Big Ten Championships: Michigan Holds Lead On Day Two

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, February 29. AFTER a dominating day-one performance, the No. 3 University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team increased its lead (742.5 points) during the second day of action in the Big Ten Championships Friday, scoring runaway victories in four of the eight events in Canham Natatorium.

The Wolverines were paced by sophomore Scott Spann, who captured the 100-yard breaststroke title, posting a new school and pool record time. Spann touched an NCAA 'A' time of 52.69 — nearly one second faster than the second-place finisher Jonathan Roberts on Minnesota (53.47).

INDIANA: Senior All-American Ben Hesen took home two individual and one relay title and freshman Landon Marzullo continued his amazing run with the 3-meter springboard title on day two of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships.

"It was a better day than the first day," said head coach Ray Looze. "The 200 medley relay started things off well, and it is always nice to get a win."

Hesen's second individual title of the night came in the 100-yard backstroke as he set a new Canham Natatorium record with a time of 45.92, topping the old mark of 46.48 set by Olympian Michael Phelps in 2005. He was one of four Hoosiers to score in the 100 back as Kurt Bassett took 7th with an NCAA B time of 48.35. Ante Zoricic finished 13th (49.76) and Doug Spraul 17th (50.46).

MINNESOTA: The University of Minnesota men's swimming and diving team moved up to third place after two days of competition. The Gophers enjoyed several strong performances including runner-up finishes by Jon Roberts in the 100 breaststroke and David Plummer in the 100 backstroke.

"I am very happy with our performance. Guys are swimming lifetime-bests and that's about as much as you can ask for," head coach Dennis Dale said. ""We are doing a really good job. They are fighting for every point we can get.""

OHIO STATE: The nationally-ranked Ohio State men's swimming and diving team finished day two in fourth-place with 458.5 points. Seniors Dan Novak and Matt Voelker put together big performances for the Buckeyes, breaking school records in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 freestyle, respectively. In the backstroke event, Novak touched the wall in 47.84 to earn third place. Voelker's record-breaking performance came as the lead-off swimmer in the 800 freestyle relay. His 200-yard time of 1:35.91 propelled the squad of George Markovic, Jacob Busch and Andrew Olson to a third place finish in a record time of 6:29.01.

"It was special to see two school records broken by our two seniors." Bill Wadley, head men's swimming coach, said. "Novak's swim was an outstanding and memorable moment."

PURDUE: Freshman David Colturi highlighted Purdue's second day of competition, placing second on 3-meter with a new varsity record score of 423.15 points. Colturi's score surpassed the old varsity record of 370.13 points previously held by teammate Zach Schultz since last season. Schultz recorded a personal best Friday with 390.75 points, which was good for fifth place, and Kyle Mitrione placed ninth with 369.90 points.

Boilermaker head coach Dan Ross said the high-scoring competition made for some great on-deck theatrics.

"Our guys and the guys from IU were just going crazy with each dive," he said. "It was just an unbelievable, exciting contest from start to finish and even though David smoked his last dive, the guy from Indiana was just a little better. It was a real cool event and we're looking forward to seeing what we do on platform tomorrow."

NORTHWESTERN: No. 18 Northwestern slipped a spot to sixth place following the second day of action. Northwestern began Friday's finals with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay, getting an NCAA `B' standard of 1:27.92 from Vogel, Franklin, Bubolz and Barbic. Tyler then took 12th overall with a sixth-place finish in the consolation final of the 400 IM, turning in a 3:55.44 for the 'Cats. While he was fastest during prelims, Bubolz ended up third in the 100 fly during the championship heat with an NCAA `A' cut of 46.57. Indiana's Ben Hesen won the event with a 46.38, the identical time Bubolz swam during morning action.

WISCONSIN: After the second day of the 2008 Men's Swimming Big Ten Championships on Friday night, UW remains in seventh place with 242 points. The Badgers tallied four NCAA ""B"" times and set five new season-best times on the night.

In the 200-yard medley relay, UW's "A" team comprised of Derrick O'Donnell, Eric Johnson, Scott Rice, and Kyle Sorensen took sixth with their season-best time of 1:28.40, notching the first "B" time on Friday.

PENN STATE: Pat Schirk swam to a fifth place finish in the finals of the 100 backstroke to highlight the performances in the finals on the second night of finals competition at the Men's Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. The 800 freestyle relay team also placed fifth and knocked over six seconds off their previous best NCAA 'B' time. Schirk, who already owns an NCAA 'A' automatic qualifying time in the 200 back, swam an NCAA 'B' cut of :48.03 in the finals, which was slower than his fastest time of the year but still good enough to place fifth for the highest finish so far for the Nittany Lions at this year's championships. Dan Fimbianti swam his season-best time in the 'C' finals of the 100 back, finishing 14th in :49.84.

IOWA: After the evening finals, the Hawkeyes are in ninth place with 148 points. Iowa was led by freshman Conor Dwyer, who took fifth place in the 200 freestyle (1:37.07). His preliminary time of 1:36.44 is an NCAA provisional qualifying time, as well as the all-time fourth best mark in Iowa history. Sophomore Wil Whaley took tenth place in the 100 backstroke (49.52) and his career-best preliminary time of 49.31 was good enough for fifth best all-time at Iowa. The 800 freestyle relay team of freshman Richard Salhus, Dwyer, junior Andy Miner, and Whaley swam to a seventh place finish with Iowa's ninth best all-time mark. The time of 6:33.95 also met NCAA provisional qualifying standards.

Special thanks to Big Ten for contributing this report.

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