Sports
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Fall 2014- 7E
Men's swim wins fourth straight title
Wolverines take
Big Ten at home in
landslide
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Writer
MARCH 2, 2014 - When
the officials of the Big Ten
Swimming and Diving Cham-
pionships began handing out
All-Conference awards, Mike
Bottom took his shoes off.
For the fourth straight sea-
son, the world-renowned Michi-
gan swimming coach was about
to take a celebratory dive into
the pool. Bottom, who is in his
sixth season with the team, has
won five Big Ten championships
in his tenure.
This one, though, brought a
new twist to the celebration - a
home crowd.
The No. 2 Michigan men's
swimming and diving team (6-0
Big Ten, 9-0 overall) earned the
applause Saturday at Canham
Natatorium, finishing off a four-
day championship weekend that
saw the Wolverines accumulate
889 total points - 325 more than
runner-up Indiana.
"What it means is to see the
happy - I mean, look at the
fans," Bottom said, stopping to
gesture to a wall of parents, stu-
dents and alumni singing 'The
Victors' in the bleachers. "That's
a world of difference in what
we're doing."
Added senior Connor Jaeger:
"How many hours a week do I
spend here? This is my home. It's
so sentimental that my last swim
senior year ends with being
able to celebrate with the home
crowd and the whole team here."
Michigan was dominant
throughout the weekend, break-
ing school, pool and conference
records along the way. Eleven
of its athletes were named first-
team All-Big Ten.
The Wolverines' team of Jae-
ger, sophomore Anders Nielsen,
junior Justin Glanda and senior
Michael Wynalda began the
excitement Wednesday, setting
a new NCAA record in the 800-
yard freestyle relay. The qartet
finished in 6:09.85, beating the
old record by .25 seconds.
The record-setting per-
formance came just after
Michigan's first win of the
meet - the 200-yard medley
relay - in which senior John
Wojciechowski, sophomore
Peter Brumm and juniors Rich-
ard Funk and Bruno Ortiz won
in 1:24.38.
While the speedy relay times
were impressive, they were some-
what expected. The Wolverines
have arguably the best distance
corps in the nation and are the
reigning national champions in
the 200-yard medley relay.
Less expected, though, was
the standout showing by sopho-
more Timothy Faerber on the
diving board. Faerber became
the first Michigan diver in 11
years to score in all three div-
ing events - the one- and three-
meter diving boards, and the
nlatform dive. Oualifvine eiehth
in all three disciplines, Faerber
took fourth place in the three-
meter and the platform.
Though the diving board has
been a source of frustration
for the Wolverines this season,
Faerber delivered, something
that is sure to inspire confidence
in the team going forward -
especially considering how well
he bounced back from the few
dives that didn't score highly.
"I actually don't try to clear
my mind," Faerber said. "I let it
sit there. I used to try to forget
about it, but that's impossible. I
let it sit there to fuel to my next
dive and make me angry, and I
know I have to make up for it
with my next few."
Back in the pool, Michigan's
most electric display came from
senior Kyle Whitaker and soph-
omore Dylan Bosch.
The pair went 1-2 in three
individual events, including
both individual medleys. Bosch
won the 200-yard butterfly, set-
ting a new Big Ten record in pre-
liminaries and leading a pack of
Wolverines that took four of the
top five spots. In the final, Bosch
set the pace at 1:40.54, and was
followed by his training partner,
Whitaker, in 1:41.90. Brumm
and Wojciechowski took fourth
and fifth, respectively.
Whitaker, though, got the
best of the sophomore in the two
medleys. In Thursday's 200-yard
individual medley, Whitaker fin-
ished in 1:41.30, closely followed
by Bosch in 1:41.66. Earlier in the
day at prelims, Whitaker broke
former Wolverine Tyler Clary's
school record by swimming the
race ina time of 1:41.14.
Clary, an Olympic gold med-
alist in the 200-meter back-
stroke, was in the building to see
his record broken.
"Obviously, I'd love to keep
the record forever," Clary said.
"It's cool that the guys that
broke them are guys that I've
trained with. I've come to know
them, and I like them a lot.
"I know that those guys focus
a lot on detail. If anything, I
was watching them to see if I
could learn anything about their
breaststroke."
Clary too is part of the win-
ning tradition built at Canham
Natatorium.
The eastern wall of the pool
building holds the offices of
Bottom, diving coach KZ Li
and all of their assistants. In
the window of each office sits
a Big Ten championship trophy
- a reminder to everyone who
walks by of the high standard
for success.
"I think (it's intimidating),"
Jaeger said. "I think (other
swimmers) know where they
are when they walk in here."
Jaeger did his part to take up
more window space over the
weekend. The senior successful-
ly defended his titles in both the
500-yard and 1,650-yard free-
styles and added a fourth-place
finish in the 400-yard individu-
al medley.
In the 1,650-yard event, Jae-
ger was flanked by sophomore
Anders Lie Nielsen, his training
nartner and fellw Olmnian
The two cruised through the Bottom said. "They've carried it
swim, finishing first and third forward. They're carrying for-
in times of 14:34.19 and 14:48.23, ward what Michigan's all about."
respectively. In less than a month, Jaeger,
Jaeger led the entire race, a Whitaker, Faerber, Bottom and
situation he the rest of the
has grown Wolverines
accustomed to will travel to
over his four- re Dallas, looking
year career at totake another
Michigan. carrying forward victory swim
He and the what M ichigan's at the NCAA
rest of the M Champion-
seniors will all about."' ships. Bot-
leave Michi- tom will wear
gan having his shoes on
won a Big Ten the pool deck
title in every there.
season they've competed. Of course, if everything goes
"When they came in, they right for his team, he very well
were taught by seniors before could be taking them off again,
them, and they took in the cul- for one more swim with his
ture of the teams before them," seniors.
Timothy Faerber scored in all three diving events as Michigan won the Big Ten.
'