I The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
November 19, 2007 - 3B
ALLISON GHAMAN/Daily
Junior Matt Patton won the 500-yard freestyle by a slim margin. He followed that up with an impressive first-place showing in the ,650-yard freestyle to help Michigan in its two wins this weekend.
Wolverines keep on rolling in routs
By RYAN A. PODGES
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 5 Michigan men's swimming and
divingteam continued its perfect conference
record this weekend with two overwhelm-
ing victories over No. 18 Northwestern and
Wisconsin.
Michigan outscored the Wildcats 241-129
and the Badgers 283-86 in Evanston. Last
year, Michigan lost to Northwestern during
the regular season and placed seventh, just
behind the Wildcats, in the NCAA Champi-
onships. Michigan has not lost to Wisconsin
(1-2 Big Ten, 3-3 overall) since the 1980-81
season.
The Wolverines won 14 of 18 swimming
events including victories in all four med-
ley races. Michigan had the top four fin-
ishes in the 400-yard individual medley
and went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard individual
medley. Sophomore Andre Schultz won the
200 (1:48.53) and placed second in the 400
(3:52.80).
Michigan continues to dominate in the
long-distance freestyle events by winning
the 500-yard and 1,650-yard events and the
400-yard and 800-yard relays. Junior Matt
Patton (4:21.28) won the 500-yard freestyle
over Northwestern's Eric Nilsson by just a
half second. Michigan had the top four fin-
ishes in the 1,650-yard freestyle with Patton
(15:19.84) winning again, this time by a com-
manding margin of more than 30 seconds.
"I think that Matt doing well is the sum
of a lot of things," Bowman said. "He's been
in our program now for three years and has
been able to progress steadily and take on
new challenges. I thought his 500 in this
meet was the best swim of our meet."
The Wolverines will have the next two
weeks off before they head to Seattle for the
Husky Invitational Nov. 29 through Dec. 2.
The meet will be held at the site of the 2008
NCAA finals on March 27-29.
Win sets up
Rosen for a
historic end
By MACKENZIE MELVIN
For the Daily
The Michigan volleyball team
gave themselves a chance this past
weekend to finish with the best
record in head coach Mark Rosen's
nine seasons. Under Rosen, the
Wolverines have never finished bet-
ter than fifth place in the Big Ten
and with more than 21 wins. The
current squad recorded their 21st
win Saturday and with two Big Ten
matchups left they will finish in
either third or fourth place.
The Wolverines squared off
against Indiana (6-12 Big Ten, 15-
15) for the last time this season.
The senior captains continued their
strong play-Katie Bruzdzinski had
18 kills, and Lyndsay Miller added
eight kills and two blocks and the
whole team committed to an offen-
sive attack.
The Wolverines also showcased
an aggressive defense. Senior Stesha
Selsky led the way with a match-
high 14 digs. The Wolverines swept
all three games (30-21,30-23,30-24)
and the series against Indiana.
"We came out really strong and
were ready to attack them from the
beginning," Miller said. "All 14 peo-
ple were ready to go."
But the outcome was different
Friday night versus Purdue (10-8
Big Ten, 17-12). The Boilermakers
took the first game (25-30) but the
Wolverines dominated the second
game, 30-21. Michigan trailed for
most of the decisive third game but
battled back for a game point oppor-
tunity.
The Wolverines failed to capi-
talize and Purdue took game three
and the momentum. The Boiler-
makers won the fourth game and
handed Michigan its ninth Big Ten
loss. Despite the loss, Bruzdzinski
had another big night with 22 kills.
Miller also played exceptionally
well, tallying 18 kills and a match-
high.361 hitting percentage.
"Purdue was playing better, and
we have to give them credit," Rosen
said. "We struggled a lot with our
other players but Katie and Lyndsay
played outstanding."
Rosen is modest when reflecting
on the best season of his career at
Michigan.
"We're having a good year,"
Rosen said. "We've had a few ups
and downs, but we've had a good
team that has been able to stay real-
ly focused."
Miller thinks their previous
mediocre season finishes have been
a catalyst for this year's squad. "We
are tired of finishing fifth and sixth
in the Big Ten, and one of our goals
is to move into the top three," Miller
said.
To accomplish that goal Michi-
gan (9-9 Big Ten, 21-9) needs strong
showings against Ohio State and 1st
ranked Penn State this weekend in
Ann Arbor.
