Hopwood, Coben Lead U-M to 32nd Big Ten Championship

Saturday, March 1

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Noon

Michigan

Big Ten Championships (Day 3)

3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving

Big Ten Championships Site

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Led by a pair of Big Ten individual champions -- fifth-year senior Jeff Hopwood (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto HS) and junior Jason Coben (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown HS) -- the University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team claimed the 2003 Big Ten Conference crown Saturday night (March 1) in front of the home crowd at Canham Natatorium. Earning 727 points in team scoring, the Wolverines finished 38 points ahead of two-time defending Big Ten champion Minnesota (689) to claim their 32nd conference title and their first since 2000.

Hopwood swam a career-best time of 1:56.31 to claim his second career Big Ten 200-yard  breaststroke crown.

Starting the final session with just an 11.5-point lead in team scoring, the Wolverines scored 80 points in the night's first final, the 1,650-yard freestyle, and catapulted to a 50.5-point advantage as five U-M individuals placed in the top six spots. Pacing the way for U-M was freshman Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) with a second-place finish and a personal-best NCAA automatic qualifying time of 14:49.63. Classmate Tyler DeBerry (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino HS), sophomore Brendan Neligan (Briarwood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy HS), senior Justin Drake (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia HS) and sophomore Andrew Hurd (Oakville, Ont./Trafalger HS) finished second through sixth, respectively, and sophomore Zayd Ma (Ann Arbor, Mich./Cloniara HS) was 12th, with all five earning NCAA consideration times.

Michigan built on its team lead with three more Wolverines placing in the top eight in the 200-yard backstroke. Freshman Chris DeJong (Holland, Mich./Holland HS) made up two spots in the final 50 yards to place second with a NCAA consideration time of 1:44.76. Sophomore Chuck Sayao (Mississauga, Ont./Cawthra Park HS) and senior Ryan Earhart (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier HS) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, with NCAA consideration times of 1:47.00 and 1:47.01.

Minnesota was able to cut the gap in the team score with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, but the Wolverines kept pace with a strong performance of their own. Swimming an inspired race, senior Garrett Mangieri (Closter, N.J./Mercersburg Academy, Pa.) improved five spots from his preliminary seeding of seventh finising runner-up in the event, posting an NCAA consideration time of 43.84.

Swimming in his final race in front of the home crowd in Canham, Hopwood continued the Michigan momentum, when he claimed his fourth career Big Ten title and his first in three years by taking first place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a pool record and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:56.31. Senior/junior Josh Hack (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea HS) won the "B" final and placed ninth overall in the event with a time of 2:01.26.

The Wolverines again surged ahead in the team scoring, collecting four of the top 16 finishes in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Davis Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn./Webb School) finished runner-up, posting an NCAA consideration time of 1:45.46, and junior Dan Ketchum (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS) hit the wall in the fourth spot with a time of 1:46.21, also an NCAA consideration time. Senior Heath Novak (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny HS) and Ma rounded out the top 16, placing 15th and 16th, respectively.

Named co-Diver of the Championships, Coben added 20 points to the Michigan team score from the 10-meter platform to seal the victory for the Wolverines. Standing 30-feet above the Dick Kimball Diving Pool with one-dive left in the event, Coben sprung from the platform and solidified his second-consecutive Big Ten title in the event as his 11-dive rotation totaled an NCAA zone diving qualifying score of 549.85.

Michigan capped its title-winning performance in the final event of the meet, turning in a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Mangieri, DeJong, Tarwater and Ketchum clocked an NCAA consideration time of 2:56.10.

The Wolverine divers will participate in the NCAA Zone Diving Meet on March 14-15 in Oxford, Ohio. The NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Thursday through Saturday, March 27-29, in Austin, Texas.

Final Team Standings

 1. MICHIGAN 727 2. Minnesota 689 3. Indiana 455 4. Northwestern 378 5. Wisconsin 348 6. Penn State 316.50 7. Purdue 289 8. Ohio State 248 9. Iowa 195 10. Michigan State 146.50

Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 3)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time)

1,650-yard Freestyle

 1. Justin Mortimer Minnesota 14:48.77!* 2. Peter Vanderkaay, U-M 14:49.63* 3. Tyler DeBerry, U-M 15:02.85# 4. Brendan Neligan, U-M 15:02.93# 5. Justin Drake, U-M 15:11.01# 6. Andrew Hurd, U-M 15:12.45# 12. Zayd Ma, U-M 15:26.04# 17. Jorge Carral, U-M 15:37.27 19. Tim Wera, U-M 15:42.81 20. Chuck Kennedy, U-M 15:43.29 24. Nick Douville, U-M 15:52.08

200-yard Backstroke

 1. Louis Paul, Purdue 1:44.56# 2. Chris DeJong, U-M 1:44.76# 7. Chuck Sayao, U-M 1:47.00# 8. Ryan Earhart, U-M 1:47.01#

100-yard Freestyle

 1. Terry Silkaitis, Minnesota 42.87!$* 2. Garrett Mangieri, U-M 43.84#

200-yard Breaststroke

 1. Jeff Hopwood, U-M 1:56.31!* 9. Josh Hack, U-M 2:01.26 (2:01.20#)

200-yard Butterfly

 1. Kellan O'Connor, Northwestern 1:44.99# (1:44.53*) 2. Davis Tarwater, U-M 1:45.46# 4. Dan Ketchum, U-M 1:46.21# 15. Heath Novak, U-M 1:50.29 (1:50.01) 16. Zayd Ma, U-M 1:51.82 (1:49.32)

Platform Diving

 1. Jason Coben, U-M 549.85 16. Jake Boehm, U-M 277.90

400-yard Freestyle Relay

 1. Wisconsin 2:55.03!* (Matt Marshall, Adam Mania Eric Wiesner, Dale Rogers) 3. Michigan 2:56.10# (Garrett Mangieri, Chris DeJong Davis Tarwater, Dan Ketchum) * NCAA automatic time # NCAA consideration time $ Big Ten meet record ! Canham Natatorium record

Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2

N O T E S

Michigan's Big Ten team title is its first since 2000 when the Wolverines hosted the event in Canham Natatorium. In the four years the Wolverines have hosted the Big Ten Championships in Canham, U-M has won the team crown on three occasions (1990, 2000, 2003). Minnesota won the 1996 title in Canham.

Michigan head coach Jon Urbanchek was selected as the Big Ten's co-Coach of the Year following his team's 13th conference crown in 21 years on the job. Urbanchek has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year on eight occasions.

With their 32nd Big Ten team title, the Wolverines have won the event nine more times than second-place Indiana (23).

Michigan has had an athlete named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 10 of the last 12 years following Peter Vanderkaay's selection this evening. Since 1992 Michigan has produced nine of the past 12 Big Ten Freshman of the Year honorees: Gustavo Borges (1992), Royce Sharp (1993), Tom Dolan (1994), Jason Lancaster (1995), Chris Thompson (1998), co-winners Tim Siciliano and Jeff Hopwood (1999), Dan Ketchum (2001) and Brendan Neligan (2002).

Contact: Gene Skidmore (734)763-4423