Conelly began his coaching career at Kentucky as the head women’s coach for the 1991-92 season after spending three seasons as a graduate assistant with the Wildcats. A year later, Conelly added the men’s team to his responsibilities and became Kentucky’s head swimming coach. During his 22 years, he’s guided the teams to more than 200 victories.

For the first time in 25 years Wednesday, Conelly will not be pacing along the Lancaster Aquatic Center pool deck with Kentucky swimmers, preparing them with competitive and life lessons.

“Retirement is one of those things you think you’re never going to reach and then it’s here,” Conelly said. “I’ve been really fortunate to be at Kentucky and it’s been a pleasure to work with everyone -- athletes, coaches and administrators.”

Conelly has kept strong relationships throughout his time at Kentucky with athletes past and present, coaches, and many others he’s come in contact with over his term. It’s been a long ride that has made an impact on so many people along the way.

"Since being named head coach in 1991, Gary has helped hundreds of student-athletes realize their dreams in and out of the pool,” UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said. “We appreciate everything he has done during his 25-year UK career and wish the best for Gary and his wife Kathy as they move into retirement."

Working as a graduate assistant at Kentucky after his time as an All-America swimmer at Indiana, Conelly never thought that coaching would be his selected path. A quarter-century later, Conelly decided to hang up his whistle and get ready for whatever life has prepared for him next.

“When I came to UK in 1988 I was a graduate assistant in athletics and in the English department,” Conelly said.  “I thought I was going to move into teaching, but in one of those twists and turns of life, it turned into coaching.  That has worked out well in so many different levels, for me, family, my children. Lexington is a great town and a great place to raise children.  It couldn’t have worked out any better.”

While Conelly urged his team to strive for greatness in the pool, he also emphasized the importance of achieving excellence in the classroom while using that education background.

Just this semester, each of the men’s and women’s team received College Swimming Coaches Association All-America honors with both teams achieving their highest marks in program history. The Kentucky women earned a mark of 3.48, a mark worthy of 12th nationally and third in the Southeastern Conference. The men checked in at 31st in the country with a cumulative GPA of 3.17, also good for third in the SEC.

Before his coaching days, Conelly was one of the best swimmers the country had to offer. Conelly competed on the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team, and he participated on the world record-setting 400-meter freestyle relay team. Conelly was a 15-time NCAA All-American at Indiana and is a member of the Indiana Swimming Hall of Fame.

Though he initially wanted to be a teacher in the educational field, Conelly fell in love with developing young people, both mentally and physically as a head coach.

In Conelly's 22 years as head coach with UK, the swimming and diving programs have made great strides as perennial competitors at the NCAA championship level. In 1990, Conelly coached the team's first female All-American and NCAA finalist, Kellie Moran. Since then, more than 60 Wildcats have garnered All-America accolades under Conelly's tutelage.  There have been more than a dozen Southeastern Conference champions and numerous Academic All-Americans.

“Helping the athletes develop is gratifying for a coach,” Conelly said. “My first All-American, Kellie Moran, was my first athlete to get a bid to the NCAAs and score points at the championship meet.  She worked her way through injuries to do that and that is a special memory.  Those things continued over the years all the way through this season, when Kelcy Perry had a similar situation [of overcoming obstacles], and had three good years on the team.”

Undoubtedly, the most poignant moment of Conelly’s time at UK came when Mike Lyden, long-time friend and Wildcat diving coach, passed away after an extended battle with cancer. 

“I’ll always remember when Mike was dealing with his cancer and our divers finished 1-2-3 at the SEC championships and Taryn Ignacio went on to win the NCAA [championship],” Conelly said.  “That was an incredibly emotional time for Mike ."

“What I enjoyed most, in general, was doing something special together as a team, to experience the camaraderie of the athletes and coaches.”
-- Gary Conelly

In his career, Conelly guided UK teams to 15 top-20 NCAA finishes combined during his 22-year body of work. During his tenure, more than 60 swimmers and divers have earned more than 200 All-America honors, he’s coached several individual SEC champions, an SEC relay championship team and two NCAA top-five individual finishes. He also coached United States Olympian Rachel Komisarz, who won two gold medals in the 2004 Olympics.  In addition, he had other swimmers from outside the U.S. who competed in the Olympics for their home countries.

He also earned SEC Swimming Coach of the Year in the 1994-95 season, steering the women’s team to a fourth-place finish at SECs and then earning what was then their highest finish at the NCAA championships with a 19th-place showing.

Conelly’s banner year came in the 2004-05 campaign. After leading the Kentucky men to its best-ever showing in the SEC championships with a fourth-place finish, the men went and broke a school record with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA championships to secure the top mark in school history. On the women’s side, UK secured its best finish at the SECs in more than a decade while earning the women’s third-highest mark in program history at NCAAs with an 18th-place showing.

The women’s program saw Conelly take it to its greatest heights in the 2006-07 season. That year, the women’s squad captured a school-best 12th place finish nationally at the NCAA championships to highlight the best postseason finish in UK women’s history. At the championships, Conelly’s 200-freestyle relay team became the first to place in the top-eight nationally. The same squad won the school’s first relay SEC championship that year.

