Michigan
Michigan State
Wolverines Dominate Spartans in Final Dual Meet
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 6, 2010
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Score: #6 Michigan 163.5, Michigan State 119.5
Records: U-M (7-0, 5-0 Big Ten), Michigan State (5-3, 0-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sat-Sun., Feb. 13-14 - at Ohio State Winter Invitational (Columbus, Ohio), Noon/10 a.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team completed the dual-meet season unbeaten, knocking off Michigan State, 163.5-119.5, in the regular-season finale on Saturday (Feb. 6) at Canham Natatorium.
U-M had eight different individual event winners on the afternoon, with junior Neal Kennedy (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) winning both the 100-yard freestyle (44.98) and the 100-yard butterfly (48.73) as Michigan's only multiple-event individual winner.
Michigan had the top four times in three events -- the 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Roman Willets (Whitehouse, Ohio/St. Francis deSales) won the 50 freestyle (21.04), junior Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly) took first in the 200 freestyle (1:38.10) and freshman Hassaan Abdel Khalik (Mississauga, Ontario/Silverthorn Collegiate) won the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:29.71.
Sophomore Chris Morrison (Fenton, Mich./Fenton) took runner-up honors in the one-meter diving, scoring a season-best 289.64. On the three-meter springboard, Morrison came away with a score of 315.45 to grab third-place honors.
The Wolverines also swept both relays to start and end the meet, the 200-yard medley relay (1:30.45) and the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:21.73).
The Wolverines return to action next weekend in the last tuneup before the Big Ten Championships, heading to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Winter Invitational. The two-day event will begin Saturday (Feb. 13) at noon with the second day of competition slated for Sunday (Feb. 14) at 10 a.m.
N O T E S
• Michigan improves to 80-5-0 all-time versus Michigan State. The Wolverines have not dropped a dual meet to the Spartans since the 1976-77 season.
• U-M reached the seven-win plateau for the third consecutive season.
• Head coach Mike Bottom ran his dual-meet record to 15-1 in his two seasons at Michigan. Bottom is 11-0 in Big Ten dual meets.
• It is the first unbeaten dual-meet season for the Wolverines since the 2005-06, when the Maize and Blue also went 7-0.
• The teams competed in the 50-yard breaststroke, 50-yard backstroke and 50-yard butterfly, which are events that are not swum in championship meets.
• The Wolverines posted two NCAA 'B' times, coming from Tyler Clary in the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.10) and Andre Schultz in the 400-yard individual medley (3:49.60).
• During a swim break, diver Chris Morrison performed five dives off the 10-meter platform.
• U-M will have one more meet at Canham Natatorium this season, hosting the Michigan Last Chance on March 7. It will be an opportunity for swimmers to hit NCAA marks before the NCAA Championships (March 25-27).
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head diving coach Chris BergèreOn sophomore diver Chris Morrison ... "Chris Morrison is really coming along this year. He had some great dives today. Even though he took third in the three-meter, he had a really good warmup. I am really pleased with how he is improving this season. He has been training alone, but has been able to stay pretty focused. He had some great dives today, and I expect him to continue to contribute. He is getting ready for the Big Ten's and will be ready for that."
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
