The third night of finals at the 2014 men’s Big Ten Championships begins with a whole bunch of conference records under assault. Michigan’s Michael Wynalda already broke the 200 free mark this morning, and is a fingernail away from the NCAAs second 1:31 of the season. His teammate Kyle Whitaker is within striking distance of Michigan legend Tyler Clary‘s 400 IM record. Tim Phillips of Ohio State is a tenth off the 100 fly mark, Nittany Lion Shane Ryan three tenths off the 100 back and Michigan’s Bruno Ortiz a half-second away from the 100 breast record.
Tonight’s events will also include the 200 free relay and 3-meter diving. Keep refreshing this page for event-by-event updates and analysis. You can find live results here.
B1G MEN MEET DETAILS
(from our Big Ten men’s championship fan guide by Troy Gennaro)
- Dates: Wednesday, February 26th – Saturday, March 1st; prelims 11AM/Finals 6:30PM
- Location: Canham Natatorium, University of Michigan (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Michigan (3x) (results)
- Live Results: Swimming | Diving
- Live Video (If available):
- Championship Central
200 Free Relay
Friday night was filled with drama from the very get-go. A tight 4-team battle for the win ended with a disqualification and a subsequent tie for the Big Ten Championship. Here’s how it went down:
Minnesota jumped out to a dominating early lead on Derek Toomey‘s 19.20 leadoff leg. Despite that being more than a tenth off Toomey’s best time, it was still the field’s second-fastest split period – relay exchanges included, showing just how dominant Toomey has been in the conference this season.
A young Minnesota team of three freshmen (Daryl Turner, Paul Fair and Ian Gordon) fought hard, protecting Toomey’s lead as Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan closed in. The second legs were biggest for those squads: Bruno Ortiz split 18.97 for Michigan, freshman Josh Fleagle 19.2 for OSU and John Hauser 19.4 for Penn State.
With 50 to go, the top three relays were amazingly tied, right down to the hundredth. Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan were all 58.49 with one leg to swim. The fastest anchor was Minnesota freshman Ian Gordon, but his 19.3 split was negated by a false start that took the Golden Gophers out of contention after they put up the field’s best time. Behind them, OSU and Michigan battled, with Tim Phillips (19.4) outrunning Michael Wynalda (19.5). But in snuck Penn State, getting a 19.3 from anchor Shane Austin to tie the Buckeyes at 1:17.93 for a share of the Big Ten title.
Michigan wound up third in 1:18.02, and Purdue started to make some headway late on Matt Friede‘s 19.3 anchor leg to take fourth with a 1:18.15.
400 IM
Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker won his second IM title of the week, shaving another four tenths off his prelims time in the 400 IM to go 3:38.51. His teammate and butterfly star Dylan Bosch led much of the way, putting up the field’s fastest fly and back splits. But 50 yards into the breaststroke leg, Whitaker really started gaining momentum, catching up to within .03 of Bosch going into the freestyle and passing him early on in that stroke. Whitaker split 49.4/55.6/1:01.3/51.0 en route to the conference title.
Bosch wound up just a half-second back, going 3:39.07. Those two checked out from the field in a big way, as third-place Stephen Schmuhl of Indiana was just 3:43.55.
Schmuhl was just able to break up a potential Michigan 1-2-3, beating Wolverine Connor Jaeger by three tenths. Fifth was Minnesota’s Austrian import Jakub Maly, who dropped a tenth to go 3:44.85, just a hundredth back from Jaeger.
Ohio State’s Tamas Gercsak was sixth in 3:44.98, Purdue’s Guillermo Blanco seventh in 3:48.57, while Michigan’s final swimmer, Ryutaro Kamiya was DQ’d after coming in with the 5-seed. That’s not an insignificant point loss for Michigan, but shouldn’t hurt too badly considering how much of a points lead the Wolverines have already picked up, 137 after this event.
Purdue’s Joshua Brooks won the B final in 3:47.02, just beating out Minnesota’s Brandon Hatanaka.
100 Fly
Buckeye Tim Phillips spent the first semester training with SwimMAC in Carolina while finishing an internship, but he highlighted his second semester with a Big Ten Championship in the 100 fly. The senior went 45.62 to roll away with the win – that’s just .05 off what he went this morning, and still a half-second up on the field.
Second place was Minnesota’s Kyler Van Swol, who put up a 46.16 to hold off Michigan’s John Wojciechowski by a tenth. Phillips’ freshman teammate Matt McHugh took fourth in 45.31, and close behind him was Michigan’s Pete Brumm.
Ohio State’s third man (Garrett Trebilcock) and Michigan’s third (Vinny Tafuto) took sixth and seventh, and Indiana freshman Max Irwin rounded out the A final.
200 Free
Michigan went 1-2 in the 200 free led by Michael Wynalda. The Wolverine has had a gigantic week so far, but couldn’t quite put up the 1:31 that was starting to look possible, at least not yet. He went 1:32.52, a few tenths off his prelims swim, but still well clear of the field. Depending on how much more speed he can find between now and NCAAs, Wynalda could be a legitimate threat to Louisville’s big Brazilian Joao de Lucca in the event. De Lucca has already been 1:31 this season.
Justin Glanda dropped almost a full second from prelims to take second in 1:33.98. He’s a big part of Michigan’s relay moving forward, and this is another great high-pressure swim for him. Wisconsin’s Nick Caldwell topped the rest of the pack, going 1:34.41 to touch out defending champion Anders Nielsen of Michigan by .02.
OSU freshman Michael Disalle, coming off a big split on the 200 free relay earlier, went 1:34.53 for fifth place. Michigan’s Hassaan Abdel Khalik, Ohio State’s Josh Fleagle and Wisconson’s Tyler Hines were the rest of the championship finalists.
