Michigan
NCAA Championships (Day 3)
Coben Shares NCAA Platform Crown; U-M Finishes Ninth
3/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior Jason Coben (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newton HS) claimed the Wolverines' first-ever NCAA platform diving title Saturday night (March 29), helping the University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team finish ninth at the NCAA Championships in the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. The Wolverines totaled 68.5 points on the final day of action for a three-day total of 173.5. Auburn claimed the NCAA team championship with a meet-record point total of 609.5 to match the national championship claimed by the Tigers women's program last week.
| | Coben became U-M's first NCAA champion in platform diving, which was first held in 1990. |
After his first three dives he sat in second place with only two dives to go and it looked as if Garcia was going to be untouchable, as he was scoring very high on each of his dives. A miss in the third round by Garcia opened the door for Coben as all he needed to do was stick his final two dives and he would have a shot at the national title.
On his fourth dive, Coben took over the lead as he scored 7.5's and 8's. Garcia posted moderate scores on his fourth dive, but Coben was still leading heading into the final dive. He nailed the final dive to put him 76.50 points up on Garcia, but the two had to wait through six other divers before the national champion was crowned. Garcia, knowing he needed to hit a big dive, scored a 76.50 to tie Coben's 11-dive total of 575.80 to share the national championship.
Also posting a strong showing Saturday was freshman Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS), who turned in a runner-up performance in the 1,650-yard freestyle clocking in with a personal-best time of 14:43.73.
In the opening race of the evening, Vanderkaay went out early and was able to hang with eventual champion Erik Vendt of Southern Cal as the two went stroke for stroke for the first 22 lengths of the 66-length race. Vanderkaay fell of the winning pace but maintained his second position until Virginia's Francis Crippen made a move on Vanderkaay at the 1,000-yard mark, pushing ahead of the 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Vanderkaay and Crippen continued to go stroke for stroke as no one in the field could catch the two during the final 650 yards. Vanderkaay overcame Crippen's slight advantage over the final 50 yards when he went into his kick and passed the Cavalier freshman to earn a second-place finish. Vendt captured the title in the race with the second fastest clocking in NCAA history, 14:29.85.
Sophomore Brendan Neligan (Briarwood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy HS) led three more Michigan scorers in the event, placing 10th with a time of 15:03.05. Senior Justin Drake (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia HS) and sophomore Andrew Hurd (Oakville, Ontario/Trafalger HS) placed 11th and 12th, respectively, with times of 15:04.21 and 15:04.27.
Senior Jeff Hopwood (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto HS), swimming in his final race as a Wolverine, placed fourth in the consolation final of the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in with the third fastest time of his career, 1:56.80. Hopwood took 12th overall in the event, earning the Wolverines five points.
In Michigan's final event of the evening swim, junior Dan Ketchum (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS) and freshman Davis Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn./Webb School) earned All-America Honorable Mention when they finished 14th and 16th, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly.
An hour-long recap of the NCAA Championships will air on Wednesday, April 2, at 2 p.m. EST.
Final Standings (Top 10 Teams)
1. Auburn 609.5 2. Texas 413 3. Stanford 374 4. California 329 5. Southern Cal 268 6. Florida 232 7. Minnesota 228 8. Arizona 205 9. MICHIGAN 173.5 10. Virginia 125
Top Eight/U-M FInishers (Day 3)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time for U-M)
1,650-yard Freestyle
