With as much firepower as the top-tier men’s swimming and diving teams in the Big Ten bring, the opening day of the Big Ten Championships started off with a bang at the University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.In Michigan coach Bob Bowman’s first Big Ten Championship, the Wolverines started out a little slower than usual while they released the butterflies floating around in their stomachs.“We came back after the break, and everyone was faster,” Bowman said. “Everyone responded.”When the finals started in the latter part of Thursday’s session, Michigan fell to 10th place after the 200-yard freestyle relay. The combination of seniors Andrew Hack and Mike Galindo and freshmen Grant Burch and Dane Grenda finished last, but one of the Wolverines’ top swimmers came through as the finals continued.In the evening 500-yard freestyle finals, junior Peter Vanderkaay set a new Big Ten record with a time of 4:12.34. Junior Davis Tarwater came in third to help the Wolverines jump from 10th place up to second, behind Minnesota.“Peter’s race was really good,” Bowman said. “It was exactly what I was hoping for, and he raced very tough which he always does.”Overall, the 500-yard freestyle was the best event for the Wolverines — they placed first, third and sixth in the “A” finals and first and second in the “B” finals.Then, the Wolverines dropped to fourth place after the 50-yard freestyle finals because they did not have a swimmer qualify for the finals.Earlier in the day, Purdue’s Louis Paul set a Big Ten record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:44.65. Not to be outdone, Northwestern set a Big Ten record in the 200-yard freestyle relay — sophomores Matt Grevers and Mike Alexandrov and freshmen Kyle Bubolz and David Kormushoff finished in 1:17.74.“Northwestern is swimming extremely well,” Bowman said. “They have a couple really good guys, and they are swimming very fast.”When the one-meter diving finals began, the Wolverines had no one competing due to low preliminary scores from sophomores Pat Noyes and Jon Donadee and junior Jake Boehm. Donadee placed the highest out of the three, finishing in 24th place in the preliminaries. Although the one-meter diving finals did not yield any points, the Wolverines were still in prime position to make a move up in the standings heading into the final event — the 400-yard individual medley.While the night started out on a high note with Peter Vanderkaay’s performance, it ended with a deflating 400-yard individual medley race. The Wolverines were disqualified for a false start, dropping them to sixth place in the standings with 94 points to finish the first day.“It was a real disappointment in the team score for today,” Bowman said.After a day filled with excitement and disappointment, Bowman knows that the Wolverines will have to have an excellent outing today to make up ground against the current leader, Minnesota. “We just have to regroup and come back tomorrow and do better,” Bowman said. “We have got to put more people in the finals. We can’t just rely on Peter; we need some other people to step up.” With some of its weaker events out of the way, Michigan will have a chance to make a run at Minnesota’s lead tomorrow with junior Chris DeJong entering the water as a strong swimmer in the backstroke events. While the Wolverines prepare for tomorrow, they know that they have to rebound with a solid performance.“They’re disappointed, and they’re a little bit angry,” Bowman said. “I’m hoping that we can channel that into some performances tomorrow. I think that we can come out swinging.”