Eighth-ranked men's tankers hose Hoosiers By Jeb Singer For the Daily Perhaps the Indiana men's swimming team was buried under a snow drift in Bloomington. The Hoosiers certainly did not seem to show up for their competition in Ann Arbor on Saturday. The eighth-ranked Wolverines tallied a 224-127 victory over a clearly outmatched opponent. One would have expected Michigan to be extremely hyped up to face Indiana, one of the most storied swimming programs in the NCAA. The Hoosiers won the Big Ten Championship every year between 1961 and 1980. As recent as last year, the Hoosiers handed the Wolverines their first loss in a Big Ten regular season meet since the 1990-'91 season. But the Wolverines did not place an asterisk next to this contest. "Revenge never even came up," Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek said. "We just put people in the events that they needed to swim in order to prepare for the Big Ten Championships. "The biggest improvement that came out of this meet were the relays, especially with Tony Kurth and Garrett Mangieri swimming well," he said. The relay team, which had not been swimming well as of late, turned in an excellent performance on Saturday, winning three out of four relays. The individual swimmers came up big as well, winning 10 out of 12 events. Junior Chris Thompson led the brigade by winning the 1650-yard freestyle in an impressive time of 15:14.71, a 29-second margin over the rest of the field. He also edged out Mangieri in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:27.39. "It is hard to swim when you don't have someone pushing you," Thompson said of his victory in the 1650. "You have to make your own goals." Other individual highlights were turned in by two-time winners Tony Kurth, Scott Werner and Jason Mallory. For Mallory, the wins in the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley far exceeded some of his previous performances, and the coaching staff took notice. "It was really nice to have Jason back," Urbanchek said. "He will be important in our Big Ten efforts." For Werner and Kurth, strong seasons continue. Werner took first place in the 200 IM and the 200 breast stroke. Kurth won the 100 and 200 butterfly. Indiana's one bright spot came in the two diving events. Junior Tom Davidson scored a 331.42 to win the one-meter open. Senior Ryan Kosanic scored a 348.30 in the three-meter open. For Michigan senior Josh Trexler, who took second place in the one-meter and third in the three meter, the meet marked an end of a two-meet string of winning both events. "Indiana has the best diving in the Big Ten," Urbanchek said. "I think Josh stood up extremely well against the best in the Big Ten." While Urbanchek continues not to put too much stock in dual meets, he was still satisfied with the outcome. "The meet gave kids the opportunities to swim their second and third events," Urbanchek said. "In the Big Ten Championships, everyone will swim three events." JOANNA PAINE/Daily Jason Mallory and the Michigan men's swimming team scored a bit of revenge Saturday with a 224-127 win over Indiana after a loss to the Hoosiers last year. Originally on page 2B in the 1-31-2000 issue of the Daily.