As "Hail to the Victors" blared triumphantly in the background, the Wolverine men's swimming and diving team stepped forward to accept the NCAA championship trophy March 25. It was U-M's 11th NCAA title in all sports, tying Ohio State for the most all-time national championships ever, and U-M's first since the basketball title in 1989.

"This victory was not just for today's team," said swimming coach Jon Urbancheck '61, who was also named NCAA Men's Coach of the Year. "Since '85 we've gradually been climbing a step higher each year, and all those kids have worked to allow us to take this final step. This championship is for the people who've helped to build this team for the past 10 years.

The swimming and diving team was truly ready for such a victory; this was their first title since 1961, when Urbancheck himself captained the winning team. In this year's championship meet, the Wolverines led from start to finish, beating three time defending champion and arch rival Stanford, 561-475. Auburn nipped Texas for third.

The Michigan team was led by sophomore long-distance freestyler Tom Dolan of Arlington, Virginia, and senior sprint freestyler Gustavo Borges of Barbosa, Brazil; the All Americans were the only two swimmers at the meet to score a perfect 60 points. Dolan not only won all three individual events in which he participated, but set collegiate and national records in every single one, earning him the honor of being named 1995 NCAA Swimmer of the Year.

"This is a great feat for me, but I can always get better," Dolan said. "The great thing about swimming is that you can always cut time off the clock until you hit zero."

Senior captain and Olympic silver medalist Borges ended an amazing career at Michigan by also winning all three individual events in which he competed, bringing the number of his personal NCAA titles to 10. Before the team took the championship, Borges said, "I think our ultimate goal is to win the NCAA title for the team. I would give up all my individual titles in this meet to get a title for the team." As it turned out, he had his cake and ate it, too.

Diving Coach Dick Kimball , who has both the male and female divers and has marked his 36th year at the helm since graduating in the class of 1959, singled out All-American Abel Sanchez '95 of Ann Arbor and honorable All-American Alex Bogaerts '96 of Troy, Michigan, from the men's squad.

Top female diver Carrie Zarse '96 of Rockford, Illinois. was at the Pan American Games during the NCAAs. "She won a bronze there, and later won the US nationals," Kimball said.

The swimming and diving program at Michigan is often overlooked by fans of th emore high-profile "revenue" sports like football, basketball and hockey; yet, the men's swimming and diving team has won more NCAA titles than any other varsity sport at Michigan.

The women's team coached by Jim Richardson almost made it a double championship for the Wolverines. finishing a close second in their NCAA tournament while setting 11 Big Ten and 13 school records.

Known for high academic performance, the swimming and diving program attracts academically oriented athletes from across the globe-in addition to Borges, there are stars Derya Buyukuncu from Turkey and Marcel Wouda from the Netherlands, as well as several Canadians.

"The top two swimming schools are Stanford and Michigan, and both are great academically," said Urbancheck. "The only thing against us is climate. We're the only swim team in the Snow Belt to will the championship in the past 22 years, since Indiana took the title in l973. All the other championship teams have been from the Sun Belt. But when you're dealing with some really smart kids, the geographical climate is not as important as the academic climate and the swimming climate.