1962 Men's Swimming

1962 Swimming National Champions
1962 NAIA National Champions

Paced by eight record-breaking performances, three by Olympic gold medal winner Dick Blick, and two by Larry Michelson, the Cardinal swimmers wrapped up their second straight National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics title in Detroit last weekend.

The national title was third in the last five years for the NC swimmers, the first won under coach John Molitor, just concluding his first year as coach of the Cardinal tankmen. Molitor was a member of the North Central squad when the team won its first title in the 1957-58 season.

The Cards scored 125 points in winning the title, 50 more than second-place Detroit Institute of Technology, the host team and runner-up to North Central in the 1961 championships as well, which had 75. West Chester State College finished third with 35 points; Macalester College was fourth with 33 and Winona State College fifth with 31.

The Cards defeated every one of the four teams except West Chester in dual meets this season. There were 19 teams in the meet. Altogether, 10 new NAIA marks were set at the three-day affair.

Blick, the lanky senior from Bakersfield, California, broke records he established in the 1961 NAIA Championships when he flashed home in 2:03 in the 220-yard freestyle, 4:31.4 in the 440-yard freestyle and :49.6 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Michelson, a junior from Elgin, established new standards in the 200-yard butterfly with a 2:08.7 effort in the 100-yard butterfly in :56.2. Jim Hartzell set a new mark with a 2:07.5 time in the 200-yard backstroke. Alan Corrigan set the final new mark for Cards with a time of 2:11.9 in the 200-yard individual medley. The 400-yard medley relay team of Hartzell, Byron Ware, Michelson and Corrigan, also set a new record of 3:55.6 in that event.

The Cardinals' 400-yard freestyle team of Roger Kiekhofer, Wyllie Griffith, Ruben Roca and Dave Seyfried won that event in 3:31.

Seyfried took a second in the 200-yard backstroke; Hartzell got a second in the 100-yard backstroke, and Corrigan took a second in the 200-yard freestyle; Roca got the same in the 400-yard freestyle. Kiekhofer got a third in the 50-yard freestyle event, Richert took a third in the 200-yard breaststroke, and Seyfried got the same in the 100-yard backstroke.

Roca also took a fourth in the 1500-meter freestyle, Bruce Nitsche took fifth in the 200-yard butterfly, and Raul Martin got a fifth in the 200-yard freestyle. Ian Wilson took a sixth in the 50-yard freestyle, Martin got the same in the 1500-meters and the 440-yard freestyle, and Griffith got the same in the 100-yard freestyle.

- excerpt from College Chronicle (March 23 1962)
information provided by the College Archives