In 2009, Conelly coached seven athletes to All-America status for the Wildcats while the Kentucky teams eclipsed nine new UK records in the pool. Megan Pulskamp earned a second-place finish overall in the 100-butterfly at the SEC Championships before earning All-America status in the event at the NCAA championships.

In 2002-03, Conelly guided the men's team to its second-highest finish in the NCAA championships, a 17th-place showing. Conelly's 2001-02 men's team placed 16th at NCAAs, its highest-ever finish at the time. At the SEC Championships, the men had the second-highest point total in school history (282), finishing in sixth place. At the NCAA Championships, Joey Faltraco's 11th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke earned him honorable mention All-America, the first UK athlete to earn the honor in the event, while Clayton Moss was an All-American on the 1- and 3-meter springboards and the platform. The women also competed at the national championships, continuing a string of 10 consecutive appearances.

Conelly and the 1996-97 men's team achieved a 26th-place NCAA finish and Nat Lewis finished third in the 1,650 freestyle and still ranks as the second-highest NCAA finisher in school history.

“There are so many athletes, coaches and others to thank who have helped me along the way and it is impossible to recognize them all,” Conelly said.  “However, I do want to say thanks for Mitch Barnhart for his support and [UK associate athletic directors] Jason Schlafer and John Cropp for their work as our team administrators. 

“There are people behind the scenes who help us every day -- Sandy Bell, John Butler and Heather McAtee in the compliance office; our business office, Donna Cox, Kevin Garland, Kathy Fletcher, Sandy Wieck and Sean Hilen; and just so many others who make it possible to have a team.”

While the team will continue to train with the current staff under interim head coach Lars Jorgenson, Conelly will relinquish the responsibilities and day-to-day tasks that come with being a head coach at the collegiate level. He likely won’t miss those some of those things. What he will miss, however, are the special friends, people, and athletes that he met during this 22-year journey and working with them to achieve one common goal.

“What I enjoyed most, in general, was doing something special together as a team, to experience the camaraderie of the athletes and coaches,” Conelly said. “I heard someone say at the CATSPYs, ‘One of the best things in life is to do hard things with your friends’ and that’s what I enjoyed –- working together to get somewhere.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- The buzz around the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI began as soon as Arizona's Kevin Cordes hit the water from his starting block Saturday night.

Cordes ripped through the water as the crowd rose to its feet. Ahead of his own American-record pace at every interval of the 200-yard breaststroke, Cordes polished off his stay at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships by winning the event in an unheard-of 1:48.68.

Arizona coach Eric Hansen ran up to Cordes afterward and told him, "You're starting to get fast."

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

Cordes, a sophomore from Naperville, Ill., flashed back a smirk in typical fashion with his coach.

"It's our little humor," Hansen said.

Oh, yes, Cordes is getting pretty fast.

Less than a year after he missed making the U.S. Olympics Team by less than half a second, Cordes has emerged as the top men's breaststroker in the United States. Every time he went into the pool this week for breaststroke events, he broke NCAA Championship and American short-course records. When he was in the pool to compete on a relay team, school records fell.

Cordes broke his own record in the 200 breaststroke prelims Saturday by nearly a second, finishing in 1:49.79. Then he dropped it by more than a second in the finals. No breaststroker had ever covered 200 yards in less than 1:50.

Records, Cordes said, is not the first thing he is thinking about.

"I guess the time is in my mind," he said. "I really just try to go out swim the best that I can, the best to my ability."

Friday, he broke his own American record in the 100 prelims, then blasted the American, championship and U.S. Open records in the finals with a time of 50.74 seconds. Thursday, his split time of 49.56 seconds in the butterfly segment of the 400 medley relay was the fastest in NCAA history.

"He's redefining this stroke more than I've ever seen," Hansen said.

Adding to Cordes' joy was that Arizona pulled off a one-two sweep in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke races. Kevin Steel was runner-up in the 100 and Carl Mickelson was second in the 200.

Because Cordes is just an 18-year-old sophomore, the best is still to come.

"You'd think he's a veteran (swimmer)," Hansen said. "He's not. He's not a veteran, he's a rookie. It'll be fun to see where he takes it."

Soon, that will be to the long-course Olympic distances where yards turn into meters. Cordes is now aiming to make the U.S. team that will compete this summer at the FINA World Championships. He is already a strong contender to make the U.S. Olympic Team for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.

"Without a doubt," Hansen said. "My hat's off to him. I think he's going to be a better long-course breaster than short course just because of his ability to glide."

Cordes is quick to credit his club coach back home in the Chicago suburbs for much of his success. Dave Krotiak, a coach at the Fox Valley Swim Club, was the influence that sent Cordes into the breaststroke. Before working with Crotiak, Cordes was a swimmer at the Maverick Swim Club for seven years, beginning at age 7. Not surprisingly, Cordes holds the Naperville Neuqua Valley High School record for the 100 breaststroke. He also was on the water polo team for three years as goalkeeper.

"I have to give a lot of credit to my club coach back at home," Cordes said. "He made me really realize I could be a breaststroker and only a breaststroker. Really, the style of training in college, like being able to be more specific with it, is really what took it to the next level."

