Michigan closed out the 2008 Big Ten Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in style, having led after all three days of the event. The Wolverines (1081.5 points) concluded with a 226.5-point edge over second place Indiana. Minnesota edged Indiana by two points for third place.

The Wolverines were fueled by senior Alex Vanderkaay, who claimed his third individual title of the championships Saturday and was named Big Ten co-Swimmer of the Year and co-Swimmer of the Championships after earning 78 points in the three-day meet. Vanderkaay captured the 200-yard butterfly title, posting a NCAA 'A' and new pool-record time of 1:43.65.

Junior Matt Patton opened the final night of the championships by claiming the 1,650-yard freestyle title for the second straight season with an automatic time of 14:51.79. Patton nearly matched Vanderkaay's scoring output, accounting for 74 points for the Wolverines in the meet.

Junior Bobby Savulich brought the sellout crowd to its feet when he touched the wall first in the 100-yard freestyle (42.89), defeating defending champion Kyle Bubolz of Northwestern (43.40). Savulich's time is a new pool record and NCAA automatic time.

Sophomore Scott Spann stayed with the record-setting momentum stroke for stroke and touched the wall first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a personal-best, pool-record and NCAA 'A' time of 1:53.17.
 
Vanderkaay closed the championships by touching the wall first as the final leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay team with Savulich, sophomore Chris Brady and freshman Tyler Clary. The quartet finished first with an NCAA 'A' time and pool-record 2:53.58.

U-M coach Bob Bowman was crowned conference Coach of the Year, and a total of 11 Wolverines receive Big Ten all-first team accolades as event winners.

Ben Hesen capped off his Big Ten career in dominating fashion with a pool and school record in a victorious 200-yard backstroke as the Hoosiers recorded a second-place finish at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. The Hoosiers cleaned up on individual awards as Landon Marzullo was named Diver of the Championship, Big Ten Diver of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Hesen took home Swimmer of the Championship and Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. He shared both awards with Michigan's Alex Vanderkaay. In addition, Dr. Jeff Huber was named Diving Coach of the Year. Hesen's record-breaking 200-yard backstroke swim produced a time of 1:40.85, beating his previous mark of 1:42.37 set at last year's NCAA Championships. It was Hesen's third individual title of the meet after picking up the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly crowns Friday night. He was also a member of the victorious 200-yard medley relay team.

The Minnesota men's swimming and diving team finished strong to move into third on the final day, just ahead of Ohio State (680.5). Michigan won the team title with 1081.5 points and Indiana was second with 855 points. The Gophers have finished in the top three at the Big Ten Championships every year since 1989. Minnesota entered the night with 16 athletes competing, the highest total of any team. Six competed in championship finals.

No. 13 Ohio State finished in fourth. Highlighting the events Saturday were the performances of junior Wes Wieser and freshman Sean Moore on the platform. The pair earned the top two spots after Wieser captured first with 415.50 points and Moore took second with a score of 400.95. Also shining for the Buckeyes was Stefan Sigrist in the 1,650-yard freestyle. After bettering his seed time by over 30 seconds, the sophomore earned a fifth-place finish in an NCAA "B" cut time of 15:13.01. Sigrist's time also broke the school record set by teammate and classmate Mark Neiman last year. Neiman earned a 12th-place finish in the event with a time of 15:20.18.

The Boilermakers left the Big Ten Championships with much to cheer about Saturday night. Senior Eddie Kenney led off the sixth-place relay with a 100-yard freestyle split and personal best of 44.94 seconds. John Mullen, Romain Maire and John Schmitt followed with splits of 43.73, 43.72 and 43.90. Purdue's record-breaking achievement marked the second time in as many years that its 400 free relay ended the championships by establishing a new school record. Purdue's best relay showing of the weekend helped the program claim fifth place with a team record 488.5 points, which was its highest total since placing fourth in 1997 with 384 points. The Boilermakers came into this weekend hoping to finish higher, but they were the sixth-place team each of the last two years at Big Ten's and were seventh as recently as 2003.

