ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan captured the team trophy at the 2000 Big Ten Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, held Thursday through Saturday (Feb. 24-26) at Canham Natatorium. It was Michigan's 31st Big Ten swimming and diving title and the team's first since the 1997 season. The Wolverines totalled 682 points, outdistancing second-place Minnesota, which finished with 601 points. Penn State, the 1999 Big Ten champion, finished third with 514 points.

Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek was named the Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year. It is the seventh time in his career that he has earned the honor. Urbanchek also earned Coach of the Year honors in 1987-90-93-94-95 and shared the award in 1991. Indiana's Jeff Huber was named the Diving Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Minnesota's Alex Massura was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, while teammate Dan Croaston was voted the Big Ten Diver of the Year. Massura captured two individual events, winning the 200-yard backstroke and setting a pool record in the 100-yard backstroke. He also was a member of four first-place relay teams (200 freestyle, 400 medley, 800 freestyle and 400 freestyle). Croaston won the three-meter diving event with a score of 631.40 and placed second in one-meter diving with a score of 555.15.

Iowa junior Ales Abersek was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championship. Abersek captured the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 47.68 and won the 200-yard butterfly in a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:44.93.

Purdue's Matt Martin, Penn State's Brian Jostetler and Wisconsin's Brendan Coyne were named At-Large All-Big Ten non-event winners.

Eleven Canham Natatorium pool records were set over the three-day period, including five on Thursday (Feb. 24). Minnesota set two records in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:19.31) and the 400-yard medley relay (3:14.85). Individual pools records were set by Michigan's Chris Thompson in the 500-yard freestyle (4:20.31), Michigan's Tony Kurth in the 200-yard individual medley preliminaries (1:47.26) and Minnesota's Ricardo Dornelas, who set both a Big Ten Championships and pool record in the 50-yard freestyle (19.60).

Two Canham Natatorium records fell during Friday's action (Feb. 25). Michigan's Tim Siciliano set a pool record in the 400-yard individual medley (3:49.16) during the preliminaries, while Minnesota won the 800-yard freestyle relay in a pool-record time of 6:30.46.

In Saturday's final-day action, four pool records were set, including individual marks by Michigan's Chris Thompson in the 1,650-yard freestyle (14:50.86), Ohio State's Brian Malich in the 100-yard freestyle (43.43) and Minnesota's Jeff Heckler in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:57.79). Minnesota closed out the pool records with a 2:55.40 finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Final Team Standings

 1. Michigan          682
 2. Minnesota         601
 3. Penn State        514
 4. Indiana           376
 5. Wisconsin         366
 6. Ohio State        315
 7. Purdue            240
 8. Iowa              216
 9. Northwestern      211
10. Michigan State    119

Swimmer of the Championship: Ales Abersek, Iowa
Co-Divers of the Championship: Tom Davidson, Indiana; Dan Croaston, Minnesota
At-Large All-Big Ten Selections (non-event winners): Matt Martin, Purdue; Brian Jostetler, Penn State; Brendan Coyne, Wisconsin

Big Ten Swimmer of the Year: Alex Massura, Minnesota
Big Ten Diver of the Year: Dan Croaston, Minnesota
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Jeff Hackler, Minnesota

Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year: Jon Urbanchek, Michigan
Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year: Jeff Huber, Indiana