2020 Women’s B1G Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2020 WOMEN’S B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming & Diving
• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm (6pm Saturday)
• Where: Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, Iowa City, Iowa (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana University Hoosiers (1x) (results)
• Live Results
• Streaming: Big Ten Network
• Championship Central: here
• Fan Guide
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
• Day 1 Results

Ohio State and Michigan both had very big mornings and will jockey for pole position after tonight’s final. The 500 free will see the prelims leader Kaitlynn Sims, the Michigan freshman, jostle with seniors like Indiana’s Cassy Jernberg and Maria Heitmann, OSU’s Molly Kowal and Kathrin Demler, and Michigan junior Sierra Schmidt. This is shaping up to be the big race of the night in terms of multiple players in the race.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson and Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil are clear favorites in the 200 IM and 50 free, respectively. Both women had big opening sessions, as Nelson split a 1:41 to anchor Wisconsin to 800 free relay gold and MacNeil fired off the best 50 back in history by a long shot.

Tonight will also feature the 1-meter diving finals and the 400 medley relay, where MacNeil could take her backstroke chops to the test against 100 back NCAA/American/U.S. Open record-holder Nelson. Both women skipped one of last night’s relays, meaning they’ll both be on this 400 medley; it just depends on if one will race on the fly leg. But, given their team lineups, it appears both teams would have their best medleys with MacNeil and Nelson upfront.

500 FREE – FINALS

• B1G Record: G Ryan – 4:34.28
• Meet Record: G Ryan – 4:34.40
• Pool Record: Mackenzie Padington – 4:37.01
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:36.30
• Defending Champion: Chantal Nack – 4:36.55

1. Kathrin Demler (Ohio State) – 4:37.04
2. Cassy Jernberg (Indiana) – 4:37.07
3. Sierra Schmidt (Michigan) – 4:37.15

This race truly came down to the touch for the top four swimmers.

Ohio State claims the first individual event at these championships, as Kathrin Demler eked it out at 4:37.04, just ahead of Indiana’s Cassy Jernberg (4:37.07) and Michigan’s Sierra Schmidt (4:37.15). Fourth was Michigan freshman Kaitlynn Sims at 4:37.33, as all four of them set new personal bests. OSU also picked up a fifth-place finish as Molly Kowal slid under 4:40 with a 4:39.35.

This was a huge event for Ohio State, who leads the team race after this swim. They had just Kowal in this A-final last year, and now they have the champion, Demler, along with Kowal in fifth and sophomore Veronica Tafuto in seventh (4:41.20).

200 IM – FINALS

• B1G Record: Beata Nelson – 1:50.79
• Meet Record: Beata Nelson – 1:52.27
• Pool Record: Beata Nelson – 1:52.60
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:53.66
• Defending Champion: Beata Nelson – 1:52.27

1. Beata Nelson (Wisconsin) – 1:51.66
2. Calypso Sheridan (Northwestern) – 1:53.13
3. Mackenzie Looze (Indiana) – 1:55.79

Beata Nelson of Wisconsin dominated this race, getting out to a big lead with a 23.93 on fly and a 27.25 on back to turn at 51.18 at the 100. Northwestern’s Calypso Sheridan was 24.66 fly and 27.86 on back to turn at 52.52. While others were with the leading two after fly, nobody else split under 29 on backstroke.

Sheridan was 32.77 on breast, just creeping up a little on Nelson (32.90), but Nelson held at 27.58 on the free over Sheridan’s 27.84. Nelson’s winning time of 1:51.66 sets a new pool and meet record, but doesn’t get to her overall B1G record and best time of 1:50.79 from last year.

Sheridan, meanwhile takes well over a second off of her old best of 1:54.39 to re-set the NU school record. She came into the meet with the record at 1:55.77. That’s an NCAA ‘A’ cut for both Nelson and Sheridan.

Indiana’s Mackenzie Looze clocked a 1:55.79 for third, her first time under 1:56 and a best by a few tenths. Lillie Hosack of Wisconsin was 1:56.81 for fourth, pulling in big points for the Badgers, while OSU finished fifth through eighth for more big points.

Olivia Carter put up a 1:56.51 to claim the B-final for Michigan, which would’ve placed fourth in the A-final.