And now at Arizona, Cordes trains with not only a breaststroke squad that has proved to be the best in the country, but also several former Arizona stars including four-time Olympian and seven-time medalist Amanda Beard.

"It's awesome. Practicing with them every single day, pushing each other, especially the breaststroke group," Cordes said. "I think we have one of the best breaststroke groups in the country. It helps all of us to push each other every day."

Cordes is following a path that both of his parents took. Bill Cordes was a quarterback for the football team at Arizona in the 1980s. Kevin's mother, Kristin, is also an Arizona graduate. Kevin and Bill attended an Arizona football game during his freshman year. Kevin played football for two years at Neuqua Valley.

"The big thing for us was to find a place where he could succeed and progress," Bill Cordes said.

Standing atop the awards podium after winning his race Saturday, Cordes looked up into the stands to spot his family, which included his parents, brother and grandparents and his old coach Krotiak as well.

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Michigan's Bruno Ortiz pulled himself out of the water after swimming the anchor leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday night, the singing started.

"Hail to the Victors" echoed around the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI, beginning from two Michigan spectator sections on one side of the building and carrying over to the Michigan bench area on the pool deck.

The Wolverines did not win the 400 relay, instead they settled for second place. But it didn't matter. Michigan had wrapped up its first national team title since 1995 at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships long before that final relay event. The Wolverines arrived here with an overwhelming lineup of 17 swimmers and they advanced as many as four swimmers in more than one championship and consolation final. All five of their relay teams finished in the top three.

"This morning, we jut kind of let our passion drive us. And that was it," said Connor Jaeger, who began Michigan's title drive on the final night with a victory in the 1,650 freestyle. He also won the 500 free in the meet's first individual race Thursday.

Michigan's victory halted a two-year title run by California, not that the Wolverines had counted on it. They had hoped to finish among the top three teams.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

"We started four years ago working on this," said Michigan coach Mike Bottom, who was named Coach of the Year after the meet. "You do it one day at a time, you do it one student-athlete at a time. We started out with one recruiting class that we were scrambling on. These are the guys.

"It's awesome to see those guys grow up, become leaders and take this team to this level."

Michigan totaled 480 points, racking up 176 of them on five relay events in which it never finished lower than third. Cal was runner-up with 406.5 points and Arizona placed third.

Tom Shields, a senior at Cal, helped lead the Golden Bears into the No. 2 slot with a tremendous win in the 200-yard butterfly. He tied Michael Phelps' American and U.S. Open record in the event with a time of 1:39.65. It did set a new NCAA championships record. Shields won two races, finished second in the 100 backstroke and swam in four relay races in three nights for Cal. At the end of it all, he was happy the Bears were to able to stay in the hunt for a title and finish second.

"Staying in that sustainability, as (Cal coach Dave) Durden says, is very important," Shields said.

Shields' performance in the 200 fly was just a part of a record night that included yet another stunning swim by Arizona sophomore Kevin Cordes. He broke his own American record Saturday morning in the 200 breaststroke preliminaries, than smashed it again in the finals.

Cordes won the 200 breast in 1:48.68, leading a one-two Arizona sweep in the butterfly for the second straight night. So dominating was his victory that the third-place swimmer, Trevor Hoyt of Cal, was nearly four seconds back. Friday in the 100 breaststroke, he also set the American, U.S. Open and championship meet records.

"I'm going to take this in and enjoy it," Cordes said.

A record also fell in the 100 freestyle. Southern Cal's Vlad Morozov blasted off the starting block for the lead and won the race in 40.76 seconds. It shaved 0.16 seconds off the previous championship and U.S. Open record set by Cesar Cielo of Auburn in 2008. Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini was nearly one second back of Morozov.

Cordes, Shields, Cordes and Stanford's David Nolan each won two individual swimming events. Cordes was named the Swimmer of the Meet. Nolan, who won the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke earlier in the week, placed second in the 200 backstroke Saturday. Marcin Cieslak of Florida finished second in all three of his individual events and helped the Gators win the 800 freestyle relay.

Kristian Ipsen, a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games, clearly was a hit on the diving board. He won titles in the 1- and 3-meter diving events Thursday and Friday, then finished runner-up to Olympic teammate Nick McCrory in Saturday's platform event. He was named the Diver of the Year and his coach, Rick Schavone, was named Diving Coach of the Year.

But at the end of the night, it was all Michigan. After every Cal and Michigan athlete walked by each other and exchanged congratulatory handshakes, the Wolverines jumped into the pool with the national championship trophy and started another chorus of "Hail to the Victors." Bottom's glasses dropped to the bottom of the pool.

Among those Wolverines were senior Miguel Ortiz and his younger brother, Bruno. They swam in four relays together, including the Wolverines' second-place finish in that final 400 freestyle. They swam the first two legs of Michigan's win Friday in the 200 medley relay.

"Definitely it being my senior year , having my brother here, everything was just the right moment," said Miguel Ortiz, an eight-time Big Ten champion.

Michigan won all five relay championships at the Big Ten, but its finest moment came Friday, when its 200 medley relay team broke the championship, American and U.S. Open records with a winning time of 1:22.27.

