The fifth-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team extended its conference-wide dominance to a sixth year, winning another Big Ten title on Saturday (Feb. 27) inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The Wolverines finished the meet with 1,475.5 points -- 169.5 points ahead of second-place Indiana (1,306) -- extending its winning streak to a sixth year, while bringing back the program's 40th title to Ann Arbor.
The men's title comes just one week after the women's swimming and diving team accomplished the same feat back in Ann Arbor. With this victory, Michigan becomes the first Big Ten program to win conference titles in both men's and women's swimming and diving in the same year since it did it back in 1997.
Michigan got three more wins on Saturday to close out the win: Dylan Bosch (200-yard butterfly), sophomore PJ Ransford (1,650-yard freestyle) and sophomore Tristan Sanders (200-yard backstroke). Bosch made history with his finals swim, getting clocked at 1:40.86, breaking the pool record previously held by former Wolverine and U.S. Olympian Davis Tarwater, who was in attendance calling the meet for the Big Ten Network. Bosch is the first swimmer in Big Ten and Michigan history to win four consecutive conference titles in the event. Incredibly, Bosch has won a medal in every individual swim he's ever had at the Big Ten Championships (12 total) -- including eight titles -- cementing his status as one of the best swimmers in conference history.
At the conclusion of the meet, Bosch was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships. He was one of thirteen swimmers to earn All-Big Ten recognition, including 10 on the first team.
Ransford set the tone in the first race of the night, putting forth a dominant effort to crush the field in the 1,650-yard freestyle (14:36.61). After finishing runner-up in this event at both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships last season, Ransford left no doubt this year, lapping six of his seven opponents in the final heat to win by almost 25 seconds. His time was an NCAA A cut and broke Peter Vanderkaay's 12-year pool record by 12 seconds (14:48.66 from 2004). Also finishing in the top eight were junior Cameron Stitt (fifth, 15:09.76) and sophomore Ian Rainey (sixth, 15:09.78).
Sanders followed Ransford's title-winning performance with one of his own in the 200-yard backstroke, out-touching Indiana's Bob Glover by .06 seconds to win (1:41.81), becoming the program's first conference champion in the event since Tyler Clary in 2010. Four swimmers were within two tenths-of-a-second going into the last 50, but Sanders managed to hang on and get his hand on the wall first. Senior/junior Luke Papendick also moved up from preliminaries, finishing fifth (1:42.56), while sophomore Aaron Whitaker shaved a second-and-a-half off his time from the morning to win the consolation final and finish ninth overall (1:42.35).
Following Bosch in the 200-yard butterfly were four other swimmers in the top 11, including sophomore Evan White, who was runner-up for the second consecutive year (1:42.36) and senior Peter Brumm, who capped off his career meet with a sixth-place finish (1:45.22).
U-M claimed more points in the 100-yard freestyle with three more top-10 finishes. Sophomore Paul Powers led at the halfway point but got caught on the back half, settling in a tie for third (42.73), while senior Anders Lie Nielsen took sixth (43.12). Junior Jason Chen won the consolation final, finishing ninth overall (43.50). Two others scored points in the consolation of the 200-yard breaststroke, with junior Chris Klein finishing ninth (1:56.35) and senior Matt McNamara finishing 14th (1:58.00).
The Wolverines finished second in the 400-yard freestyle relay to close the meet, as the foursome of Powers, Chen, White and Nielsen posted an NCAA A cut (2:51.43).
Freshman Collin DeShaw added a point to the team total, finishing 24th on platform (237.60).
MICHIGAN BIG TEN CHAMPIONS
Dylan Bosch (3): 100-yard Butterfly, 200-yard Butterfly, 200-yard IM
Anders Lie Nielsen (1): 500-yard Freestyle
PJ Ransford (1): 1,650-yard Freestyle
Paul Powers (1): 50-yard Freestyle
Tristan Sanders (1): 200-yard Backstroke
800-yard Freestyle Relay: Anders Lie Nielsen, Mokhtar Al-Yamani, Jack Mangan, Dylan Bosch
200-yard Medley Relay: Jason Chen, Chris Klein, Jeremy Raisky, Paul Powers
BIG TEN AWARD WINNERS
Swimmer of the Championships: DYLAN BOSCH, MICHIGAN
Diver of the Championships: Zhipeng Zeng, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year: Ian Finnerty, Indiana
Sportsmanship Award Honoree: Will Raynor
