The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS MEN'S SWIMMING SQUAD CAPS UNBEATEN SEASON Any time Michigan dominates Michigan State, it's a good day for the Wolverines. When the men's swim team does it in East Lansing to top off a fourth consecutive undefeated season, it's worth noting. The Wolverines did as expected in blowing the Spartans out of the water, 178-106. The bigger feat involved extending their dual-meet winning streak to 41, giving Michigan's seniors a 36-0 record in dual meets, including 22-0 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines broke six McCaffree Pool records in swamping the Spartans, and U-M head coach Mike Bottom saw it as a strong message from his seniors. "We learned some things about ourselves and broke some records," Bottom said. "It was fun, especially the way we started the meet. It was great to recognize our seniors who have led this team for four years. They've risen up through the ranks, and now they're leaving having gone undefeated in dual meets. "They've won a national title and three Big Ten titles and will be leading a battle for one more. At the end of the meet, we sang 'The Victors,' which we don't normally do in duals, but it was fitting in order to celebrate what this senior class has done." Athletic Department Gifts Reach $50 Million A decade ago, the Michigan athletic department received $6,081,256 in donations. In the fiscal year 2014, that number had risen by 800 percent, to $54,578,781 according to a Jan. 30 report by The Detroit Free Press. The Council for Aid to Education (cae.org) surveyed 378 colleges, asking about their giving, and Michigan ranked second nationally for athletic department donations behind only Texas A&M ($93.6 million) and ahead of Kansas State ($44.78 million), Arizona ($44.2 million) and Texas ($41.4 million). U-M dwarfed the rest of the Big Ten, with Wisconsin second among the league's participants, pulling in $32.6 million in donations. Ohio State and Michigan State, however, did not take part in the survey. Michigan experienced huge growth from 2004 to 2005, going up 155.0 percent, but the Maize and Blue fell 2.6 points in 2006 according to donation figures posted by The Free Press. U-M has seen growth in nine of the past 10 fiscal years. U-M ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT DONATIONS 2004-14 Year Donations* % Change 2004 $6,081,256 — 2005 $15,256,465 +155.0 2006 $14,894,781 -2.6 2007 $14,951,108 +0.7 2008 $21,181,225 +41.3 2009 $23,651,804 +11.8 2010 $24,211,430 +2.1 2011 $31,319,481 +29.4 2012 $33,041,481 +5.4 2013 $41,071,604 +24.5 2014 $54,578,781 +32.9 * Data according to The Detroit Free Press.