Jaeger swims
to conference
record in 200-
yard butterfl
By IAN KAY Emily Hanson and Margaret
For the Daily Kelly, junior Emily Brunemanei
and senior Justine Mueller
Three NCAA consideration combining for five automatic
times and a pair of third place qualification times and two
finishes in the first two days of second-place finishes.
competition alone would have Richardsonwas pleased with
made any meet one to remem- the early performance, even
ber for Melissa Jaeger. though the Wolverines trailed
But the fifth-year senior both Texas A&M and Southern
saved her crowning perfor- Methodist.
mance for Sunday's final solo "I don't really worry about
event, recording a 1:56.77 time winning events," Richardson
to shatter the Big Ten record in said. "It's about swimming fast
the 200-meter butterfly. and trying to improve your per-
The record run capped a true formance. If you swim a great
team effort as No. 13 Michigan race and get touched out in the
took second place, 1,561-1,145.5, end, that's still a great race."
behind the No. 6 Texas A&M . The Wolverines finally broke
at the Art Adamson Invita- through for a victory on Sat-
tional in College Station. No. 12 urday when Kelly touched the
Southern Methodist finished wall first in the 100-meter but-
third with 841.5 points. terfly final after notching an
"I swam my races not think- automatic qualifying time in
ing about anything - just try- the event's preliminary heat.
ing to go fast," said Jaeger, who Brunemann and Mueller also
transferred to Michigan from both recorded 'A' times and the
Oakland University in 2006. team upped its two-day total of
Jaeger's torrid pace helped NCAA 'B' consideration times
her to best the previous con- to 29 while passing Southern
ference record by more than Methodist for second place.
a full second and secured an On Sunday, Brunemann and
invite to NCAA Championships Mueller completed their NCAA
in March. Jaeger's race also invite trifectas with quick dips
eclipsed the previous Michigan in the 1,650-yard freestyle
record of 1:57.90, set by junior and 200-meter breaststroke,
Payton Johnson at the 2007 respectively.
NCAA Championships. On the diving board, senior
"I knew she was going to be Elyse Lee recorded her second
very good, but her (200-meter victory and NCAA zone quali-
butterfly) was a little faster fying score before Jaeger's
than I even thought she could dominant butterfly run closed
go," Michigan coach Jim Rich- out the Invitational's solo slate.
ardson said. The Wolverines were enthu-
Even though Jaeger turned siastic following the weekend's
in the weekend's standout strong performance, but Jaeger
achievement, she was hardly was quickto reiteratethe think-
the only Wolverine swimmer ing that has become somewhat
to claim a successful perfor- of a team mantra:
mance. The team exhibited "It felt pretty good to win,"
consistency in the meet's six she said. "But the real chal-
sessions. lenge is to keep up the times we
Michigan set a positive tone we're getting now at the end of
on Friday, with sophomores the year."
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Senior Lyndsay Miller tallied eight kills and two blocks in Michigan's sweep over
Indiana. The Wolverines hope to finish the season strong.
Lineup set at intrasquad
With its season right around the cor-
ner, the Michigan wrestling team held
its annual Maize and Blue Intrasquad
Friday at Cliff Keen Arena.
Six starting spots were up for grabs
in the best-of-three matches format.
Freshman Kellen Russell and redshirt
freshmen Anthony Biondo and Matt
Guhn won their respective wrestleoffs
and became first-time starters for the
Wolverines. Russell, who will wrestle in
the 141-pound weight class, is the second
true freshman in as many years to imme-
diately fill a starting role in the Michigan
lineup.
Redshirt junior Steve Luke dominat-
ed redshirt sophomore Jordan Sherrod,
scoring a 15-2 major decision to keep his
spot at the 174-pound weight class. Soph-
omore Chris Diehl and fifth-year senior
Jeff Marsh rounded out the winners,
securingthe top spot in the 133- and 157-
pound weight divisions, respectively.
In addition, senior captains Josh
Churella and Eric Tannenbaum won
their exhibition matches in preparation
for the NWCA All Star Classic, an exhi-
bition event featuring the country's top
collegiate wrestlers.
Michigan will officially kick off its
dual-meet season Saturday at the Jour-
neyman/Brute Northeast Duals, where
it will face Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Mary-
land and Virginia.
Redshirt senior and captain Josh Churella wrestled in an exhibition match
at the annual Maize and Blue Intrasquad this weekend.