After a dominating day-one performance Thursday, the No. 3 University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team increased its lead (742.5 points) during the second day of action in the Big Ten Championships Friday, scoring runaway victories in four of the eight events in Canham Natatorium.   Indiana made a charge to second while Minnesota and Ohio State are doing battle for third.

The Wolverines were paced by sophomore Scott Spann, who captured the 100-yard breaststroke title, posting a new school and pool record time.  Spann touched an NCAA 'A' time of 52.69 -- nearly one second faster than the second-place finisher Jonathan Roberts on Minnesota (53.47).  The

Michigan junior Bobby Savulich, led a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 freestyle. Before the race, the champion explained the trio discussed Michigan's history in the event.  "The 200 freestyle [is] a big thing for Michigan. U-M has dominated for many years. We wanted to go one, two, three. It didn’t matter which one of us went in which place."

Senior All-American Ben Hesen took home two individual and one relay title and freshman Landon Marzullo continued his amazing run with the 3-meter springboard title on day two of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships.

"It was a better day than the first day," said head coach Ray Looze. "The 200 medley relay started things off well, and it is always nice to get a win."

Hesen's first win was in the 100 butterfly - an upset of defending champion Kyle Bubolz.  Bubolz was fastest during prelims, but finished third.  Indiana's Ben Hesen won the event with a 46.38, the identical time Bubolz swam during morning action.

Hesen's second individual title of the night came in the 100-yard backstroke as he set a new Canham Natatorium record with a time of 45.92, topping the old mark of 46.48 set by Olympian Michael Phelps in 2005. He was one of four Hoosiers to score in the 100 back as Kurt Bassett took 7th with an NCAA B time of 48.35. Ante Zoricic finished 13th (49.76) and Doug Spraul 17th (50.46).

"I was real happy with the night," Hesen said. "There wasn't much more I could do tonight. As for the team, this was really our best day so far. Our divers did real well; we are having a great meet. I couldn't be more proud of everyone."

The University of Minnesota men's swimming and diving team moved up to third place after two days of competition. The Gophers enjoyed several strong performances including runner-up finishes by Jon Roberts in the 100 breaststroke and David Plummer in the 100 backstroke.

"I am very happy with our performance. Guys are swimming lifetime-bests and that's about as much as you can ask for," head coach Dennis Dale said. ""We are doing a really good job. They are fighting for every point we can get.""

The nationally-ranked Ohio State men's swimming and diving team finished day two in fourth-place with 458.5 points.  Seniors Dan Novak and Matt Voelker put together big performances for the Buckeyes, breaking school records in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 freestyle, respectively. In the backstroke event, Novak touched the wall in 47.84 to earn third place.  Voelker's record-breaking performance came as the lead-off swimmer in the 800 freestyle relay. His 200-yard time of 1:35.91 propelled the squad of George Markovic, Jacob Busch and Andrew Olson to a third place finish in a record time of 6:29.01.

"It was special to see two school records broken by our two seniors." Bill Wadley, head men's swimming coach, said. "Novak's swim was an outstanding and memorable moment."

Freshman David Colturi highlighted Purdue's second day of competition, placing second on 3-meter with a new varsity record score of 423.15 points.  Colturi's score surpassed the old varsity record of 370.13 points previously held by teammate Zach Schultz since last season. Schultz recorded a personal best Friday with 390.75 points, which was good for fifth place, and Kyle Mitrione placed ninth with 369.90 points.

Boilermaker head coach Dan Ross said the high-scoring competition made for some great on-deck theatrics.

"Our guys and the guys from IU were just going crazy with each dive," he said. "It was just an unbelievable, exciting contest from start to finish and even though David smoked his last dive, the guy from Indiana was just a little better. It was a real cool event and we're looking forward to seeing what we do on platform tomorrow."

No. 18 Northwestern slipped a spot to sixth place following the second day of action.  Northwestern began Friday's finals with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay, getting an NCAA `B' standard of 1:27.92 from Vogel, Franklin, Bubolz and Barbic.  Tyler then took 12th overall with a sixth-place finish in the consolation final of the 400 IM, turning in a 3:55.44 for the 'Cats.

The Wolverines will go in the final day with an insurmountable lead.  Was it something Michigan expected?  Savulich answered that question - "We didn’t expect anything. We have a shirt ‘expect nothing, blame no one, do something.’ That’s our motto. We’re not comfortable with our lead. We still swim as though we’re down 140 points. I think that’s important. It’s going to be tough tomorrow."

"Everyday, instead of approaching the meet as if we’re going to war as a lot of teams may do, we’re just trying to have fun. We’ve put in a lot of work all year. Now we’re ready to reap the benefits. We’re trying to win for Michigan.”

  1. University of Michigan            742.5   2. Indiana University                  602
  3. University of Minnesota           469.5   4. Ohio State University             458.5
  5. Purdue University                 336.5   6. Northwestern University             292
  7. University of Wisconsin             242   8. Pennsylvania State University       190
  9. University of Iowa                  148  10. Michigan State University           111