The No. 5 Michigan men’s swimming and diving team continued its perfect conference record this weekend with two overwhelming victories over No. 18 Northwestern and Wisconsin.
- Jessica Boullion
- Junior Matt Patton won the 500-yard freestyle by a slim margin. He followed that up with an impressive first-place showing in the 1,650-yard freestyle to help Michigan in its two wins this weekend. (ALLISON GHAMAN/Daily)
Michigan outscored the Wildcats 241-129 and the Badgers 283-86 in Evanston. Last year, Michigan lost to Northwestern during the regular season and placed seventh, just behind the Wildcats, in the NCAA Championships. Michigan has not lost to Wisconsin (1-2 Big Ten, 3-3 overall) since the 1980-81 season.
The Wolverines won 14 of 18 swimming events including victories in all four medley races. Michigan had the top four finishes in the 400-yard individual medley and went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore André Schultz won the 200 (1:48.53) and placed second in the 400 (3:52.80).
Michigan continues to dominate in the long-distance freestyle events by winning the 500-yard and 1,650-yard events and the 400-yard and 800-yard relays. Junior Matt Patton (4:21.28) won the 500-yard freestyle over Northwestern’s Eric Nilsson by just a half second. Michigan had the top four finishes in the 1,650-yard freestyle with Patton (15:19.84) winning again, this time by a commanding margin of more than 30 seconds.
“I think that Matt doing well is the sum of a lot of things,” Bowman said. “He’s been in our program now for three years and has been able to progress steadily and take on new challenges. I thought his 500 in this meet was the best swim of our meet.”
The Wolverines will have the next two weeks off before they head to Seattle for the Husky Invitational Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. The meet will be held at the site of the 2008 NCAA finals on March 27-29.
freestyle.
“I think that Matt doing well is the sum of a lot of things,” Bowman said. “He’s been in our program now for three years and has been able to progress steadily and take on new challenges. I thought his 500 in this meet was the best swim of our meet.”
One of the weaknesses of the team is the short distance freestyle events. This weekend, Michigan lost the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle races. The Wolverines also lost in their last meet against Texas and Indiana. Michigan has only won the 50-yard freestyle just once this season against Eastern Michigan. Sophomore Charlie Houchin, who finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle acknowledged this weakness but has not been disappointed with his teammates.
“We definitely have many areas which we need to improve,” Houchin said. “Our short distance events are just one of these areas, but we have done our best.”
For the second consecutive meet, Michigan lost points in diving when it failed to place first or second in the diving events. Junior diver Kyle Schroeder finished fourth in the 1-meter with a score of 277.9 and third in the 3-meter competitions. Northwestern (1-3 Big Ten, 2-4 overall) won both of these events.
The Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 5-1 overall) will have the next two weeks off before they head to Seattle for the Husky Invitational Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. The meet will be held at the site of the 2008 NCAA finals on March 27-29.