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

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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!

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ean Ritchlin celebrates after one of his numerous goals this season in a victory over the Western Michigan University Broncos. -PLAY OF THE YEAR- - . Joshua Greenbere photos courtesy of Sports Information Munn Ice Arena, home of the Wolverines ' fiercest rival, Michigan State, was the setting for one of the most talked about goals in the world of sports. Taking on Minnesota at the NCAA West Regionals, U-M was down 2- 1 , but on a power- play. Center Mike Legg, was behind the opponent ' s net when he picked the puck up onto his stick and dumped it into the net. I was alone and had enough time, so I thought I ' d give it a try, said Legg. The lacrosse style goal brought the score to a tie and sparked U-M ' s final drive to a 4-3 victory. The goal thrust Legg into the national spotlight, earning him nomina- tions for two ESPY awards. Legg traveled to the fifth annual awards show in New York City where he won an ESPY for Most Outrageous Play of the Year. The feat was voted Goal of the Year by Inside Hockey, and Play of the Year by The Sports Network. Legg ' s stick was donated to The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for its display on the 1996 Year in Review. Peter Nielsen photo courtesy of Sports Information olverine left wing, John Mad- ront Row: Mel Pearson, Marty Tureo, Warren Luhning, Jason Botterill, Red Berenson, Blake Sloan, Gregg Malicke, Billy Powers. Second in pins a Brown opponent against Row: Greg Daddario, Bobby Hayes, Matt Herr, Mike Legg, Peter Bourke, Chris Frescoln, Harold Schock, John Madden, Bill Muckalt. Ian Hume, e wall in a Struggle to gain control Chris Fox. Sean Peach. Back Row: David Brooks, Jeff Krzeszak, Jim Campbell, Sean Ritchlin, Bubba Berenzweig. Dale Romin ski, Greg Crazier, the puck. Kevin Magnuson, Andrew Merrick, Justin Clark, Craig Assenmacher. Rick Bancroft, Bo Poley, Jash Richelew. 153 Hock6V

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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