University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 159 text:

photo courtesy of Sports Information ' M ' Swimming earned the spotlight by Tracy A. Solow If asked what the marquee sports were at Michigan in 1996, the respo; from mosffludents was uniform football, men ' s basketball and ice hockey This response was uniform everywhere, except in Canham Natatorium. One could not tell the men ' s swimming and diving team that swimming was not a big sport because it would be the first to explain that its program has been the most consistently successful athletic program at the University. Walking into the natatorium, spectators experienced an overwhelming feeling of pride when they noticed all of the banners that displayed the success of the program. Eleven NCAA national championships, 1995 being the most recent, and multiple Big Ten Championship banners lined an entire side of the natatorium, and then continued on to the other side. Excellence was more than a consistency for the Wolverines, it was a tradition. Great football and great basketball has been a way of life for so many years here at Michigan, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are large revenue programs. Swimming may not be as much of a spectator sport as football, but we have consistently been the best athletic team on our campus for over a decade, said Captain John Piersma. The Wolverines did not let the lack of attention affect their performance. In 1996, the Wolverines secured an impressive third-place finish at the NCAA Championship, finishing behind Auburn University and the champions, the University of Texas. Tom Dolan, who chose to forego his final year of eligibility, was the main contributor, winning both the 1650-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley, and tying Southern Methodist University ' s Ryan Berube as the top point scorer of the meet. Dolan also helped Michigan continue its dominance in the 800-yard freestyle relay, along with teammates Chris Rumley, Jason Lancaster, and Piersma. It was the fourth year in a row that the Wolverines won the event. In 1997, in addition to successfully recapturing the Big Ten title that it lost to Minnesota in 1996, the team was looking to place itself in the running for the NCAA Championship again. We have had a really tough season thus far, said Piersma in late January. A lot of the guys have been sick. We lost Jason Lancaster to a shoulder injury, and Joe Palmer to other health reasons, and of course the loss of Dolan puts extra strain on the team. But we have really pulled together as a team and have grown tremendously. People have just had to step up. We charted our battle and went all out. No complaining, no questioning, we just give everything we have and hope it will be enough. An NCAA Championship was not far from the Wolverines ' minds, or their goals. We ' d like to get into the top three again. Of course, winning would be nice, but we don ' t want to set our sights too high, said Piersma. Coach Jon Urbanchek concurred with Piersma about the tremendous effort an NCAA championship would take but did not seem jolted. Urbanchek said, On paper it ' s probably Stanford, Texas, Auburn, and then Michigan. I never paid much attention to paper in the past though, because we swim in the water, not on paper. We will create a big wake and make a lot of turbulence at NCAAs. Mark Wolly Sophomore Brett Wilmot executes a dive off the 3-meter springboard. He captured second place on the IO- meter platform at the 1996 Big Ten meet. Layout by Michelle McCombs Men ' s Swimming

Page 158 text:

I om Malchow practices the but- terfly stroke. In addition to capturing an Olympic silver medal in the 200- meter butterfly, Malchow won the event at the 1997 Big Ten Champioships.. Big Ten, Overall Opponent U-of-M Eastern Michigan 125 Texas 29 Standford 1 04 Cal-Berkeley 1 26 Dallas Morning News Classic Purdue 127.5 Indiana 152 Michigan State 139 Ohio State 146.5 U.S.S. Nationals NTS Michigan Open NTS Big Ten Diving Zone NCAA Championship - bold indicates home meet photo courtesy of Sports Information ront row: Chris Rumley, Tom Almeida, Shuichi Matsumoto, Ryan Papa, Al Fleming, Brett Wilmot. Second row: Dick Kimball, Nathan Shepard, David Stephens, Jeff Flermoen, Dawson Hughes, Andy Potts, Joe Janik, Alex Braunfeld. Third row: Jon Urbanchek, Toby Booker, Chris Laskowski, John Reich, Jan Wenzel, Royce Sharp, Joe Palmer. Back row: Steven Williams, Derya Buyukuncu, Owen von Richter, Tom Malchow, Tom Dolan, John Piersma, Shigeo Ogata. Williams works to perfect his freestyle stroke. The junior fin- ished fifth in the 1 650-freesty le at the 1996 Big Ten meet. 154 4 Men ' s Swimming Mark Wol!

Page 160 text:

The Wolverines created a splash by Emma Cartwright . xpenenced The Michigan women ' s swimming and diving team seemingly experience a difficult season. Its regular season record questioned the Wolverines ' position as the top team in the Big Ten. But from the perspective of the Michigan squad, the year was certainly rewarding. Magic it ' s the key word, said senior education major Melisa Stone, one of the team ' s captains. The magic began for the Wolverines at their training session in San Diego, CA. Team captain Lidia Szabo thought the session was the highlight of the season. Everyone came ready to get down to business. We showed up ready to get to business and work again. Coach Jim Richardson also believed that the team ' s training sessions were excellent because the women were focused. I care more about the way we are training than whether or not we are winning, Richardson said. The women spent 16 to 20 hours a week in the water training, in addition to weight training and other exercises to keep them in shape. It was an old team with eight women planning on graduating in the spring. Many of these women were All- Americans and top swimmers in the Big Ten. A large junior class also supported the team. While Richardson was skeptical about the talent in the first-year and sophomore classes, Stone felt that these women had a lot of potential. Despite their disappointing record, the team remained 100% confident, according to Szabo. I think we were really shocked when we lost the Stanford and Berkeley meets, but we were tired and exhausted. The Wolverines had a busy schedule and often found themselves too tired to swim their best. For these women, and their coach, it wasn ' t about winning. We don ' t care if we win or lose; we would rather come together as a team and swim well, Stone said. While struggling through their tough meet schedule, the women remained focused on the championship meets. The Wolverines maintained their ranking as the number one women ' s swim team in the Big Ten, a title they had held for 1 1 straight years. One of the team ' s goals was to finish in the top three at the NCAA National Championship meet. We have a good chance to do well. I think we can make it in the top three if everyone does really well. One of the great strengths of this women ' s swim team was its performance in the relays. Both the 200-meter and the 400-meter medleys were extremely fast. Stone believed that this was the great strength of the team. At Miami of Ohio, we rested, but the free relay still swam so fast. The greatest thing is that we have the potential to swim faster. Regardless of the team ' s statistics, the Wolverines swam well together and enjoyed each other. Szabo believed that the best part of the season was the day in and day out activities. It makes me thankful that I am on this team and I get to work with these great swimmers. These women were not only fantastic swimmers, but they succeeded in the classroom as well. The overall team grade point average was a 3.25 the highest of all Michigan athletic teams. 156 Women ' s Swimming Layout by Michelle McCombs