BLOOMINGTON - Senior co-captain Peter Vanderkaay may have won the meet for the Wolverines, but sophomore Grant Burtch had a meet-changing race in the 200-yard breaststroke that proved to be the catalyst in pushing the Michigan men's swimming and diving team ahead of Indiana on the point board. The fourth-ranked Wolverines ultimately came away with a 160-140 victory over No. 11 Indiana.

As the 200-yard breaststroke got underway, Burtch and senior Andrew Albright got off to slow starts and were far from Hoosier leaders Kevin Swander and Heath Tameris.

"We were half way through the race saying, 'Uh oh, this is not good,' " assistant coach Dan Schinnerer said. "I think most of us on the deck thought that we were out of the race."

With three laps to go, Albright and Burtch made a fight to move up on their opponents.

"It was about there where I decided I wasn't ready to give up," Burtch said. "I wasn't ready to go home yet."

Coming down the final lap of the race, Albright passed Tameris, and Burtch moved ahead to stalk down Swander. With just a few strokes left in the race, the Michigan team rallied together on the sidelines to cheer on their teammates, and Burtch grabbed the lead and got his hand to the wall first to earn the victory with a time of 2:03.00.

"I knew I was in it at the final 25," Burtch said. "I felt pretty good, so I just sped up. I was a little surprised to see that I won."

Burtch's win, along with Albright's third-place finish, spurred the rest of the team to work harder.

"That was a great swim," Bowman said. "For him to respond that way really pushed the rest of the guys to try and work harder to move up and get in those extra points."

Michigan had beaten Ohio State 164-77 less than 24 hours before the start of yesterday's meet. Immediately after that victory, the Wolverines drove six hours to Bloomington.

As a result of that brutal schedule, Michigan got off to a tough start against Indiana, finishing second in the 200-yard medley relay to a fast Hoosiers team.

"After the long drive last night, we were all a little sore," senior co-captain Chris DeJong said. "It took a while to get warmed up."

Vanderkaay responded to the loss in the first event by earning a victory in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 14:58.84 - more than eight seconds ahead of second-place Hoosier finisher Sergiy Fesenko.

Vanderkaay went on to swim in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley and anchor the 800-yard freestyle relay.

"Peter is an iron man," Bowman said. "He basically carried us on his shoulders, and nobody can swim a program like that except him."

Both Indiana and Michigan exchanged point leads throughout the meet, creating an extremely competitive environment. Bowman labeled the competition as the toughest one on the team's schedule, and he was very pleased to end up earning the win.

In addition to the efforts of Vanderkaay and Burtch, Bowman pointed to freshman Bobby Savulich as making a difference for the team yesterday. Savulich swam an exciting 200-yard freestyle with senior co-captain Davis Tarwater.

With a time of 23:03, Savulich led the field of eight swimmers for the first 50 yards. Tarwater dragged on Savulich for the first half of the race while maintaining a close second-place distance. After a fast turn and strong push-off, Tarwater made a move on the fourth wall and was able to inch up on the freshman. Following three more fast turns from Tarwater, Savulich couldn't hold him off any longer. Tarwater led the final 50 yards and took a victory in the race with a time of 1:37.85. Savulich finished in a close second with a time of 1:38.03.

"It was nice to see Bobby step it up," Bowman said. "He didn't have a very good meet against Ohio State, so to come here and swim well showed us that he knows how to step it up. I think by the time the Big Tens roll around he'll be a force to be reckoned with."

Michigan has just one dual meet remaining - against Northwestern in two weeks - before returning to Bloomington for the Big Ten Championships.