No. 12 Michigan Ties No. 15 Indiana, 150-150, in Heated Big Ten Battle

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, January 13. THE No. 12-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team tied No. 15-ranked Indiana — the reigning Big Ten champion — 150-150 on Saturday (Jan. 13) at Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines erased a 26-point deficit over the final two events to move their undefeated streak against Big Ten competition to 38 consecutive meets. The meet was held in short-course yards.

After Indiana jumped out to an early 11-6 lead following the 200-yard medley relay, the Wolverines battled back with victories from sophomore Matt Patton (Matthews, N.C./Butler) and sophomore Bobby Savulich (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph). Patton won the 1,650-yard freestyle with an NCAA Consideration 'B' Time of 15:22.59. The Wolverines were able grab a 28-21 lead after the 200-yard freestyle, where Savulich took first (1:38.03), freshman Charlie Houchin (Raleigh, N.C./William G. Enloe) placed third (138.85) and freshman André Schultz (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Palmares) took fourth (1:39.35).

Indiana picked up a series of wins before Michigan swept the top three spots of the 200-yard butterfly. Junior Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams) captured first place, (1:48.20) with Patton right behind in second place (1:49.50). Sophomore Curtis Dauw (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) took third touching the wall 1:50.08.

With Michigan down 81-69 going into the 100-yard freestyle, Bobby Savulich won the event, capturing his second victory of the day with a time of 45.14. His effort gave the Wolverines a much needed victory and kept them within striking distance of the Hoosiers.

Indiana would win the next two events before Charlie Houchin and Alex Vanderkaay finished 1-2, respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle. Houchin touched the wall in 4:27.91, with Vanderkaay less than a second behind at 4:28.53. Freshman Scott Spann (Austin, Texas/Westlake) captured an NCAA 'B' time in 200-yard breaststroke, when he took second place with a time of 1:59.92.

After winning the 100-yard butterfly and taking 16 points in the three-meter dive, Indiana had built a very comfortable 145-119 lead against the Wolverines heading into the final two events. U-M surged back to sweep the top three spots in the 400-yard individual medley. André Schultz took first place in the event with a time of 3:55.94. Juniors Dane Grenda (Hockessin, Del./Salesianum) and Alex Vanderkaay took the next two spots finishing less than a second behind Schultz. Grenda touched the wall in 3:56.29, and Vanderkaay clocked 3:56.57 to help the Wolverines cut the Hoosiers lead down to 13.

Going into the final event, Michigan needed to finish the 800-yard freestyle relay with the two fastest times in order to tie Indiana. The relay team of Savulich, sophomore Evan Ryser (Katy, Texas/James E. Taylor), Houchin and Vanderkaay won the event with a mark of 6:45.27. Right behind them was the relay team of Patton, Dauw, sophomore Sal Barba (Hudson, Mass./St. Johns) and Schultz to take second place (6:48.40) to earn a tie against the Hoosiers.

Initially, it appeared that the Hoosiers had won the meet by a score of 151-149, but Indiana head coach Ray Looze realized that his team had accidentally sent junior Todd Patrick to four individual events and a relay event. By rule, a team can only send a swimmer to three individual events and a relay event. Looze pointed the error out to the officials.

Patrick's fourth event was the 100-yard butterfly, a race which he swam the fifth fastest time to earn one point. When the error was noticed, Patrick's time was changed to an exhibition, giving freshman Chris Dukatz (Troy, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice) the fifth fastest scored time. The correction subtracted one point from Indiana's original total of 151 and added a point to Michigan's original total of 149. The correction resulted in a score of 150-150.

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