By John Friedberg
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Blonds really do have more fun.
That old saying defined the 74th annual NCAA men's swimming and diving championships, as blond-dyed Auburn took home its first-ever title with 496.5 points. After the first day, the only question remaining was who would fill out the top five.
For the first time since the 1991 season, the answer did not include the Wolverines, who finished the three-day competition in seventh place with 209 points.
"Coming into this meet, I figured in my mind, (we would place) between eight and four," Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek said.
"To be fourth place would be the ultimate goal, and it would have had to have been a perfect meet. But it didn't quite materialize."
Stanford, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee filled out the top five. The hardest-fought competition was for fifth place, as Tennessee edged Southern Cal 235.5-235, for the hardware.
Auburn dominated all three days, taking four of the five relays. The Tigers won only one individual title - Brett Hawke in the 50-yard freestyle - but placed at least one swimmer in the finals in all but four of the 13 individual swimming events.
The Tigers placed four swimmers in the final of the 100 free taking second, third, fifth and sixth. Even diver Koffi Kla managed eighth place in the platform diving competition.
This is not to say that Michigan was without its highlights during the meet.
Michigan senior captain John Piersma waited three years to win his first NCAA individual title. It only took one day for him to get his second.
After three years of top-three finishes in the 500 free, Piersma took first. Piersma swam out to an early lead and was never caught by the field.
"John's been the backbone of this team as far as competition goes," Urbanchek said Thursday night. "He stepped it up."
Friday brought Piersma's second victory. Piersma swam the fastest 50 of the group in 22.45 and the outcome of the race was never in doubt as he won in a time of 1:34.88. Rumley took sixth in 1:35.88, and teammate John Reich shocked the field by becoming the third Wolverine in the final, taking eighth place in 1:36.91.
"Tonight, I just wanted to go out and race those guys," Piersma said. "If one of them wanted to come out and race it would have been a great race.
"I just wanted to go out and show them this was my race, and I think I did that."
Reich was seeded 24th in the preliminaries, but the sophomore was the surprise of the morning, qualifying for the finals by swimming a personal best 1:36.49 in the event.
The Wolverines' most successful night was not over until the 800 free relay. Michigan came from behind to win the relay an unbelievable fifth straight year.
Sophomore Tom Malchow swam lead and finished in fourth place, more than two seconds behind the swimmer of the meet, Neil Walker of Texas.
Rumley followed Malchow and narrowed the gap by a second, which moved Michigan into second place, still more than a second behind Texas.
Reich swam the third leg of the relay and gave Michigan a lead that Piersma would bring home in 6:23.51. When the times were posted, Michigan had beaten second-place Auburn by over two seconds.
"That was a sweet victory," Piersma said. "I've been on that team since I was a sophomore, and Rumley's been on it since his freshman year. It feels amazing to win it (the relay) three years in a row."
"This is definitely our event," Rumley said. "It's a credit to Jon Urbanchek's program that he is able to find guys who can win this every year."
Sophomore Andy Potts finished 10th in the 400 individual medley on Friday. Potts placed fifth in the event last year and was touched out for ninth as he finished in 3:50.45.
The surprise of the day came from senior Toby Booker. Booker, who was not supposed to qualify for the evening session, placed 16th in the 100 back for Michigan.
The biggest disappointment of the night for Michigan was the performance of junior Derya Buyukuncu. Buyukuncu was expected to make the finals in both the 100 fly and 100 back. Instead, he placed 13th in the fly and 11th in the back.
Saturday was much like Friday for Michigan as strong performances outnumbered disappointments. In the 1650 freestyle, freshman Mike McWha was able to score a sixth-place finish in a personal-best time of 15:09.66. Potts finished ninth and Rumley placed 12th.
Malchow had the top individual finish of the night for Michigan as he placed third in the 200 butterfly in 1:44.85.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Michigan sophomore Tom Malchow swims his way to a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA swimming and diving championships Saturday in Minneapolis. Malchow also swam leadoff in the 800 free relay. Michigan won the relay for the fifth consecutive year. Malchow was swimming in his hometown of Minneapolis for the first time in his collegiate career.