200- yd. butterfly event. Tough Twosome That mark was recorded back in December at the annual Michigan "Gala" but Gilladers, has put a lot of swimming under his belt since, and is regarded as one of the"top young swimmers in the nation. When teamed v'ith Tashnick, Michigan will be represented by the most formidable butterfly two- some in the country. Frank Legicki, an All-America high school selection from Penn- sylvania heads the array of fresh- men freestyle stars moving up to the varsity. Legacki topped the country in the interscholastic 100- yd. sprint. Harry Huffcacker, the Michigan interscholastic champion in the individual medley, will. add to the all-around team depth. Move Divers The diving duo of Tee Francis and John Deininger, the respective high school state champions from Michigan and Ohio, will add their talents to a team that diving coach Bruce Harlan hopes will shortly shoo Ohio State from the throne they have occupied too long. I Hairstyling to pleasel Try us for: But the other teams across the, nation are well prepared to match Michigan in the coming season. Australian world champ Murray Rose will carry the standard for USC, the Pacific Coast's leader, oil 7The ('42e Cent ei I is your' headquarters for the incomparable GBD pipe. Ask-,the -man who 'smokes one. Superb in Quality at a reasonable price. For a Lifetime of Smoking pleasure. The finest lines available in this area also includes Bar ing, Dunhill, Comoy, Kaywoodie and many, others. Stop, in at your convenience and£ try a pipe ful of our own Blends and Mixtures. Our full line of imported and domestic cigars and tobaccos are always humidor fresh.a while in the East, Yale is again being strengthened by a strong sophomore squad. In their own rugged Big Ten league, Michigan will be hard pressed again by MSU and Indi- ana, whose freshmen squad broke V A bevy of records last season. sier star Frank' Mckinney has unbeatable in the backstrokE Michigan will have to ma] best better if they are aga survive as Big Ten and r champions in this competitive 7Te Pi1te Cente,' 118 EAST HURON, NO 3-6236 , - r-- r . ,- ". A Tremendous Show . . I J I ..,, 4a ' See Safell & Bush for that deinite o f"Leadership in Men's Wear. For over a quarter -century the outstanding young men s shop on any University Campus.