The Wolverine

August 2013

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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500-yard freestyle and the 1,650yard freestyle. Bottom is the fourth coach in program history to claim a team national title, joining Matt Mann (193741, 1948), Gus Stager (1957-59, 1961) and Jon Urbanchek (1995). "I was really blessed to take over a program with this kind of culture already instilled," Bottom said. "I walked into it five years ago, and it was set by Bob Bowman and Jon Urbanchek, and that is the Michigan tradition. It's a culture that I was fortunately able to step into and then bring in a staff that would also buy into that. "Michigan has such a rich history of teams, championships and coaches, and it was unbelievable to be able to add to that. Our staff [assistant coaches Josh White, Rick Bishop and KZ Li] came into this at the beginning and immediately believed in what we were doing. I am just a piece in this team, and the team is so much bigger than any one person. We have a terrific coaching staff, great supporting cast like nutritionists, and great kids. The support from the athletic department has been important, too. It's much broader than any one person in the pool." When the incoming freshmen arrived in Ann Arbor at the end of the summer, the practices started to pick up — and competition in the pool was fierce. The Wolverines came out of the gates on fire, dominating the first dual meets of the season, including blowout wins over then-No. 5 Texas (194-106) and then-No. 8 Indiana (223-77). "We had just done well the year before, getting fifth place, and we didn't graduate that many seniors, so we knew we were coming in with a good base," Jaeger said. "Right away, did we know we were going to be national championship contenders? I don't think so, but we knew we were going to be in position to do something better than we have in the last couple years." Against the Longhorns and the Hoosiers, Michigan took first place in 12 of 15 events in each meet. "We knew we were a great dual meet team from the start," Jaeger said. "Those are all about winning the event. If you're taking first place in a lot of events, you're going to win the meet, because the most points go to first place." But the championship season, which began Feb. 27 in Bloomington, Ind., is a different story. Although first place can still garner big points, championship meets are more about depth — a team can steadily climb up the standings by consistently placing swimmers in each event. At the Purdue Invitational Nov. 16-18, the Wolverines competed with just 16 swimmers, taking sixth place in the seven-team competition. As the season went on, Bottom began to have more confidence in his young swimmers and the contributions they could provide in a large meet. At the final tune-up before the Big Ten Championships, the Michigan

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