If the top-ranked Texas men's swimming and diving team had been smart, it would have taken the first flight home from Ann Arbor after the thrashing it received in Friday night's exhibition meet.
Unfortunately for the 1996 NCAA champions, they decided to stick around for the real meet Saturday and were defeated by No. 4 Michigan, 129-114.
The Wolverines were paced by senior captain and Olympian John Piersma, who won the 200-meter freestyle (1:38.95) and the 500-meter freestyle (4:30.01).
Freshman Mike McWha was strong in the long distance events, winning the 1,000-meter freestyle (9:14.03) and placing second in the 500-meter freestyle, one-one hundredth of a second behind Piersma.
"Mike McWha did a super job," Michigan coach John Urbanchek said.
"He won the 1,650 (Friday night) and the 1,000 and was just touched out by one-one hundredth by Olympian John Piersma, so that was kind of good."
Tom Malchow, who won a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly in Atlanta, won that race easily Saturday, with a time of 1:47.71, more than three seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.
Other winners for the Wolverines included Derya Buyukuncu in the 100-meter freestyle (45.42) and Owen Von Richter in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:05.12).
In the diving meet, Michigan received a strong performance from sophomore Bret Wilmot, who won the one-meter competition (274.95) and placed second in the three-meter competition (301.88).
Urbanchek was pleased with the team's efforts.
"We had some excellent performances, above and beyond what I thought they could do," he said. "The results show that we are in contention."
Michigan dominated the longer events, with Wolverines placing 1-2-3-4 in the 1,000-meter freestyle and 1-2-3 in the 500-meter freestyle.
Texas won both relays and fared similarly well in the shorter races. Neil Walker led the Longhorns, winning the 200-meter individual medley (1:49.36) and the 200-meter backstroke (1:44.82).
In beating the defending champions, the Wolverines ran their record to 2-0 and their series advantage over Texas to 4-2. It was their second straight victory over the Longhorns, the last one having come in 1995, just before Michigan won the 1995 NCAA championship.
The victory was a large one for the Wolverines.
"We've been eyeballing this meet all year," Urbanchek said. "It's kind of something you focus in on. We took advantage of the situation. It was the No. 1 team, and you're always pumped up when you go against the No. 1 team."
Michigan will face Texas again in March, when it travels to Minnesota to try to regain the NCAA crown.
"Texas had their best team here but they're more sprint oriented," Urbanchek said. "But I think their people will be a little more focused in March."
The Wolverines now have a month off from NCAA competition, and will spend the time preparing for the rest of the season. The team is spending Christmas on a world tour, including a training camp in Perth, Australia. Michigan will face it's next opponent, Stanford, on its way home from the tour Jan. 10.
"Stanford is the No. 2 team in the country," Urbanchek said. "So we're going to go against No. 1, and now we have a lot of confidence to go against No. 2. All in all, it was a great way to finish off first semester."