No. 18 Northwestern finished in sixth place Saturday night at the Big Ten Championships after a strong day that saw six Wildcats earn appearances in finals heats along with a silver medal from NU's 400 free relay. The Wildcats totaled 438 points, 75 points more than seventh-place Wisconsin and 50.5 behind fifth-place Purdue. Junior Adam Beckman got the Wildcats off to a good start Saturday morning, earning a spot in the consolation final of the 200 back with a career-best and NCAA "B" provisional qualifying time of 1:46.15. Beckman was No. 12 overall during the preliminary heats. Northwestern's next highest finisher was sophomore Jake Vogel in 32nd place with a season-best 1:49.93.

Penn State had its best day of the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday as the Nittany Lions finished strong with their best individual performances of the championships. Pat Schirk finished second in the 200 backstroke and broke his own school record again in the event while the 400 freestyle relay team finished third, just over a second over the NCAA `A' time standard. As a team, Penn State finished eighth with a total of 318 points.

The Hawkeyes finished in ninth place with 187 points at the Big Ten Championships on Saturday. Sophomore Wil Whaley set a new school record while finishing in 15th place in the 200 backstroke (1:46.11). The time is also an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Overall, the 18 swimming events provided Iowa with 16 season best times, the first three NCAA provisional qualifying times of the year, and one school record (200 backstroke).

Freshmen Kevin Puskaric and L. Colby Ward and sophomore diver Ivan Zalessov highlighted MSU's showing during the third and final day of the Big Ten Men's Swimming & Diving Championships on Sasturday. Each athlete scored for the Spartans, who finished 10th in the team standings with 159 points. Puskaric delivered an outstanding performance in the 200 breast, posting a 1:59.83 in the finals, good for sixth place. He clocked an even better time in the preliminary round on Saturday morning (1:59.21). The time was good for an NCAA `B' qualifying performance. Ward was MSU's top performer in the distance free, placing 17th in the mile with a time of 15:31.22. His performance, like, Puskaric's was an NCAA `B' qualifying time.

Swimming and Diving Freshman of the Year
   Landon Marzullo (Indiana)
Diver of the Year
   Landon Marzullo (Indiana)
Swimmer of the Championships
   Ben Hasen (Indiana)
   Alex Vanderkaay (Michigan)
Swimmer of the Year
   Ben Hasen (Indiana)
   Alex Vanderkaay (Michigan)
Diving Coach of the Year
   Jeff Huber (Indiana)
Swimming Coach of the Year
   Bob Bowman (Michigan)

First Team All-Conference
Ben Hesen, Indiana (senior)
Ronnie Hehn, Indiana (senior)
Todd Patrick, Indiana (senior)
Matt Lenton, Indiana (junior)
Landon Marzullo, Indiana (freshman)
Andre Schultz, Michigan (sophomore)
Sal Barba, Michigan (junior)
Tyler Clary, Michigan (freshman)
Alex Vanderkaay, Michigan (senior)
Matt Patton, Michigan (junior)
Chris Brady, Michigan (sophomore)
Bobby Savulich, Michigan (junior)
Curtis Dauw, Michigan (junior)
Jamie Martone, Michigan (junior)
Alon Mandel, Michigan (sophomore)
Scott Spann, Michigan (sophomore)
Kyle Bubolz, Northwestern (senior)

Second Team All-Conference
Bruno Barbic, Northwestern (senior)
Wes Wieser, Ohio State (junior)
Sam Pelkey, Ohio State (junior)
Jonathan Roberts, Minnesota (junior)
David Plummer, Minnesota (senior)
David Colturi, Purdue (freshman)
Michael Woodson, Minnesota (senior)
Tyler Schmidt, Minnesota (senior)
Ray Bertuzzi, Minnesota (sophomore)
Curt Carlson, Minnesota (freshman)
Mike Holmes, Minnesota (junior)
Pat Shirck, Penn State (junior)