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." READ OUR BLOG, THE GAME, AT MICHIGAN DAILY.COM 0 1 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.