Last Wednesday, surrounded by teammates, Wolverine Scott Spann dove from the blocks and swam 100 meters. He was one-tenth of a second shy of the pool record.

Just two months into his collegiate swimming career, the freshman was already about to make his mark on the Michigan record board - during a practice swim.

Spann's goals for his college career are not limited to setting records at Canham Natatorium. By the time he leaves Ann Arbor, he plans to be an Olympian, a two-time NCAA champion and a four-time Big Ten champion in individual breaststroke events.

"Every meet, I've been trying to knock off time, and I've done that," Spann said. "I'm keeping pace for what I'm trying to do. Right now, I'm on pace to break the team record, but I have to be even faster than that."

Influenced by his father, who held five U.S. and world records, Spann began swimming at 5. The younger Spann's list of high school achievements - including three 18-and-under national records and a Texas High School Swimmer of the Year award - proved he could be a contributor for a collegiate swimming powerhouse. Spann decided to swim for the Wolverines after fielding serious offers from other top programs.

"Scott decided to come to Michigan after he had some very strong ties with Texas," Michigan coach Bob Bowman said. "I watched Scott swim as a younger swimmer, coming up the ranks, and I knew he had great talent. He had all the ingredients that would go into a great swimmer, so when we were looking for a breaststroker, his was the first name that stuck in my head."

Spann added: "There were a lot of people who doubted my decision to come here, people who thought that I wasn't going to do very well here for different reasons, but that made me work that much harder. I thought this was going to be a long process, but I'm actually doing a lot better here than I ever thought I would."

In four meets this season, Spann has won the 100-yard once and 200-yard breaststroke twice. He earned an NCAA consideration time (2:18.5) last month in the 200-meter breaststroke. Teammate and roommate Charlie Houchin said that Spann's specific goals have helped Spann succeed early in the season.

"He stays really upbeat and that's led to him being able to stay more focused in practice, which leads to better results in the pool," Houchin said. "I don't think there's any question that he'll be able to reach his goals."

With the majority of the season remaining, Bowman believes that Spann can significantly impact the outcome of this spring's championship meets.

"He's going to be one of the best swimmers in the Big Ten, and I think he has the talent to swim at the very top of the NCAA this year," Bowman said. "He works very hard and he deserves success."