"We need to swim fast not only for ourselves, but our fans, to inspire what we're trying to do," Bottom said. "We're trying to inspire a generation of young people who come out to the meet and see you swim. I want them to see the best."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The emotions of a second consecutive national championship in the 100-yard butterfly hit Tom Shields as soon as he reached the touch pad Friday night.

Shields, a senior at California, popped out of the water and pumped his fists into the air.

He had begun the event by encouraging teammate Marcin Tarczynski with a shout before they jumped onto the starting platforms. He finished the race with the third-fastest time in championship history: 44.59 seconds.

And that was just a part of Shields' busiest night at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI. He swam in four championship finals Friday, winning the 100 fly, finishing runner-up to Stanford's David Nolan in an explosive 100 backstroke, and swimming a 50-yard butterfly leg in the 200 medley relay and a 200-yard leg in the 800 freestyle. When the championships end Saturday, Shields will have particpated in the maximum-allowed three individual events and four relays.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

"He's awesome," Cal head coach David Durden said. "I mean, for four years we've asked him to do this event schedule. His freshman year, it was a little bit worse; he had another 200 freestyle in there. We haven't been very kind to him on this middle day and then we turn around and ask him [Saturday] to give us a great swim."

Shields will swim in two more events Saturday: 200 fly and the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay. On Friday, he scored 37 individual points for Cal and helped score another 64 points in the relays. The Golden Bears, two-time defending champs, trail Michigan by 34.5 points entering Saturday's final day and night of competition. Including Thursday's opening day, Cal has finished no lower than fourth in any of the events Shields in which has participated.

Not only is Shields the busiest Golden Bear, but the most highly decorated among the team's current swimmers. The victory in the 100 fly was his 10th career national championship in combined individual and relay events. He is a two-time Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year and holder of school records in four individual events.

He is a swimmer the younger underclassmen look up to. Indeed, this is not a team of seniors. In the 800 relay, his fourth event Friday night, Shields swam the opening 200 yards in 1:34.30 and he was followed by freshman Trenton Williams and sophomores Ben Hinshaw and William Hamilton.

At first, there is a sense of awe.

"Looking up to Tom as a freshman was something eye-opening for me," said Hamilton, remembering the 2011-12 season. "Tom is someone who is extremely dedicated in whatever he does. When he puts his mind to something like swimming, it's really unbelievable what he can accomplish."

"Our guys love seeing him up on the blocks," Durden said. "You know you're going to see something special in most cases or he is going to try his darndest to make it something special."

His victories in the 100 and 200 fly, and 100 backstroke, plus two relay teams at the Pac-12 Championships helped Cal halt Stanford's conference championship streak at 31.

In addition to the workhorse-like schedule Shields has taken on this year, he also has emerged as bit of a senior leader.

"In a unique way," Durden said. "We don't quite ask Tom to be a vocal leader amongst our group. We have another senior who has that role. I think our guys appreciate what Tom's schedule looks like and what we ask him to do."

What Hamilton noticed this year was a deepened sense to details that Shields has displayed. An Olympic hopeful in 2012, Shields finished fourth in the 100-meter butterfly and ninth in the 200 fly at the U.S. Olympic Trials. That was not good enough to make the team. He also failed to make the team at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Shields took the fall semester off to compete in the international World Cup series. When Shields arrived back at Cal, a different swimmer showed up.

"He came back in the fall and just had this unbelievable attention to detail," Hamilton said. "Competing with pros, it just gave him that extra edge, the difference between a high-end amateur and a professional athlete. He just came back with this focus and this detail to every little thing. Stuff that you wouldn't even think about."

Even after Friday's long day and night of preliminaries and then championship finals, Shields stuck to his details. Immediately after the 800 relay, he was back in the water for 30 minutes of cool-down laps nearly 12 hours after the day began. He politely declined interviews. The routine was the thing.

"It's tough," Durden said. "In years' past, the NCAA has kind of allowed guys to kind of get subbed out for awards. You're really not doing any of our athletes any favors by making them go up on the award stand, come back down and not really letting them rest and recover. It's gotten harder to do what he does."

INDIANAPOLIS  --  A national championship and record-setting performance by the 200-yard medley relay team helped keep the No. 1-ranked Michigan team in first place after Day 2 of the NCAA championships on Friday at IU Natatorium. The Wolverines have 336 points after two days, leading second-place California by 34.5 points (301.5) heading into tomorrow's final day.

The Wolverines rewrote the record books early, shattering four records in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of  Miguel Ortiz, Bruno Ortiz, Sean Fletcher and Zachary Turk set NCAA, U.S. Open, NCAA championships and school records, finishing first at 1:22.27. U-M was in command from right off the starting blocks and never seriously threatened, winning the race by nine tenths-of-a-second over second-place California (1:23.17). The splits for each of the four swimmers were extremely fast, including 20.83 from M. Ortiz (backstroke), 23.07 from B. Ortiz (breaststroke), 19.92 from Fletcher (butterfly) and 18.45 from Turk (freestyle).

