The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/480355
OLYMPIC SPORTS with 12 freshmen on the roster and a cohort of many unproven sopho‑ mores, the Wolverines were not the confident bunch they have been in past seasons. Talent rose to the top, though, and U‑M led wire to wire. "I have to tell you this was one of the most exciting and most emotional wins that we have had," Bottom said. "The reason is because about half of our swimmers and divers were newbies to the Big Ten Champion‑ ships, had never been there before, and then we have a very small senior leadership class, so we were a little nervous on how this would all work out." Michigan dominated, beating run‑ ner‑up Ohio State by 137 points, in capturing 11 wins among the 21 con‑ tested events. The Maize and Blue swept the five relays for the first time in program history, winning the 200‑, 400‑ and 800‑yard freestyle relays, and the 200‑ and 400‑yard medley relays. U‑M had won four — only missing on the 200‑yard medley — during the 2009 season. Junior Dylan Bosch won three in‑ dividual races and competed for two relays in earning Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships, while rookie Evan White was the Co‑Freshman of the Year. "I'll tell you something about Dylan, when he was interviewed he said the most exciting race he had was being on the 800 free relay — he's a team guy," Bottom said. "He's all about Michigan. All about com‑ peting for Michigan, and his passion is to be a part of this team." After the league meet, Bosch was ranked third nationally in the 200‑ yard butterfly (1:40.75), fourth in the 200‑yard individual medley (1:41.93) and sixth in the 400‑yard individual medley (3:40.61), and he represents one of U‑M's best chances to win an NCAA title this season. "He's going to do his best," Bot‑ tom said. "He's going to be better at NCAAs than he was at Big Tens be‑ cause we didn't rest him before this meet. He's going against some tough customers, but he's going to fight, and fight for Michigan." Two years ago, the Wolverines edged the elite of college swimming to earn the 2013 national title, but Bottom is tempering expectations just slightly heading into this year's national meet. "Reality is that Texas and Califor‑ nia are very, very, very good, where they have separated themselves in this team race," he said. "We're a team that has some surprises. I will not count us out, but in reality, if we get third, fourth or fifth at this year's NCAAs we've done a great job with this young team." On the women's side, Michigan ranks 12th nationally after finishing third at the Big Ten Championships — its top team performance since a third‑place showing in 2010 — and Bottom is eager to see this year 's group match the 2010 NCAA finish of 15th when it heads to nationals March 19‑21. "We're battling to get into the top 16," he said. "We spent some time around a roundtable [recently] and