Men sweep up Ypsi quad meet

By Kristen Fidh

Daily Sports Writer

YPSILANTI - Eastern Michigan's campus was not at all messy. There was neither garbage on the grass nor cigarette butts littering the sidewalks. Likewise, the Michael H. Jones Natatorium appeared reasonably tidy.

Still, the Michigan men's swimming and diving team decided to sweep up anyway on Friday.

For their first competitive test, the Wolverines drew together the state's three other Division I swimming teams for a quadrangular meet in Ypsilanti.

Oakland, Eastern Michigan and Michigan State strove to show up the twelfth-ranked Wolverines, but were blown out of the water. Michigan dominated from the start by taking first place in the first eight events, winning 11 of 13 overall. The Wolverines tallied 781 points - over 200 more than second-place Eastern Michigan (538 points).

" It was nothing outstanding and nothing to write home about, for me anyway," Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek said. "The bar has been so high for this team, so nothing like this excites them. But I am very excited about some of our freshmen."

As predicted, freshman Dan Ketchum performed well, claiming first place in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. Taking the first half of the 40-lap, 500-yard race at a moderate pace, Ketchum sped up during the second half for a negative split.

"Ketchum swam a beautiful race - probably the best swim of the day," Urbanchek said. "And not only a very good swim, it was a very smart swim. He got an A+ on how to split the race."

Not to be overlooked were the veterans. Senior Mike O'Connor swam a personal best, winning the 1000 freestyle in 9:19.80. Also nearing his personal best was breaststroker G.J. Zann.

Meanwhile, senior captain Scott Werner claimed first in the 200 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley, sophomore Garrett Mangieri dominated the 100 freestyle and sophomore Paul Ely triumphed in the 200 butterfly.

In the 200 backstroke Ely, sophomore Ryan Earhart and junior Jason Mallory all posted solid times.

"Probably the best thing that happened was that the whole team was durable, which means they kept coming back event after event," Urbanchek said. "Their endurance is really good, so we are accomplishing what we set forth to do. We are in real good shape, and nobody died."

Urbanchek plans to improve the relays before Michigan's next meet. Although the foursome of Ketchum, Werner, Jordan Watland and Tony Kurth took first in the in the 400 medley relay, Urbanchek said he felt that the starts require some tweaking.