10- Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
DAN MADWED:
MICHIGAN'S NEW
GOLDEN BOY
After an unexpected run to a
gold medal at the World
Championships, Madwedis
ready for a breakout year.
By Ryan A. Podges || Daily Sports Writer
COURTESY OF THEMICHIGAN ATHLETICDEPARTMENT
Sophomore Dan Madwed won two Big Ten individual championships during his freshman season.
H ow unexpected
sophomore Dan
wed's gold medal
summer's FINA World Swi
Championships?
So unexpected that he
even slated to compete in th
in which he won.
After finishing ninthi
world in the 400-meter fr
at the meet in Rome, he wa
to swim in the preliminary
the 800-meter freestyle re
give extra rest to one of the a
who would swim
the event's
championship. "It
"It was my
first time on a tin
big-time nation-
al relay and tin
it was scary,"
Madwed said. rela
"I didn't want to
mess up, I didn't
want to false
start or lose our
lead and I had a
lot more nerves
going into that
relay than going
into my individual events."
Madwed didn't mess up.
In fact, he maintained the,
cans' lead in the race and
less than a second slower th
low relay teammate and Mi
alum Peter Vanderkaay, whi
gold medals in the event fron
World Championship meetsz
2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Madwed would wina gold
for his contribution to the r
long as the Americans won
championship finals later th
was Current Michigan volunteer coach
Mad- emeritus and U.S. national coach
at this Jon Urbanchek told Madwed that
imming a gold medal was guaranteed for
the Americans, but as he stood in
wasn't the stands with his teammates to
e event watch the finals, Madwed remained
anxious. Even with Michael Phelps
in the leading off, the Americans found
eestyle themselves chasing the German
s asked team after the first leg.
race of "I thought Russia and a couple
elay to countries were lookingprettygood,"
thletes Madwed recalled. "During the final
in laps, I started thinking maybe Jon
was going to be
was my first wrong, butthen
Ryan(Chte)
e on a big- stepped up.
He's an amaz-
enational ing racer and
watching him
.y and it was bring it home
for us was just a
great feeling."
yMadwed
said his accom-
- Dan Madwed, plishments this
Sophomore summer kept
him extra moti-
vated to stay in
shape at home before moving back
to Ann Arbor to train for the colle-
Ameri- giate season. Michigan coach Mike
swam Bottom believes Madwed's experi-
Zan fel- ences competing against the world's
ichigan best swimmers overseas will help
o awns him be more mentally prepared to
n three compete during the NCAA season.
and the Madwed concurs.
"I had always thought of myself
1 medal as a butterflier," he said. "But since
elay as I qualified in the 400 freestyle, all of
in the these doors have started to open up.
at day. It wasn't until I was actually in the
water at the World Championships
and staying up there with guys I've
read about winning gold and silver
medals at the Olympics, when I defi-
nitely realized, 'Wow, I can actually
do this."'
He may have just realized it,
but it's really no surprise. Madwed
started swimming at 10 when his
mother signed him up for the swim
team to keep him busy during the
summer. And it wasn't long before
he realized how good he really was.
At age 12, in Connecticut, he
started breaking state records and
qualifying for regional swim meets.
Madwed said at that age, he didn't
care about records or qualifying
times, but enjoyed racing. Without
fully knowing it, he was already on a
fast track to national and even inter-
national success.
At 15, he qualified for the 2004
U.S. Olympic Trials. He didn't make
the team, but the experience gave
him a new perspective on the sport
and helped him set new goals.
"I was really inexperienced going
into the 2004 Olympic trials," Mad-
wed said. "I went out swimming as
hard as I could and I just died. A
while after, I started looking ahead
to the 2008 Olympics. By 2006, I
was third in the country in 200-
meter butterfly and thought, maybe
I could make this happen."
There was only one problem-
Madwed was running out of people
who could challenge him in the pool.
He was consistently beating every-
one at practice and needed faster
teammates to train with to take him
to the next level. After talking with
several coaches and some friends
on a national junior team training
south with him. His new teammates
and coaches in Baltimore provided
him a more competitive training
environment.
"Everyone wanted to know who
the kid was that moved his senior
year of high school just to swim, so I
made friends pretty quickly," Mad-
wed said. "Plus, it was pretty fun
living with my grandparents. My
grandma volunteers and my grand-
pa entertains at old-age homes. I
know that's ironic, but it was a good
experience."
His move to North Baltimore
clearly paid off during his freshman
year at Michigan, where he made his
mark quickly. Madwed placed 12th
at the NCAA Championships in the
200-yard freestyle, finished as a two-
time individual Big Ten Champion
and earned All-Big Ten first team
honors. The engineering major puts
in long hours training with the team
and in the classroom. His coaches
say he's never satisfied and routinely
looks for ways to get faster.
But Madwed isn't just one of the
hardest workers on the team, he's
one of the happiest.
"He's got a great sense of humor.
He enjoys himself while he does
everything, and I think that's a rare
characteristic," Michigan assistant
coach Dr. Josh White said. "It's
really interesting to see how hard he
works but he doesn't carry a grudge
about it."
This season, Madwed says his
goal is to help the Wolverines repeat
as Big Ten Champions and finish in
the top four at the NCAAs.
And if the summer taught us
anything about him, it's expect the
unexpected.
COURTESY OF THE MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Sophomore Dan Madwed trained at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club in high school.
trip, his search for better compe-
tition not only took him to a new
team but a new state. Just before his
senior year of high school, Madwed
moved more than 200 miles away
from his hometown of Stamford,
Conn., to Maryland where he joined
the North Baltimore Aquatic Club,
Phelps's home training club.
Madwed decided to come to
Michigan after being recruited by
then-Wolverine coach Bob Bow-
man, who had coached at North Bal-
timore before coming to Ann Arbor.
