The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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And freshman individual medley and butterfly specialist Dylan Bosch has already won four Big Ten Freshman Of The Week honors. "Dylan Bosch, I didn't expect him to be able to be in the position he is in this early in his college career," Bottom said. "He is a fun guy to watch." Even some of the Wolverines' proven stars are stepping up in unexpected ways. Junior individual medley/butterfly specialist Kyle Whitaker — a three-time NCAA All-American and NCAA runner-up in the 400-yard individual medley last season — has been shining in the 200-yard backstroke, with a personal best of 1:46.87. He had never raced it competitively before. "We are a little weak there, and he stepped in and has been doing a great job," Bottom said. "And, of course, he is winning the events we expected him to win. Then you have standouts like Connor Jaeger, our Olympian, who has been great every time we have asked him to be great. "Ryan Feeley, who is coming in as a senior and leading this team in a great way, we really appreciate what he has done to step up his effort and production." With the level of competition the Wolverines have seen thus far, are they expecting to bring home the NCAA title at the end of the season? "I wouldn't say it is the expectation, but we know it is not out of the realm of possibility," Feeley said. "We are expecting hardware. Everyone wants to bring something back to Ann Arbor. We know we have a shot, especially this year, with how competitive the top six teams are, we'll have a shot to make some moves. "We need to be ready to compete. If everything falls our way, we could bring home the national championship, so that's really exciting." Wolverines Refocus On Diving During the 2009-10 season, the Wolverines had just two divers on the roster. Needless to say, that is not quite enough. The next season, Bottom brought in diving coach KZ Li, and that end of the pool became a much bigger priority. "The team went from having a couple male divers a couple years ago to now, where we have six on the team," junior diver Jack Lee said. "The number of people has grown a lot, but our ability has grown tremendously as well. KZ is a great coach." Li's first year on campus coincided with Lee's freshman season. As a walk-on, Lee steadily improved over the campaign. Now a junior, Lee is not only the team's best diver, but also a reliable weapon and someone who can grab crucial points for Michigan during postseason championship meets. "I feel like I have gotten better exponentially every year," Lee said. "I started as a walk-on as a freshman and scored a point at Big Tens. Last year, I made the A Finals at Big Tens, so that was a big step. This year, I plan on making a bigger step." Lee has certainly backed up that claim thus far in 2012-13. He has already set career bests on