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National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week

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.: Michigan & Wisconsin Sweep Northwestern Quad

Evanston, IL , November 17th, 2007

The No. 5 University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team dominated the second day of action in its double-dual meet with two Big Ten Conference opponents Saturday (Nov. 16), scoring runaway victories over No. 18-ranked Northwestern (241-129) and Wisconsin (283-86) at Norris Aquatics Center.

On the women's side, host Northwestern set a new pool record in the 800 freestyle relay while splitting its double-dual. The Wildcats defeated Notre Dame, 208-162, while Wisconsin topped Northwestern 196-173 and Notre Dame 218-151.

After dominating the freestyle events in day one the Wolverines opened the second day's morning session with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:29.50 from the 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Alon Mandel (Netanya, Israel/Eldad HS), sophomore Scott Spann (Austin, Texas/Westlake HS), sophomore Chris Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant HS) and junior Bobby Savulich (Edison, N.J./Saint Joseph).

Two more U-M teams recorded NCAA times in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Savulich, freshman Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif./Poly HS), junior Sal Barba (Hudson, Mass./St. Johns HS) and senior Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) touched the wall first with an NCAA 'A' time of 6:37.82. Sophomore André Schultz (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Palmares), sophomore Charlie Houchin (Raleigh, N.C./William G. Enloe HS), sophomore Adam DeJong (Holland, Mich./Holland HS) and junior Matt Patton (Matthews, N.C./Butler HS) finished second, clocking an NCAA 'B' time of 6:42.19.

Clary led the Maize and Blue in a sweep of the 400-yard individual medley, touching in at 3:52.29, followed by Schultz second (3:52.80) and senior Dane Grenda (Hockessin, Del./Salesianum HS) in third (3:57.38).

The Wolverines won three more events in the morning session, Brady touched in first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 47.71. Spann and Vanderkaay finished one-two in the 100-yard breaststroke with times 55.01 and 56.58, respectively. Mandel won the 100-yard backstroke by touching the wall at 49.62 and was followed by Patton in third (51.11).

The Wolverines contiuned their overall dominance during the second session with a NCAA 'A' time of 2:58.17 from the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Savulich, Brady, Clary and Vanderkaay. Patton led U-M in a sweep of the 1,650-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 15:19.84, followed by DeJong second (15:50.18) and junior Christian Sprang (Sicklerville, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) in third (15:57.64).

Also logging first-place finishes were Spann in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:59.26), Schultz in the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.97), and Vanderkaay in the 200-yard butterfly (1:47.44).

After a two-week hiatus the Wolverines will travel to the Husky Invitational, slated for Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, in Federal Way, Wash., site of the 2008 NCAA Championships.