The Wolverines received points from two swimmers in the 400-yard IM, including Dylan Bosch. Bosch snuck into the final by virtue of finishing eighth in the preliminaries, but moved up one spot in the finals, finishing seventh (3:42.95). Michigan also picked up points in the consolation final from Kyle Whitaker, who won the heat, officially finishing ninth (3:43.15).

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

Just 30 minutes after their win in the 200-yard medley relay, M. Ortiz and Fletcher were back in the water for the finals of the 100-yard butterfly. Fletcher took seventh in preliminaries, but moved up four spots to finish third (45.54), which is a new career-best time and also a time that's second-fastest in school history. Ortiz had a big time drop from his seed time (46.79), swimming fast in the preliminaries (45.69 -- a new career high by over a full second) and eventually finishing fourth in the finals (45.79). Both men pulled double duty on Saturday night, also swimming in the 100-yard backstroke. Ortiz took fourth (45.49), while Fletcher finished 18th (46.75).

Michigan had seven entries in the 200-yard freestyle and got two of them back for the 'A' final. Junior Michael Wynalda took fifth (1:33.38 -- a new career-best time), while junior Connor Jaeger (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven) finished eighth (1:33.85).

Richard Funk led Michigan in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking third (51.84), re-establishing his previously-held school record (went 51.91 at 2013 Big Ten Championships). B. Ortiz swam in the 'B' final, taking 16th (55.15).

The Wolverines wrapped up the evening with a second-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay (6:15.54). The quartet of Wynalda, Jaeger, Anders Lie Nielsen and  Hassaan Abdel Khalik  each picked up NCAA All-America honors in the race. Florida won at 6:13.27

Michigan looks to wrap up its 12th national championship Saturday during the final day of the NCAA championships. The events that will be contested include the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, platform diving and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

It is a well developed routine by now for Huber, one of the nation's top diving coaches. When the final day of the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships takes place Saturday inside the building which includes a tribute to Huber, he will end his 37-year coaching career. The last 24 years have been at Indiana.

But don't look for a fancy ceremony or a limousine pulling up in front. That just wouldn't be his style.

"I'm not retiring, I'm transitioning," Huber says. "So I don't want to think about it that way because if I do, I won't do my job."

This final week has turned into much more than a farewell party for Huber. Big Ten 1-meter champion Darian Schmidt was a finalist in both the 1- and 3-meter events, placing a career-best sixth in the 1-meter on Thursday. Emad Abdelatif made the consolation finals in both events. Big Ten women's champion Amy Cozad placed third in platform diving last week at the women's national championships.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

"It's been amazing diving for him," Schmidt said. "He's the man. He's got more knowledge about the sport than anybody who has ever coached me. Just our relationship together, he's like a father to me, a second father. He just takes you under his wing, but he's also super hard on me at the same time. He just keeps pushing me every single day."

"Our men's team and our women's team this year has just been phenomenal," Huber said. "I remind myself throughout the season that I've been very lucky because it's a great group. We've had an enormous amount of fun, a lot of success. We've worked hard and we've had a good time doing it. I feel blessed. We've had such a great season in my last year."

And those are huge words of gratitude from a guy who has coached Indiana divers to more than 40 Big Ten championships and more than 75 All-America selections. Among those is Christina Loukas, the 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Diver of the Year who won the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in 3-meter. She also was a 2012 Olympian.

It is perhaps fitting that Huber is finishing his IU coaching career at the same facility in which Loukas had her greatest triumph.

"This is the scene of a lot of great successes for us," Huber said. "One that pops up is Christina Loukas winning the Olympic Trials here in this pool. Seeing her name up on the wall and, of course, (1992 Olympic gold medalist and two-time Diver of the Year) Mark Lenzi's picture here, so yeah, absolutely."

Walk into the lobby of the IU Natatorium, and you'll notice that Huber's name and photograph is placed on a prominent wall that displays the Indiana Swimming and Diving Wall of Fame.

And all of this happened because 37 years ago, Huber felt that he owed the sport of diving something after an athletic career that included reaching the finals of the Big Ten diving championships and qualifying for the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials.

"When I graduated from college ( Wisconsin in 1975), I thought I had gotten so much from the sport, not so much in medals and things like that, but how I had grown as a person. I just wanted to pay back the sport," Huber said. "When I was going to grad school out in California (Cal State-Fullerton), I volunteered at a community college and I coached for free just to kind of pay back the sport.

"I just didn't know that I'd still be coaching 37 years later. I am still amazed at how much the sport continues to give back to me … working with so many great athletes."

Along the way, Huber was a coach at three Olympic Games for the United States, the last time at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He served on the USA Diving Board of Directors. Prior to beginning his 24-year run at Indiana, he was the diving coach at Nebraska, earning a master's degree in curriculum and instruction education, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology there.

His wife, Lesa, is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Applied Health Science and Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at Indiana. Both of their children are IU grads.

Huber has agreed to remain as Indiana's diving coach until August as the Hoosiers search for a replacement. And in that time, Huber, who turned 60 years old Thursday in a birthday he kept secret from most of the divers on his own team, can expect to hear from many of his former pupils. He already has.

Emotion hits his face as he talks about those occasions.

"There's only been a couple of moments and, uh… Powerful," he said.

