The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/402034
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Kimball helped coach five national championship squads and 33 Big Ten title teams. He earned NCAA Diving Coach of the Year honors for both men and women in 1984, and repeated that distinction on the women's side in 1988. He earned four Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year honors. As an athlete, Kimball was a three-time NCAA champion at Michigan. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the University of Michi- gan Hall of Honor. Growing up in Miami, Alex Knight didn't realize he'd end up at Michigan someday. But after catching the ten- nis bug at the age of 8, he worked at his craft and found his way to Ann Arbor. The redshirt freshman said that af- ter comparing dozens of schools, Michigan was the last one stand- ing. "I started off the re- cruiting process and I looked at a bunch of different schools," K night said. "As I started cutting them down and cutting out schools I wasn't inter- ested in, Michigan just sort of always stayed there. Great aca- demics, great resources, great athletics overall. "At the end of the day, it was just the best combination for me. It was where I really wanted to go when I took my visit." Knight realized that Michigan was the place for him and couldn't wait to get there. So much so, in fact, that he accel- erated his senior year and enrolled early at Michigan last January. The decision allowed him to get a jumpstart on a promising athletic and academic career. "I wanted to get up here to train and red- shirt," he explained. "I've been up here for about nine months, but I haven't really done much yet or played in any actual matches." Knight doesn't have a major decided yet but is starting to formulate a plan. He was drawn to science in high school, but an opportunity to study business at Michigan appeals to him. "I'm undecided right now, and I'm sort of all over the place," he admitted. "I re- ally like biology. That was my thing Out of high school, Knight was rated a five-star recruit and the No. 5 tennis prospect in the nation. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS Student Athlete Of The Month Tennis Redshirt Freshman Alex Knight