1. Erik Vendt, Southern Cal 14:29.65 2. Peter Vanderkaay, U-M 14:43.73 3. Francis Crippen, Virginia 14:46.05 4. Shilo Ayalon, Georgia Tech 14:47.31 5. Ous Mellouli, Southern Cal 14:47.69 6. Ian Prichard, Virginia 14:53.64 7. John Cole, Harvard 14:54.83 8. Ryan Lochte, Florida 14:59.18 10. Brendan Neligan, U-M 15:03.25 11. Justin Drake, U-M 15:04.21 12. Andrew Hurd, U-M 15:05.27 19. Tyler DeBerry, U-M 15:16.72
200-yard Backstroke
1. Aaron Peirsol, Texas 1:39.16^*!#% 2. Markus Rogan, Stanford 1:41.37 3. Bryce Hunt, Auburn 1:41.96 4. Peter Marshall, Stanford 1:42.08 5. Chris Kellam, Florida 1:42.24 6. Alex Lim, California 1:42.70 7. Nathan O'Brien, Texas 1:42.79 8. Dan Westcott, Stanford 1:42.23 11. Chris DeJong, U-M 1:44.54 (1:43.90) 24. Chuck Sayao, U-M 1:46.61
100-yard Freestyle
1. Duje Dranganja, California 42.02 2. Anthony Ervin, California 42.11 3. Fred Bousquet, Auburn 42.69 4. Ryan Wochomurka, Auburn 42.79 5. Nick Burnelli, Arizona State 42.93 6. Eric LaFluer, Arizona 43.06 7. Chris Kemp, Auburn 43.77 8. Randall Bal, Stanford 43.54 31. Garrett Mangieri, U-M 44.30
200-yard Breaststroke
1. Brendan Hansen, Texas 1:52.63^*#!% 2. Vlad Polyakov, Alabama 1:55.38 3. Mike Brown, Minnesota 1:55.63 4. Justin Caron, Auburn 1:56.44 5. Jeff Hackler, Minnesota 1:56.45 6. Scott Usher, Wyoming 1:57.05 7. Kyle Salyads, Georgia 1:57.42 8. Cheyne Bloch, Hawaii 1:57.58 12. Jeff Hopwood, U-M 1:56.80
200-yard Butterfly
1. Stefan Gherghel, Alabama 1:42.35 2. Juan Veloz, Arizona 1:42.62 3. Michael Rabb, Virginia 1:42.84 4. Rainer Kendrick, Texas 1:43.38 5. Jeremy Cramer, Stanford 1:43.47 6. Jeremy Knowles, Auburn 1:43.61 7. Kellan O'Conner, Northwestern 1:44.47 8. Jeff Lee, Southern Cal 1:44.78 14. Dan Ketchum, U-M 1:46.20 (1:45.27) 16. Davis Tarwater, U-M 1:46.90 (1:45.58)
Platform Diving
1. Jason Coben, U-M 575.80 Caesar Garcia, Auburn 575.80 3. Ray Vincent, Southern Cal 563.25 4. Clayton Moss, Kentucky 533.60 5. Matthew Bricker, Auburn 518.35 6. Marc Carlton, Indiana 509.40 7. Jonathon Linette, Texas 506.65 8. Christian Picard, Texas A&M 498.20
400-yard Freestyle Relay
1. California 2:48.99 (Duje Draganja, Mike Cavic, Joe Bruckart, Anthony Ervin) 2. Auburn 2:49.68 3. Arizona 2:52.65 4. Texas 2:53.01 5. Stanford 2:54.16 6. Texas A&M 2:54.48 7. Florida 2:54.94 Minnesota 2:54.94 -- MICHIGAN DQ (Garrett Mangieri, Chris DeJong, Dan Ketchum, Davis Tarwater) ^ American record * U.S. Open record ! NCAA record # NCAA Meet record % Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center record
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2
Q U O T E S
Junior Jason Coben, NCAA Platform Diving Champion
On landing dives under pressure ... "I guess I like the pressure. When I was up there for the last dive, I knew I needed 8's and 8.5's to win all the way through. Coming into the meet I didn't think I had a chance to win, I just knew those were the scores I was going to need. In the finals everything just started to click. When Caesar (Garcia) missed his back I knew all I needed to do was hit my dive and I had a shot and I did it."
On the anticipation of the last dive ... "I had to wait through all seven divers until Caesar (Garcia) went for his last dive. All he needs is 75 points and I win. He went off and matched the score that I did. It was amazing. I was sweating bullets the whole time."
On being a national champion ... "I looked on MGoBlue.com and they have two links to national champions for Nate Brannen (men's track) and Ryan Bertin (wrestling). I thought it would be cool if I could be on there. I can't believe I just won."
N O T E S
Diver Jason Coben became the first Wolverine to claim an NCAA title on the platform when he scored a total of 575.80, tying him with Auburn's Caesar Garcia. Coben's platform title is the first diving national championship won by a Wolverine since Kent Ferguson scored 560.85 to win on the three-meter springboard in 1984.
The Wolverines have won 14 diving NCAA titles -- nine on the three-meter springboard, four on the one-meter springboard and Jason Coben's on the platform.
Peter Vanderkaay's runner-up finish in the mile was the highest finish by a Wolverine in the event since Chris Thompson (1998-2001) won it in 2001.
Vanderkaay earned his third All-America citation of the 2003 NCAA Championships by placing second in the mile tonight. Vanderkaay finished fourth in the 500 freestyle and swam the leadoff leg of U-M's third-place 800-yard freestyle relay team.
Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
