Many of the conference championship banners hanging in Canham Natatorium have faded over the years from a brilliant blue to a sun-stained purple. The most recent flag, in honor of Michigan’s 2003 Big Ten Championship, is beginning to look like the rest of the aged banners. Wolverine coach Bob Bowman hopes to make an addition to the rafters this weekend and bring home a new banner to liven up the pool’s ambience.
The Big Ten Championships open this Thursday in Bloomington. The seventh-ranked Wolverines are in the hunt for a conference title after placing second two years ago and third last year.
Minnesota, the 2005 Big Ten champion, is favored to win in the team competition, but Bowman believes that if most of the Wolverines hit personal-best times in their races – which he expects them to do – the team could be primed for the conference title.
Bowman’s optimistic prediction depends on the performance of his 10 freshmen – who will compete at their first collegiate conference championship meet – and how they handle the intensity of the meet.
“We’ve been talking to the freshmen about the Big Tens for a while,” senior Davis Tarwater said. “This meet is a lot different from anything they’ve ever seen before. It’s loud, it’s intense and there’s a lot of pressure resting on every event. The freshmen really have to be ready to go all-out in their first event. If they set a good tone in their first race, the rest of the meet will be much easier to handle.”
In order to ensure the best racing from his swimmers, Bowman built his team’s training around this meet since the beginning of the season.
In January, Bowman scheduled a dual meet with Indiana in order to get a feel for the pool atmosphere in the Hoosiers’ Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. He used the meet as an opportunity for his team to experience the walls, the blocks, the lighting and the layout of the pool deck so there would be fewer surprises in the championships.
“We’ve worked towards the Big Ten Championships since day one,” Bowman said. “Now it’s time to put it into action. I think everyone’s training has gone well, and we’ve put in a lot of preparation time. We’re much stronger than we were this time last season, and I think it will show this weekend.”
Most of the team – except NCAA automatic qualifiers Chris DeJong, Matt Patton, Tarwater and Peter Vanderkaay – will be tapered for the meet, meaning they’ve had adequate rest and shortened yardage in recent practices.
“It’s important for the younger guys to be fully-prepared,” Bowman said. “This is their first time really getting any extended rest this season, so it should show in their racing.”
Freshman Bobby Savulich is one swimmer Bowman hopes will handle his first conference meet with the confidence of a veteran. Savulich has NCAA consideration times in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events and will hopefully be a huge asset to the team in the middle-distance events this weekend.
“I’m a little nervous,” Savulich said. “But I feel prepared because I’ve put in a lot of hard work this season.
“It’s our team goal to win the Big Tens, so we’re going to go out there and try and get it. This meet is different from other championships I’ve swum in because I’m not just doing it for myself. I’m doing it for my teammates, and I’m doing it for Michigan.”
The pressure may rest on the freshmen to perform, but the expectations are through the roof for senior captains DeJong, Tarwater and Vanderkaay. All three swimmers have won individual titles at previous conference meets, and Bowman is counting on them to do the same this year.
“Obviously they’re going to have to carry the biggest load,” Bowman said. “We’re expecting them to win the events that they’re swimming and to provide good leadership for the younger guys.”
Tarwater is confident with the team’s strength and thinks it’s a much more well-rounded squad than teams from the past two years.
“We aren’t favored to win,” Tarwater said. “But we’re definitely a contender, and so we’ve approached the meet a little bit differently in terms of our preparation. We all have a singular focus on going down to Bloomington and getting the win.”
This Weekend
Michigan at Big Ten Championships
Thursday-Saturday
Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center