Men's swimming finishes lowest in championships in 12 years

AUBURN, Ala. - Alabama's highway commissioner Jimmy Butts makes sure every border has a welcome center rest stop. And Southerners are famous for their hospitality. But the sight of prisoners in coveralls stamped 'Alabama Department of Corrections' landscaping these oases off of Alabama's pine-lined highways is a little jarring. Not quite what you expect.

Fitting for the Michigan men's swimming and diving team at the NCAA Championships. Things just didn't go as expected for the seventh-ranked Wolverines at the meet, as they finished "lower than a frog's ass" according to Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek. Michigan's 12th-place finish out of 36 teams was its first time out of the top ten since the Wolverines finished 25th in 1986, Urbanchek's fourth year as coach.

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Tom Malchow's butterfly technique was not enough to keep Michigan afloat at the 1998 men's swimming championships and, consequently, the Wolverines had their lowest finish in 12 years.

All season long, they had said that a top-four finish was their highest goal, reasoning that the Cardinal, defending champion Auburn - the host school - and the No. 3 Texas squad would be too tough to crack.

But the list of other teams they found just as hard to break was as long as Mike McWha's face after Michigan's bread-and-butter 800-yard freestyle relay team finished a disappointing ninth, snapping Michigan's five-year streak of NCAA titles in the event. The sophomore hung on a lane marker trying to forget how much it hurt. He stared blankly at the block 'M' on the swim cap in his hands.

"We're not the same team we were last year," he said. "I gave my best, but it wasn't enough, obviously."

McWha could have spoken for most of Michigan's team. After his fifth-place finish in the 200 butterfly, Tom Malchow could only say "it just wasn't there" of his race. The only Wolverines who didn't feel shackled were Owen vonRichter and Chris Thompson.

VonRichter turned in the only performance that could have reminded the Wolverines of their glory days, by finishing third to Tom Wilkens and Steven Brown, both from Stanford, in what Michigan assistant coach Eric Namesnik called a "tough race".

Junior Brett Wilmot, the only diver who qualified for the meet, struggled his first day, in the one-meter springboard, but was optimistic after his 15th place finish in the three-meter event.

Despite his bravado, Wilmot followed a great dive with a flop that landed him flat on his back, but remained in contention for a scoring position until he hit the tower with his feet on a dive.. The low scores dropped him to 18th.

The only Wolverine who seemed unshackled by the mysterious chains that seemed to slow his teammates, was looking ahead to the '99 season before the meet was even over. As he watched Arizona State and Harvard secure the points to vault them ahead of then tenth-place Michigan, he spoke of Michigan's return to prominence.

09-08-98