Weekly Release #1
10/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Upcoming Schedule
Friday, Oct. 26 -- vs. Florida (Canham Natatorium), 3 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 27 -- vs. Eastern Michigan (Canham Natatorium), 1 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 2 -- Indiana (Canham Natatorium), 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 3 -- Georgia (Canham Natatorium), 1 p.m.
This Week
The University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team will open its 2001-02 dual meet season on Friday (Oct. 26) when it hosts Florida at 3 p.m. (note time change from originally announced schedule) at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines will also compete on Saturday (Oct. 27), hosting Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. The race formats will be long-course meters on Friday and short-course yards on Saturday.
Series History with Florida
This will mark the fourth consecutive year Michigan will face Florida and the third time in the last four years the Wolverines will open the dual meet season against the Gators. U-M own a 2-1 advantage in the series, with the only loss coming last year with a 125.5-117.5 decision in Gainesville, Fla.
Scouting Florida
Florida owns a 4-0 record on the year after posting victories over Miami (77-26) and Indian River Community College (63-47) last weekend (Oct. 20). The Gators' first two victories of the year came against Georgia (137-104) and Kentucky (129-110) at the SEC East Challenge (Oct. 12-14). The 2001-02 Florida team returns three members who placed in the top eight in their respective events at last year's NCAA Championships as the Gators secured a fifth-place showing as a team with 265 points. Senior Duncan Sherrard was a second-place performer at last year's NCAA Championships in the 200-yard butterfly while sophomore Carlos Jayme earned a sixth-place showing in the 100-yard freestyle. On the boards, senior Hank Richardson leads the team after finishing eighth at the NCAA Championships on the three-meter springboard. The other strength for Florida lies in its relay teams, with three of them placing in the top eight at the NCAA Championships in the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays.
Series History with Eastern Michigan
No other non-Big Ten Conference school is more familiar to the Michigan men's swimming and diving program than the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Dating back to their first meeting in the 1970-71 season, the two teams have competed against each other in dual meets 21 times. The Wolverines are perfect in those meets with a 21-0 record, including a 170-73 victory in their last meeting in the 1997-98 season.
Scouting Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan will open its season on Friday (Oct. 26) when it hosts Michigan State at the Michael Jones Natatorium before taking on Michigan Saturday at Canham Natatorium. Last year the Eagles posted a 10-1 overall record to go along with a perfect 7-0 record in the Mid-American Conference en route the team's 21st conference championship.
Among the Elite
Senior Tim Siciliano (San Marcos, Calif./San Marcos HS) is one of only four people to ever win an NCAA individual championship three times in the 400-yard individual medley. He joins an elite group of Gary Hall of Indiana (1970-72), Brian Goodell of UCLA (1978-80), and David Wharton of Southern California (1988-91) to accomplish the feat. If Siciliano can win his fourth title this season, he will join Wharton as the only person to win the 400-yard IM all four years they competed.
Perhaps even more impressive, only eight men in NCAA Championships history have won an event four times, one of whom is Michigan alum Gustavo Borges (1992-95), who won the 100-yard freestyle four times. The following is a list of the eight people to record the accomplishment. Of note, all eight people on this list have earned medals in the Olympics.
Four Straight NCAA Titles in One Event
| | 400-yard Individual Medley | David Wharton, Southern Cal (1988-91) |
| 100-yard Freestyle | Gustavo Borges, Michigan (1992-95) | |
| 500-yard Freestyle | Arthur Wodjat, Iowa (1989-92) | |
| 100-yard Backstroke | John Naber, Southern Cal (1974-77) | |
| 200-yard Backstroke | Yoshi Oyakawa, Ohio State (1952-55) John Naber, Southern Cal (1974-77) | |
| 100-yard Breaststroke | Steve Lundquist, SMU (1980-83) | |
| 100-yard Butterfly | Mark Spitz, Indiana (1969-72) Pablo Morales, Stanford (1984-87) | |
| 200-yard Butterfly | Pablo Morales, Stanford (1984-87) |
Michigan in Openers
The last time Michigan lost its opening dual meet of the season, man hadn't walked on the moon, Lyndon B. Johnson was the President of the United States, and the St. Louis Cardinals had just defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win the World Series. Since the 1967-68 season, when the Wolverines fell to Indiana (40-83), Michigan has gone on to win its opening dual meet of the season in 33 consecutive years. Since 1983, when Jon Urbanchek took over the reigns of the Michigan swimming program, the Wolverines have never lost their opening dual meet while posting wins over top-ranked teams such as Georgia, Florida and California.
Michigan Head Coach Jon Urbanchek
Michigan head coach Jon Urbanchek enters his 20th year as head coach of the men's swimming and diving program having accomplished everything one could imagine. He has watched eight of his swimmers go on to earn Olympic medals. His 1995 team claimed an NCAA Championship while individually his swimmers have racked up 35 national titles. On the conference level his teams have won 12 Big Ten championships while posting a staggering record of 86-4 in conference dual meets for a winning percentage of .956. There's not much of a dropoff either in dual meets overall as his record is 142-26 (.869).
Going the Distance
It would be hard to argue that Michigan didn't have the best distance swimming program in the nation last year. Chris Thompson (1997-2001), who won a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics in the 1,500-meter freestyle, captured his first NCAA individual championship in the 1,650 freestyle while also finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle. Throw in senior Tim Siciliano, who placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships, and sophomore Dan Ketchum (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS) and the Wolverines accounted for five of the top 15 times in the two events. Although Thompson has exhausted his eligibility, Urbanchek reeled in two of the best incoming freshman for distance swimming in Brendan Neligan (Hempstead, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy HS) and Andrew Hurd (Oakville, Ontario, Universal HS). Hurd competed on the 2000 Canadian Olympic team and finished 20th in the 1,500-meter freestyle while Neligan won a bronze medal at the World University Games (Aug. 22-26) in the 800-meter freestyle.
International Competition
Michigan head coach Jon Urbanchek has guided U-M swimmers to 35 NCAA individual championships and eight individuals to Olympic medals. So it should come as no surprise that over the summer, four Wolverines medaled at the World University Games in Beijing, China, while another competed at the Fina World Championships. Sophomore Dan Ketchum earned multiple medals at the World University Games with a second-place finish as part of the 800-meter freestyle relay team to go along with a bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle. Senior Tim Siciliano, a three-time NCAA champion in the 400-yard individual medley, picked up a bronze medal in the 400-meter IM. Freshmen Brendan Neligan and Chuck Sayoa (Mississauga, Ontario/Cawthra Park HS) both medaled, with Neligan earning a bronze in the 800-meter freestyle as Sayao won a silver medal in the 400-yard individual medley. As for the Fina World Championships, Andrew Hurd posted top-20 finishes in the 400-,800- and 1,500-meter freestyle.
Welcome Back
Perhaps the biggest additions to the Michigan team won't even be freshmen. Junior All-American Jeff Hopwood (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto HS) and junior Josh Hack (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea HS) will both return to lead Michigan in the breaststroke after sitting out last year with injuries. Hopwood, who finished fourth in the 200-meter breaststroke at the NCAA Championships in 2000, sat out last year with a groin injury and will lead what should be one of Michigan's strengths this season.
Contact: David Crabtree (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
