After a week that saw Michigan go up against a brutal lineup of Cal-Berkeley and Arizona, the Wolverines stayed closer to home, felling 19th-ranked Purdue 153-90 at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverine freshmen had an excellent night and totaled five of the team's 11 victories. The meet was held in short-course yards.
Michian men's coach Bob Bowman spoke about the West Coast trip following the meet saying, "I think it went very well. You never really know how you're going to come back and adjust to school, after you've been on a long trip like we were. It seems like we're swimming pretty well. We're going to have to do better tomorrow (Jan. 13) if we want to be competitive against Indiana. We're going to be making some tweaks to the lineup and we're going to be ready."
Sophomore diver Kyle Schroeder (Milan, Mich./Milan) scored a new personal high in the three-meter dive with an NCAA Zone Qualifying mark of 354.22 to finish with the second highest score in the event. Schroeder also finished with the second highest mark in the one-meter event recording another NCAA Zone Qualifying score of 306.37.
Fresh off of being named the National Collegiate swimmer of the week by CollegeSwimming.com on Wednesday (Jan. 10), freshman Scott Spann (Austin, Texas/Westlake) earned a victory in the 200-yard breaststroke. Spann finished the race in an NCAA Consideration 'B' time of 1:59.28 -- more than four seconds faster than the next swimmer.
Following the meet Spann commented on being named National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week, "It's unbelievable. I didn't think that I deserved it out of all the other people but they gave it to me. It means a lot to start your career off with an award like that."
He also added that Bowman's not letting up on the guys as they face a murderous schedule, "We're still training really hard. We were lifting weights right before the meet. We're not going to start resting for another couple of weeks and hopefully we'll see some great results."
Michigan took the top two spots in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Junior Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams) captured the victory with a mark of 15:45.26. Sophomore Christian Sprang (Sicklerville, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) recorded the second fastest time in the event clocking 16:01.22. Vanderkaay also won the 200-yard butterfly clocking a time of 1:49.26.
Three other freshmen that had outstanding nights were Charlie Houchin (Raleigh, N.C./William G. Enloe), Chris Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant) and André Schultz (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Palmares). Houchin earned a first place finish when he clocked 4:30.20 in the 500-yard freestyle. Schultz finished shortly thereafter touching the wall in 4:31.33 to take second place. Brady captured victory in the 50-yard freestyle -- an event so close that 0.8 seconds separated the winner from the slowest time -- with a mark of 21.06
Michigan finished with the top two spots in the 200-yard individual medley. Schultz and junior Dane Grenda (Hockessin, Del./Salesianum) were neck-and-neck during the entire race. Schultz was able to pull out the victory touching the wall in 1:50.35, just 0.04 seconds ahead of Grenda (1:50.39).
The Wolverines also swept the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle. Sophomore Bobby Savulich (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph) captured the victory with a time of 1:38.53. Houchin was right behind to take second place (1:39.43). Savulich captured his second victory of the night in the 100-yard freestyle clocking a time of 45.26.
The Wolverines opened and closed the meet with victories in relay races. The 400-yard medley relay team of Patton, Spann, Brady and Savulich took first place with a time of 3:20.39, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Houchin, Vanderkaay, Schultz and sophomore Evan Ryser (Katy, Texas/James. E. Taylor) touched the wall in 3:03.69 for the fastest time.
Sophomore Matt Patton (Matthews, N.C./Butler) won the 200-yard backstroke touching the wall in 1:48.60.
Michigan will take a week long hiatus before traveling to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State and Northwestern on Fri-Sat. Jan. 26-27 at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Friday's action will start at 6 p.m. and Saturday's events will begin at 1 p.m. Purdue meanwhile will head over the East Lansing for a dual against Michigan State.
