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Women win 10th straight swimming title

The Michigan women's swimming team issued a statement to the Big Ten this weekend:

Lest there be any doubt, Michigan is the dominant team in the conference. Bar none.

After fighting through a regular season that saw the team drop meets to teams like Southern Cal and Stanford, the Wolverines came out with a vengeance in this weekend's Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis.

Michigan's deliberate training and conditioning program often got in the way of the team's record. Many weekend's saw the Wolverines facing top programs while fatigued.

This weekend the team was completely rested and the results were almost frightening.

Michigan finished the meet with 939 points, the highest score in Big Ten Championship meet history.

The Wolverines' closest competitor was Wisconsin. But the margin of victory turned out to be a formality, as the Wolverines almost doubled the Badgers' score of 492.5.

Michigan asserted its dominance by putting together a performance that coach Jim Richardson called the best team performance of the year.

Every swimmer scored on the weekend, and the majority of the swimmers finaled in their respective events.

Moreover, the Wolverines got contributions from every part of their roster. Upperclassmen and freshmen alike stepped up.

"It was a total team performance," Richardson said. "Our freshmen stepped up and did a great job. Every single freshman on the team finaled."

Michigan received a boost from two of its veteran swimmers. Junior Rachel Gustin returned from a shoulder injury, and senior co-captain Beth Jackson overcame mononucleosis to contribute to the Wolverines' effort.

Both Jackson and Gustin have been Big Ten Champions, so it's no surprise that the team was happy about their return.

"It was great to see them back in competition," sophomore Talor Bendel said. "It's great to have their enthusiasm."

There's no question that Gustin's and Jackson's contributions were key, but like Richardson said, this was a team performance.

The highlights came from all over the roster.

Sophomore Talor Bendel followed up on her sensational 1995 Big Ten performance by taking first in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle. Her time of 49.94 in the 100 freestyle was a new Big Ten record.

Another key contribution came from freshman Jen Eberwein. Eberwein won the 50-yard freestyle with a Big Ten record time of 22.86.

Eberwein was also part of Michigan's record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay team. She joined Bendel, Melisa Stone and Megan Gillam in finishing with a time of 3:19.77. Eberwein paced the entire relay team; her lead leg time of 49.77 broke Bendel's previous mark.

The Wolverines completely dominated certain events.

Michigan took 1-2-4-5 in the 200-yard backstroke. Melisa Stone won the event with a time of 1:59.01.

Eberwein and Gillam joined Bendel in going 1-2-3 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Junior Jodi Navta took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.77. Sophomore Kerri Hale put in arguably her best performance of the season. Hale took second in the mile and third in the 400-yard individual medley.

Another sophomore who stepped up her swimming was Kim Johnson. After struggling this season, Johnson participated in two of the team's record-setting relay teams.

The numerous strong individual performances resulted in an effort that involved the whole team.

"It was a great team performance across the board," Richardson said. "The swimmers who were having disapointing performances still got behind their teammates. And the swimmers who were swimming well got behind them."