Michigan
NCAA Championships (Day 3)
Tarwater's Title Helps Wolverines Finish Sixth at NCAAs
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Junior Davis Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn./The Webb School) won U-M's first NCAA championship in the 200-yard butterfly since 1967 to lead the No. 5 University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team on the final day (Saturday, March 26) of the NCAA Championships at Minnesota's University Aquatic Center.
Tarwater broke his own Big Ten record in winning the 200-yard butterfly title.
In addition to Tarwater's victory, the Wolverines received two other top-three finishes with a runner-up performance from Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) in the 1,650-yard freestyle and a third-place finish from Chris DeJong (Holland, Mich./Holland HS) in the 200-yard backstroke to finish the championships sixth overall with 240 points. Auburn won its third straight team title with 491 points.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Tarwater got off to a slow start and sat seventh overall with an opening split of 23.25. However, he closed on the field and moved to up to second with just 50 yards left in the race. With a final split of 27.07, Tarwater took over the lead with just 30 yards left and pulled away from the field to win his first NCAA individual championship in a Michigan- and Big Ten-record time of 1:42.30, the third fastest time ever recorded.
In the opening event of the evening, Vanderkaay got the Wolverines off to a fast start with his second-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Vanderkaay, who won the 1,500-meter freestyle at last year's national meet, sat in second for the first half of the race but fell to third after 1,200 yards. However, with 100 yards to go, Vanderkaay regained the second spot and went on to finish with a personal-record time of 14:36.54.
The Wolverines picked up additional points with an 11th-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle by Andrew Hurd (Oakville, Ontario/Trafalger). In the third heat of the mile, Hurd trailed the field after the first 400 yards. By the midway point of the race, he had climbed to third in the heat and he took over the lead with just 10 laps remaining. Hurd began to distance himself from the field over the final 200 yards to finish with a season-best time of 15:04.24, just 0.01 seconds off his personal-best time.
DeJong continued U-M's run of top-three finishes with his third-place showing in the 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall with a Michigan- and Big Ten-record time of 1:41.26. After sitting in fifth following the first 50 yards of the race, DeJong moved up into second with just 50 yards remaining with splits of 25.50 and 25.67 before falling to third, just 0.02 seconds out of second.
Following Tarwater's championship in the 200-yard butterfly, the Wolverines finished 10th in the 400-yard freestyle relay to secure their sixth-place team finish. At the halfway point of the consolation final, Michigan was in third, but Tarwater moved the Wolverines into second with a split of 43.54 in the third leg of the race. In the anchor position for U-M, Hurd momentarily gave up the runner-up spot, but he was able to charge over the final 50 yards to out-touch Southern Cal to finish second.
ESPN2 will broadcast a tape-delayed replay of the NCAA Championships on Friday, April 1, at 1:30 p.m.
The meet marks the conclusion of U-M's season. Michigan will have a number of participants at the USA Swimming World Championships Trials on April 1-6 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Final Team Standings (Top 10)
1. Auburn 491 2. Stanford 414 3. Arizona 388 4. California 381 5. Florida 284 6. MICHIGAN 240 7. Texas 236 8. Northwestern 191 9. Southern Cal 189 10. Georgia 177
Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 3)
(Preliminary time in parentheses if faster than finals time)
1,650-yard Freestyle
1. Larsen Jensen, Southern Cal 14:32.01 2. Peter Vanderkaay, U-M 14:36.54 11. Andrew Hurd, U-M 15:04.24 23. Brendan Neligan, U-M 15:13.90 32. Zayd Ma, U-M 15:24.64
200-yard Backstroke
1. Ryan Lochte, Florida 1:38.37^% 3. Chris DeJong, U-M 1:41.24!@ 27. Dane Grenda, U-M 1:46.32 35. Chuck Sayao, U-M 1:47.83
100-yard Freestyle
1. Duje Draganja, California 41.49*#^%
200-yard Breaststroke
1. Vladislav Polyakov, Alabama 1:53.93% 28. Christian Vanderkaay, U-M 2:00.67
200-yard Butterfly
1. Davis Tarwater, U-M 1:42.30!@% 28. Alex Vanderkaay, U-M 1:47.81 36. Zayd Ma, U-M 1:49.49
Platform Diving
1. Joona Puhakka, Arizona State 645.20
400-yard Freestyle Relay
1. California 2:47.70*#^% (Duje Draganja, Milorad Cavic, Jonas Tilly, Rolandas Gimbutis) 10. Michigan 2:55.15 (2:54.88) (Peter Vanderkaay, Chris DeJong, Davis Tarwater, Andrew Hurd) * NCAA record # U.S. Open record $ American record ^ NCAA Meet record ! Big Ten Conference record @ Michigan school record % University Aquatic Center record
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2
Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
