'M' falls to Texas in annual clash

The Michigan men's swimming and diving team traveled to Austin, Texas, this weekend to renew an annual clash of powerhouses.

The showdown between Michigan and Texas has become a fierce battle between two top-five teams in recent years.

Although the Wolverines were able to come out on top the past two seasons, the Longhorns ended the streak by winning a nail-biter on Friday.

This dual meet was reminiscent of the last victory by Texas over Michigan in 1994. The Longhorns prevailed in another down-to-the-wire meet winning, 125-118.

This year's meet saw Texas (2-1) pull out a victory by seven points again, 124-117. The win pulled Texas closer to evening out the all-time score between the two schools. Michigan leads the all-time series 4-3.

"It was a close meet and there were a lot of close races, and that's the way dual meets should be," Texas coach Eddie Reese said.

Michigan (1-1) was able to stay close despite winning only five of the 13 events. Tom Malchow led the Wolverines with two of the five first-place finishes.

Malchow won the 200-meter freestyle (1:53.62) and the 200-meter butterfly (2:01.23). Senior captain Owen von Richter finished second behind Malchow in the butterfly.

Von Richter continued a successful day by adding a victory in the 200-meter individual medley, finishing with a time of 2:06.64.

Senior Ryan Papa also scored a win for the Wolverines, finishing first in the 200-meter breast stroke. Papa didn't just beat the average competition, however. He finished ahead of Texas' Neil Walker, the 1997 NCAA champion in the 100-yard breast stroke.

The Wolverines final and most dominating performance came in the 200-meter breast stroke.

In the final individual event of the meet, Michigan swimmers finished in the top three spots. Freshman Scott Werner won the event, three seconds ahead of teammate Francisco Suriano Siu, a 1996 Olympian for El Salvador. Sophomore Scott Meyer completed the Michigan sweep after finishing third.

The one-two-three sweep by the Wolverines in the last individual event in the meet gave them a chance to pull out the victory.

In the end, however, the Longhorns were too tough in the relay events.

Texas won the 400-meter medley relay, the first event of the meet. Michigan's team of Papa, Werner, Derya Buyukuneu and Malchow finished four seconds behind the Longhorns.

After Michigan's sweep in the 200 breast stroke, the Longhorns followed with a sweep of their own.

Texas finished the meet by placing two teams in front of Michigan in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

11-10-97