Though the Michigan football team didn’t go bowling this year, the men’s swimming team did — and it dominated.

No. 4 Michigan won all of its 11 events against competition from Duke, Rutgers and George Mason in the Orange Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla.

Victories by sophomores Tyler Clary and Neal Kennedy and senior Bobby Savulich highlighted the non-scoring meet. Each won two individual events.

Junior Alon Mandel also stood out, finishing second in the 100-meter backstroke and helping the 200-meter medley relay team earn first place.

“In my opinion, Alon is the best backstroker on this team,” first-year Michigan coach Mike Bottom said. “He proved to me he can compete in the event and has the willingness to improve.”

For the first time this season, the team’s races were measured in meters instead of yards. This slightly altered Michigan’s approach to last weekend’s meet.

Bottom said swimming in meters was “liberating”. Instead of worrying about individual times, swimmers focused on their stroke counts and the other swimmers in their race, which made for a more relaxed atmosphere at the meet.

Prior to the Jan. 3 meet, the team had a week-long training period in Florida. Bottom stressed conditioning, intelligence and building team camaraderie.

The swimmers trained for seven to eight hours each day, which included a dry land practice with running drills, morning and afternoon pool practices and a weight lifting session.

Bottom was pleased with the physical progress his team made over the week and praised former Michigan coach Bob Bowman for instilling discipline in the program.

“They are physically prepared and well-conditioned,” Bottom said. “Bob was a real driver. He made them do incredible amounts of swimming and that has carried over to this year.”

In addition to physical training, Bottom also stressed strengthening every swimmer’s mental approach.

“Because Michigan is academically the brightest of schools in the top 10, everyone here needs to use that to our advantage, break out and think creatively,” he said.

Savulich heeded his coach’s calling at the Orange Bowl Classic and made personal improvements.

“Bobby made critical changes to his stroke technique in the freestyle events,” Bottom said. “It’s not just about swimming back and forth, but having creative intelligence and constantly evaluating yourself.”

The swimmers spent a lot of time interacting with each other outside of the pool with activities like snorkeling and boating, which helped build team chemistry.

After their solid showing in the Orange Bowl Classic, the Wolverines are poised to prove themselves on the national scene against No. 6 Tennessee and No. 14 Indiana this weekend.