And don't even mention the possibility of a retirement party.

"I told everybody, I don't want any kind of retirement party or anything like that," he said. "I would like, at some point, maybe to have a reunion where everybody comes back and gets together. I've heard from a lot of people."

Huber is considered to be one of the best diving coaches in the country and also internationally, but he is quick to mention the athletes who have taught him a thing or two. Specifically, he mentions Cassidy Kahn, a senior this year who overcame a serious illness that kept her out of competition her first two years at Indiana.

"Just to see her resilience and her ability to continue to bounce back, be optimistic," Huber said.

He swam with the Argentina National Team.

He is a graduate student at Michigan hoping to map out a career in public or humanitarian policy.

Oh, and Turk can swim really fast. A 14-time national champion with Kenyon (Ohio) and the 2012 NCAA Division III Swimmer of the Year, this week Turk is trying to help Michigan win its first national swimming and diving team championship since 1995.

He is certainly one of the most decorated swimmers in the field of 235 at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. And among the most educated, as well. That is what gains the admiration of Michigan head coach Mike Bottom.

Turk turned 23 years old in February. While he was at Kenyon, he took a year off to study at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He graduated in 2012 at Kenyon and now is a graduate student at Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy. Turk understands, Bottom said, how to turn his swimming experiences into a positive effect on the rest of his life.

"Zach is a great example of someone who's already started to do that," Bottom said. "He fits in, in that he's a great living lesson among the guys. They talk to him all the time about his experience and how he used his training, his experiences to make his situation better."

"Something that I think about swimming is, swimming is a great experience, but I like to see it as a means to an end, rather than end to a means," Turk said. "I like to think it is progressing my educational journey. Just the experiences I have being part of Michigan, such great leadership and learning from team leaders, a different atmosphere, I think I'll take this to my life's job, my career, once I graduate from the master's program."

On Thursday, during the first day of the championships at the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI, Turk finished third in the consolation finals of the 50-yard freestyle, earning six points for the Wolverines. He also swam the second leg in Michigan's third-place finish in the 200-meter free relay.

He'll swim in the 100 individual free on Saturday, and could also swim in two or three more relays on Friday and Saturday.

The national championships will finish off Turk's collegiate swimming career after just one season at Michigan because he had already competed three years for Kenyon College, a school located in Gambier, Ohio. Kenyon won two national titles and finished runner-up while Turk was there.

Turk still had a year of eligibility remaining because he took his junior year off from Kenyon to study in Argentina. He also spent a summer in Spain and was an intern at the U.S. Embassy.

"I got the experience to swim with the [national] team in Argentina, make lifelong friends, live with a host family, understand a different culture," Turk said. "It really guided what I want to do."

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

"He's kind of a free spirit," said Bottom, who learned of Turk from former Kenyon coach Jim Steen. "He has fit right into the team because he's got this experience behind him. He opens these guys up a little bit in understanding the world and understanding what we're trying to accomplish. He understands the big picture.

"And that's what we're trying to teach our student-athletes is that swimming is such a small part of your life. It's a place where you can learn lessons and you can apply those lessons."

In a record-breaking season in which Michigan won all five relays at the Big Ten Conference Championships, Turk swam a leg on three of them.

"It's been a great season," Turk said. "It's been a little different than a DIII atmosphere. The difference is maybe competing at the highest level all the time throughout the season. My season times keep getting faster. It's just been an amazing experience to represent Michigan."

Michigan, which won its third consecutive Big Ten championship this year, led the team standings after one day of the national championships. The Wolverines' 121 points topped two-time defending national champion California (89.5) and Auburn (80.5).

"This year, I feel like the team's bond is so strong. Everyone is pushing for each other," Turk said. "The atmosphere of the team motivates me, keeps me going."

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Kristian Ipsen emerged from the pool after his final 1-meter dive Thursday night, the only sound to be heard inside the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI was this: "Kristian, Kristian, Kristian!"

He didn't even have to look at the judge's scores on the electronic scoreboard. The shouts coming from the Stanford spectator section was evidence enough of his second career NCAA championship in diving.

On top of the awards podium, 2012 Olympic teammate Nick McCrory of Duke congratulated Ipsen and showed a big smile. Best buddies do that.

"We've always competed against each other since we were like 10," Ipsen said. "He's one of my best friends."

The best might still be to come for Ipsen at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. Ipsen's strongest event, his Olympic event, is the 3-meter and that will take place on Friday, followed by the platform diving competition on Saturday.

Ipsen won all three disciplines at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships qualifier, and also won the 1- and 3-meter diving titles at the Pac-12 championships. He won a bronze medal in 3-meter synchronized at the London 2012 Olympic Games, but here's the thing: Stanford diving coach Rick Schavone says Ipsen is even stronger now than he was at the Olympics.

"His strength has improved tremendously," Schavone said.

Thursday's performance displayed that. Ipsen's 1-meter win broke 2012 Olympian David Boudia's championship record set in 2010. Ipsen scored 473.75 points, breaking Boudia's record by more than five points. McCrory scored 436.60 and finished second.