50 FREE – FINALS

• B1G Record: Zhesi Li – 21.28
• Meet Record: Zhesi Li – 21.28
• Pool Record: Maggie MacNeil – 21.51
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 21.66
• Defending Champion: Maggie MacNeil – 21.65

1. Maggie MacNeil (Michigan) – 21.30
2. Daria Pyshnenko (Michigan) – 21.82
3. Freya Rayner (Ohio State) – 21.85

Maggie MacNeil used her extremely powerful underwaters to push ahead of the field, closing in a flurry with a 21.30 lifetime best. It’s her second B1G title in a row after she won in 21.65 last year as a freshman, and she breaks her own Michigan school record of 21.49. She was also just .02 off of Zhesi Li’s conference record of 21.28.

Michigan secured the 1-2 finish as junior Daria Pyshnenko posted a 21.82 for second, just edging out Freya Rayner‘s 21.85 for Ohio State. Pyshnenko was 21.97 this morning, her first time under 22 seconds, and she improves that now by another tenth and change. Rayner did the same– she was 21.89 this morning, her first 21-second performance ever, and then got down to 21.85 tonight.

MacNeil and Pyshnenko are now the top two performers in Michigan history, and they’re also #2 and #4 in conference all-time rankings.

Indiana freshman Cora Dupre also snuck under 22 seconds, going 21.93 for fourth. Although she gained .03 from prelims, today she touched under 22 seconds for the first two times of her life.

Ashley Turak, another Indiana freshman, was 22.20 to win the B-final. She would’ve been fifth overall.

1-METER DIVING – FINALS

• B1G Record: Kelci Bryant – 370.30
• Meet Record: Kelci Bryant – 370.30
• Pool Record: Bianca Alvarez – 360.65
• Defending Champion: Jessica Parratto- 366.05

1. Mackenzie Crawford (Ohio State) – 320.65
2. Joy Zhu (Minnesota) – 306.75
3. Emily Bretscher (Purdue) – 303.35

Ohio State continued a very strong night with a win from freshman diver Mackenzie Crawford. She topped the field here in 320.65, with Minnesota’s Joy Zhu (306.75) and Purdue’s Emily Bretscher (303.35) also surpassing 300 points.

400 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINAL

• B1G Record: Indiana – 3:26.09
• Meet Record: Indiana – 3:26.60
• Pool Record: Penn State – 3:33.50
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:31.66
• Defending Champion: Indiana– 3:26.60

1. Michigan – 3:27.68
2. Wisconsin – 3:29.08
3. Northwestern – 3:29.48

Maggie MacNeil led off in 50.04 to help the Wolverines stay right on Wisconsin, who led with NCAA/American/U.S. Open record-holder in the 100 back, Beata Nelson. Nelson was 49.70 to beat MacNeil with a strong final push to the wall after MacNeil was out a touch quicker halfway through.

Michigan powered along, though, with Miranda Tucker going 58.64, followed by Olivia Carter (51.10) and Daria Pyshnenko (47.90) to win at 3:27.68.

Wisconsin and Northwestern were suddenly locked into battle after the breaststroke. While Nelson’s lead-off put them into the lead over Calypso Sheridan‘s 51.31, Hannah Brunzell, the Northwestern freshman, was 58.33 to nearly track down Wisconsin’s Kelsi Artim (59.37). Wisconsin used Lillie Hosack on their fly leg, who was 51.48 to NU’s Miriam Guevara (51.40), only losing eight hundredths. It was a bold move for the Badgers that paid off; Hosack’s flat start best is a 54.60 from 2017, pre-college. Malorie Han was 48.44 coming home for NU, a strong split for her, but Alana Palmer‘s 48.53 was enough to keep the Wildcats at bay in third, 3:29.08 to 3:29.48.

Sheridan still took seven-tenths off of her old best and knocked the NU 100 back school record, while NU and Wisconsin both set new program marks in the overall relay.

Michigan and Wisconsin move up after getting second and third last year, respectively, while NU shoots up from sixth.

Lindsey Kozelsky of Minnesota was 57.57 on the breast leg there, the field’s best split, while Madison Hart of Penn State had the best fly split at 50.97. Pyshnenko was the best anchor with her 47.90. It was a good night for breaststroke, as IU’s Emily Weiss (58.26) and Ohio State’s Hannah Bach (58.96), both freshmen, broke 59.

SCORES (Through Day 2)

1. Ohio State University             561   2. Michigan, University of           478
3. Indiana University                338   4. Wisconsin, University of, Madi    257
5. Northwestern University           242   6. University of Minnesota           235
7. Purdue University                 202   8. Iowa, University of               168
9. Pennsylvania State University     161  10. University of Nebraska-Lincoln    158
11. Rutgers University                135  12. Michigan State University         111
13. University of Illinois            108