After Madwed committed to the
school, Bowman announced he was
leaving Michigan to return to North
Baltimore, but Madwed says Bow-
man's resignation never affected his
decision to become a Wolverine.
In order for his pareets and
younger brother to stay in their
houseinStamford,Madwed'sgrand-
parents offered to make the move
Even with a struggling offense, Blue
and Kopmeyer shut down Illini for 'W'
Blais and Schmitt win
Big Ten weekly awards
Goalie posts her
sixth shutout of
the year, a rookie
program record
By ANDREW HADDAD
For the Daily
The Michigan women's soccer
team earned its first Big Ten win of
the year against Illinois on Sunday
thanks to a standout performance
from redshirt freshman goalie
Haley Kopmeyer and a header in
the 74th minute that gave the Wol-
verines a -
tough 1-0 MICHIGAN 1
win. ILLINOIS 0
The __
victory MICHIGAN
came on IOWA 2
the heels
of a 2-1loss on Friday against Iowa
(1-7-0 Big Ten, 9-9-0 overall) in
Iowa City, which was the latest in
a frustrating run of ties and close
losses.
Michigan won despite being
outshot by Illinois 21-4, which
forced Kopmeyer to make a career
high 11 saves. The shutout was her
sixth of the season, a record for
Michigan rookie goaltenders.
It's easy to point to Michigan's
shot disadvantage against Illinois
(2-5-2, 7-8-3) and its 300-148 shot
disadvantage over the course of
the season as a sign that the team
is lacking in talent. Michigan
coach Greg Ryan knows this is
partly true, since injuries and the
dismissal of a few players forced
the Wolverines to have just 6.2 of
their allotted 14 scholarships out
on the field this weekend. With
the lack of depth, the team has
struggled in the offensive zone all
year.
But Ryan notes that the shot
deficit is also in part by design.
"We use a defensive scheme
where the back line drops and
doesn't allow anything behind
them, forcing the other team to
take low-percentage shots outside
the box," he said. "Kopmeyer is
so rangy. She doesn't have a lot of
trouble with those."
Even with that massive shot dis-
advantage, Michigan (1-3-5, 6-8-5)
has been outscored just 25-20 this
year.
"It's a common strategy around
the world," Ryan said. "Teams
with less offensive talent have to
compensate for it. We drop the
back line, don't allow great chanc-
es, and counter-attack when we
can. Soccer's not about how many
shots you have it's about how many
solid chances you get, and the way
we play is all about that."
Senior midfielder Alex Jen-
drusch's game-winning goal came
off a cross from junior defender
Amanda Bowery in the 74th min-
ute. It was her fourth goal of the
season, which made her the team
leader in goals.
"If you had told me last year that
Jendrusch would be our leading
scorer, I would have bet the farm
against it," Ryan said. "She's made
so much progress since then. If
I had to pick the best example of
a player whose development the
younger ones should try to emu-
late, it'd be her."
The Wolverines weren't as suc-
cessful on Friday against Iowa.
Sophomore Kristen Goncalves
scored on a breakaway 15 minutes
into the game to tie the game at
one, but the Hawkeyes scored on a
shot from 25 yards out in the 64th
minute to steal the deal.
It was a tight, defensive game
where Kopmeyer was again
impressive, making six saves,
The Michigan men's soccer
team has even more to celebrate
after its season-saving upset of
No. 12 Northwestern last week-
end.
Today, the BigTen announced
that Michigan redshirt sopho-
more goalie Chris Blais and
redshirt junior forward Matt
Schmitt were named Big Ten
Defensive Player of the Week
and Big Ten Offensive Player of
the Week, respectively.
The awards are well-timed, as
the Wolverines' victory over the
Wildcats could propel the team
into postseason play.
"We needed this win, and we
need next week's win," Blais said
after the game. "It was a must-
win for all of us if we want to
make the NCAA Tournament, so
I think that's where the intensity
came from."
AccordingtotheMichiganAth-
letic Department press release,
this marks the first time the Wol-
verines have claimed both awards
sinceformergoalie PatrickSperry
and former forward Jake Stacy
wononOct. 6,2008.
Blais recorded four saves in
his sixth shutout of the year, and
Schmitt scored the game's lone
goal to preserve the win.
Schmitt's award comes after
the Muskegon native has battled
back from a sports hernia injury
sustained in the offseason. He's
finally hitting his stride, scoring
his first and second goals of the
year in the Wolverines' last two
games.
Michigan's regular-season
finale is this Saturday against
Ohio State in Columbus.
SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Freshman goalie Haley Kopmeyer had 11 saves in Michigan's shutout victory.
including a couple of very diffi-
cult ones. According to Ryan, the
defense played very well overall,
but a few defensive lapses cost the
Wolverines the game. Ryan said
there was a lack of pressure on the
ball before the second goal, some-
thing the Michigan defense nor-
mally does well.
"Other than that, it was just a
great shot right in the corner," he
said. "There was nothing Kopmey-
er could do about it."
The Wolverines play just one
more game this season, against
Penn State on Nov. 8. A Big Ten
championship might be out of
4
reach, but despite the team's medi-
ocre record, the season was one of
great progress for Michigan. In the
face of many problems in the last
few years, the program is just now
beginning to use all of its allotted
scholarships.
But this year, Michigan has
shown great resilience. It was
proven that it can play against
quality competition, forcing five
ties against Big Ten opponents
and suffering several close loss-
es.
And that is an important step
for the program asuit seeks to climb
the Big Ten ladder in the future.
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AS JUICE WILLIAMS
IS AGAINST'
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E-MAIL ANDYREID@UMICH.EDU
TO GET INVOLVED.