"I feel better," Ipsen said. "I have kind of a different mentality about the sport, I think, leading up to the Games because that's all I was doing. I was just focusing on that. That's all I thought about. After practice, I'd go out and watch video. I think it was a little much. Now I have more of a balance. I'm back in school, I'm hanging out with my friends. It's kind of a triangle of things and diving is just one part of it. So it's nice to have different outlets."

What already has heated up the diving competition at the national championships is the battle between Ipsen and McCrory, a medalist in the 10-meter synchro with Boudia at the London Olympic Games. Ipsen placed first in the preliminary competition among 34 divers, then held off McCrory to win the finals. After the first of six rounds in the finals, Ipsen and McCrory were tied. The two will meet again in Friday's 3-meter, where Ipsen will be favored, and Saturday in platform, where McCrory will be favored.

"They got it together [Thursday night]. They probably go at it [Friday]," Schavone said.

"I'm excited about it," Ipsen said. "It's going to be fun."

Breaking Boudia's record Thursday brought a look of satisfaction to Ipsen's face, although immediately after the finals he had no idea that he had produced a record-breaking performance. Boudia, a six-time NCAA champion and Division I Diver of the Year three times, competed at Purdue, less than an hour's drive from Indianapolis.

"To be able to do that is such an honor," Ipsen said, "because David is such an accomplished diver."

The past 12 months have been a blur of successes and training blocks for Ipsen. He won his first national collegiate title as a freshman at last year's championships -- the first Stanford diver to win a national title in 82 years. Then came the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials and intense training for the Olympic Games. Then, it was back to school at Stanford and a full swimming and diving season.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

No big surprise there, considering that Ipsen has been diving his entire life when he wasn't helping to make pizzas at his family's chain of California pizza restaurants.

His dad did name a pizza after Kristian: The Bettega, which is Kristian's middle name. "That's my claim to fame," he said, laughing.

Ipsen has been diving since he was 6 years old. At age 8, he became the youngest diver in history to make the finals in all three disciplines at the USA Diving Junior National Championships. He won 16 national junior titles and three world junior titles before moving up to the senior division. He won his first world championship medal, a silver, in 2009 when he was still a high-school student.

Not that this diving medalist gets special privileges at home.

When he returned home following the Olympic Games, and the last word of congratulations had been offered, it was time for Kristian the Olympic medalist to turn into Kristian the college kid who needed a gentle reminder from his mother, Yvette.

"OK, that was so much fun. Now you have to do your laundry. You have to get ready for school," Ipsen said his mom told him.

The memory of that conversation evoked a quick laugh.

"Things like that are great. I'm so fortunate to have the family I do," he said.

INDIANAPOLIS  -- Michigan junior Connor Jaeger won the 500-yard freestyle Thursday in the NCAA DI Men's Swimming and Diving Championships to help the Wolverines take the first-day lead at IU Natatorium.

Jaeger won in a personal-best 4 minutes, 10.84 seconds, and the Wolverines finished with 153 points. California was second at 123.5, followed by Auburn at 112.5.

"The first 100, I think I was sixth or something," Jaeger said. "People like to go for it from the start and I just don't have speed like that. A little antsy in the beginning, you want to start pushing it, but I talked it over with my coach and I was just going to stay relaxed the first 100 and then work. So, that's what we did and it worked out.

"Just stoked [the last 25 yards]. I took a breath and actually saw the team going nuts and that got me excited. I was falling apart, just trying to get to the wall. Just thinking about that. "

Texas' Michael McBroom was second in the 500 in 4:11.39, and Southern California's Cristian Quintero followed in 4:13.52.

Southern California's Vladimir Morozov broke his own school record in the 50 freestyle, winning the event in 18.63 seconds. Second in the event last year, Morozov became the first Trojans swimmer to win the 50 free since Joe Bottom won three in a row from 1975-77.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

Also, swimming the third leg of the 200 freestyle relay, Morozov clocked a 17.86 split, becoming the first person known to go under 18 seconds on a 50 split. The Trojans finished second in the race behind Auburn.

Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini was second in 18.99, and Minnesota's Derek Toomey was third in 19.18.

Stanford's David Nolan chased down Florida's Marcin Cieslak to win the 200 individual medley. Nolan finished in 1:41.21 to beat Cieslak by 0.24 seconds. Indiana's Cody Miller was third in 1:41.99.

"[This] sets me up pretty well," Nolan said. "Just kind of use this positive energy to keep moving forward. [Thursday] morning (fourth in prelims) hurt a little bit more than I expected, but you've just got to bounce back and hope your training will take care of it. And it did. Just keep a good attitude and let your teammates take you under their wing and cheer you up. That kind of thing."

In the meeting of 2012 Olympic teammates, Stanford's Kristian Ipsen set an NCAA record in 1-meter diving with a score of 473.75 points. Duke's Nick McCrory was second in 436.60. Ipsen didn't even know he broke the record until his media session.

"I had no idea, going into a meet I can't really think about that kind of stuff," Ipsen said about the record. "But that's really cool. That's exciting. [McCrory and I] are both incredibly competitive. In any competition, we're going to be competitors. We're not going to act like friends, but directly after we're friends again. And before, too. It's cool. It's nice having someone like that, that totally gets diving and everything."