Penn State’s John Hauser, also coming off a big relay split, won the B final with a nice 1:34.88, almost a second faster than he was this morning.
100 Breast
For the past three seasons, Indiana’s Cody Miller has swept the breaststroke races at the Big Ten Championships. But it appears 2014 is Richard Funk‘s time.
The Michigan junior went 51.75 to knock off Miller in the 100 breast. Miller was 51.99 to take second, while Funk’s teammate and top seed Bruno Ortiz gained a few tenths to fade to third in 52.15. Miller has typically dominated Big Tens but struggled at NCAAs, and it appears coach Ray Looze might have held back on Miller’s Big Ten rest to try to change that pattern this year. Miller was 51.50 in setting the Big Ten record a year ago.
Purdue’s Lyam Dias went 52.49 to snatch an “A” cut for the Boilermakers in what’s been an outstanding season for him. Wisconsin’s Nick Schafer also got under 53 with a fifth-place 52.88.
Michigan’s Matt McNamara went 53.43 for sixth, and two Iowa Hawkeyes closed out the championship heat, Andrew Marciniak in 53.89 and Roman Trussov in 54.25.
Penn State freshman Andrew Schuehler won a tight B final race, going 53.31 to best Michigan’s Christopher Klein and his 53.35.
100 Back
A pair of Penn State Nittany Lions held onto the top two seeds in the 100 back. Shane Ryan rattled the meet record with a 45.13; that’s just .02 off of Eric Ress‘s mark from 2011. Nate Savoy dropped two tenths of his own to take second in 45.61, coming back from 4th place at the 50 turn to complete the 1-2 sweep.
Ress was 46.14 for Indiana, taking third, and his teammate and the 2013 Big Ten champ in the event, James Wells, went 46.21 for fourth.
Wisconsin’s Drew teDuits took fifth in 46.40, almost exactly what he was this morning. He should be a bigger factor in tomorrow night’s 200, an event he won at NCAAs last year.
Iowa got sixth on Dustin Rhoads‘ 46.79, with OSU freshman Matt McHugh just behind. Michigan’s John Wojciechowski faded to 8th after a strong morning performance.
3-Meter Diving
Indiana’s Darian Schmidt rocked his final two dives for big points to come from behind and seal his second diving title of the week. He once again topped Purdue’s Jamie Bissett, although this time the scores were much more spread out than the narrow 1-meter event. Schmidt scored 451.90 to Bissett’s 424.25.
Indiana also took 3rd, 5th and 7th in the top 8, which is big for the team battle, considering Ohio State had passed them up in the pool tonight for second place.
Josh Arndt was third for IU with Michigan’s Timothy Faerber fourth. The whole top 4 scored over 400 points.
Team Scores
So with one more night remaining, Michigan now leads the team scores by nearly 200. Indiana fell briefly behind Ohio State, but used diving to nab second place again by 12. That battle will be the one to watch tomorrow with Michigan all but checked out in first place at this point.
Penn State sits a solid fourth, ahead of Purdue and Minnesota, who dropped off a little on that relay DQ at the beginning of the night but have rallied back into the hunt and passed up Wisconsin by just 1 point.
1. Michigan 599
2. Indiana 406
3. Ohio State 354
4. Penn State 265
5. Purdue 219
6. Minnesota 208
7. Wisconsin 207
8. Iowa 130
9. Northwestern 107
10. Michigan State 84
Day 3 highlights for Michigan
http://www.mgoblue.com/allaccess/?media=438240
Michigan will win NCAAs, they seems to be approaching this season a little different than last, and I expect solid drops at nats. They’ve got a few options on the 200 free relay and will be under 1:17 at NCAAs. Ortiz will go 18 flat start and Wojo will prolly be on the relay. I think Michigan will win nats over Cal.
Not a chance Ortiz goes 18 flat start. It’ll be a 4 team battle this year which will really spread the points out. Should be an exciting NCAAs
Ok. Nice analysis. If all it takes is an 18 flat start and under 1:17 to win the meet, then we’d have to start handing out more rings, cause that ain’t exactly rare.
And I wouldn’t say not a chance Hook’em. Unlikely, but stranger things have happened than a good sprinter dropping a few tenths when his team needs him to be great. Very little chance? Yes.
Whitaker and Bosch are perfect examples of why Michigan will have a run at the title. That 200 Free Relay though, not so elite.
I don’t know how Cal men are going to perform at pac-12s but man, Michigan’s got to be the heavy favorites going into ncaa’s
I can get behind Michigan in a lot of ways. They are eerily similar to Cal: huge elite public unis, legendary older coaches(Nort and Urby), genius younger coaches(Durden and Bottom + assts), incredible team dynamics, and on and on. Cal is a very deep team, with huge top-end talent to boot, as is Michigan. Don’t try to sell me that either team is a heavy favorite. What you can sell me on is that Kyler Van Swol is a great name. I’m buying that.
I’ll be rooting for Cal no matter what but I gotta give my hands to how deep their mid to long distance free AND strokes are. I guess it’s more so because we haven’t seen Cal swimmers tapered yet. I just can’t wait til the pac-12s. Although I know the prize is in the NCAAs. It could also be the fact that the B1G championship is so skewed as to how dominant Michigan is.
My point is that I will take back what I said about Michigan being the heavy favorites but they have impressed a lot of us for sure.
Yep.
I’ve seen pics of Whitaker before, but never in action. Didn’t realize he was so massive!! Has he upped his dryland this year??
Well since the first time I saw that exact picture of him was several years ago, I’d say the answer to your question is….maybe?
Penn State!