Auburn's 200 freestyle relay team broke out a "U-A!" cheer on the podium after it won in front of a rowdy group of supporters in the stands. The Tigers finished in 1:15.48 to easily beat USC, second in 1:16.22. Michigan was third in 1:16.49.

In the final event, Arizona won the 400 medley relay in 3:02.09. California was second in 3:04.46, followed by Michigan in 3:04.73.

A senior from Huntington Beach, Calif., he was a triple individual winner at this year's Pac-12 Championships. He's also the defending national champion in the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 2012 Championship Swimmer of the Meet.

He is the top seed in the 100 fly. He’ll also swim in the 200 fly, 100 backstroke and four relay events.

“We ask him to do everything and he does it without complaint,” Cal coach David Durden said.

Shields will take a leading role as Cal seeks a third consecutive national championship. The Golden Bears are dominant in the relays, and Shields won two more Pac-12 championships this year on the 200 and 400 medley relays. They’ll face a battle in those relays from three-time Big Ten champion Michigan, which won all five relay races at its conference championships.

“Unlike a lot of the teams in the country, we put 100 percent in our conference, we put 100 percent in our dual meets,” said Michigan coach Mike Bottom, who was the 2012 Olympics coach for Serbia. “You see what you’ve got. We know that Stanford and Cal and Florida and Texas have been doing it a different way. And that’s OK. I guess you give them something to shoot for.”

“Michigan has really, really five good relays,” Durden said, “and it’s going to be tough to catch them. They’re just in a really good spot. I like where our guys are at. We know that we’re going to have swim really well here to compete. That’s what we want. We want to see swimmers and teams at their best this weekend.”

Cal is attempting to win three titles in a row for the first time in school history. The last school to accomplish the feat was Auburn, which won five in a row from 2003 to 2007.

2013 DI M SWIM AND DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
Recap: Michigan wins program's 12th title | Results | Highlights
Day 2
Feature: IU coach walks away after 37 years
Recap: Michigan leads after Day 2 | Results | Highlights
Day 1
Feature: Former DIII swimmer anchors Michigan
Feature: Stanford's Ipsen stays humble
Recap: Michigan takes lead | Results
Preview: Cal aims for three titles in a row
Qualifiers | Divers | Championship Info

Winning a three-peat championship will not come easily for the Bears. The field of 235 swimmers and 35 divers is loaded with title contenders who may be reaching for American records the same way the women were at last week‘s championships. On the final night alone at the women‘s championships, three NCAA and American records were broken.

“I think three or four teams could win,” said Georgia men’s and women’s swimming coach Jack Bauerle, who spent the weekend in Indianapolis after coaching the Lady Bulldogs to their fifth national championship last week. “I think Arizona’s got a shot, I think Florida’s got a shot. Michigan’s got numbers.”

A strong field of 35 divers includes 2012 Olympians Kristian Ipsen of Stanford and Nick McCrory of Duke. Ipsen won all three events -- the 1-, 3- and 10-meter -- at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Ipsen won a bronze medal in the 3-meter synchronized event at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Kevin Cordes of Arizona is the top seed in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and the American record-holder in both events.

Cal is coming off a strong team performance at the Pac-12 Championships. It was the first time in 32 years that Stanford did not win the conference championship as the Bears outscored Stanford 825-800.

Michigan, the Big Ten champ, has more qualified individual swimmers than anybody else with 17. The Wolverines, fifth-place finishers in 2012, won the national championship the last time the meet was held in Indianapolis in 1995.

Michigan is seeded No. 1 in the 200 and 400 medley relays, setting up a points-scoring battle with Cal. The Wolverines also are seeded No. 1 in 800 freestyle relay, No. 2 in the 200 free relay and No. 6 in the 400 free relay. For the first time in school history, they won every relay event at the Big Ten Championships.

“Momentum is an undervalued commodity in swimming,” Bottom said.

Connor Jaeger led a 1-2-3-4 Michigan sweep in the 1,650 freestyle. He is seeded No. 2 behind Michael McBroom of Texas at the national championships. Michigan freshman Dylan Bosch is seeded No. 1 in the 200 butterfly, ahead of Shields, after winning that event in the Big Ten Championships with a time of 1:41.18 (:0.05 quicker than Shields’ best time).

Florida, the Southeastern Conference champ, qualified 14 swimmers, including Marcin Cieslak, whose time of 1:42.17 in the 200 fly trails only Bosch and Shields. He had three top-three finishes last year.

Outside of Michigan and Florida, the championships may resemble the Pac-12 Championships. Cal, Stanford, Arizona each have at least 14 swimmers and divers. Southern Cal has 10. Including relay swimmers, Arizona arrives with 18 swimmers and one diver. No other school has more than 11 swimmers, though Texas qualified 11 swimmers and two divers.

Both Southern Cal and Indiana have two swimmers with top seeds. USC’s Cristian Quintero is No. 1 in the 500 free and Vladimir Morozov is No. 1 in the 100 free. Indiana’s Cody Miller is the top seed in the 200 individual medley and James Wells is No. 1 in the 100 backstroke.