2021 Big Ten Men Ups/Downs: Michigan Expected to Jump from 3rd to 1st

2021 BIG TEN MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Tuesday, March 2nd to Saturday, March 6th | Prelims 11am | Finals 5pm Tues, 6:30pm Wed-Sat (ET)
• Where: Ohio State University (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Michigan (1x) (2020 results)
• Streaming: Big Ten Network
• Championship Central
• Live Results
• Day 3 Prelims Recap

CURRENT SCORES

1. Ohio State – 628
2. Indiana – 547.5
3. Michigan – 526
4. Purdue – 414.5
5. Wisconsin – 345
6. Northwestern – 296
7. Penn State – 267
8. Minnesota – 259
9. Iowa – 250
10. Michigan State – 102

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.

On day three of the 2021 Big Ten Men’s Championships, the top three teams are expected to play musical chairs after an explosive morning session. Both Michigan and Indiana are expected to jump current leader Ohio State in the team scores after both squads out-scored the Buckeyes by over 100 points. The Michigan Wolverines ended the morning session with a whooping 15 returning swims, 8 of which are in the A-final. Indiana also had 14 returning swims, with 6 in the A-final and a sextuplet of Hoosiers in the C finals (1-9 possible scoring points). In contrast, Ohio State only managed to score one swimmer in the A finals (22-32 points) and four swimmers in the B finals (11-20 points).

The Michigan men were dominant this morning, expecting to swim 3 Wolverines in the 400 IM A-final, 4 into the 200 free A-final, and sophomore River Wright in the 100 fly A-final (seeded second). In the long IM race, #3 seed Jared Daigle will lead a Wolverine trio, behind top seed Penn State’s Michael Daly (3:43.29). In the 200 free A-final, the Wolverines when 3-4-5-6 with a star-studded quartet of Patrick Callan, Gus Borges, Jake Mitchell, and Wyatt Davis.

Indiana also had a dominant 100 fly showing, picking up 4 Hoosiers into the top final. Sandwiching #2 seed Wright are top seed Tomer Frankel (45.08) and #3 seed Brendan Burns, along with teammates Van Mathias and Corey Gambardella. Frankel is also the second seed in the 200 free behind Ohio State’s lone A-finalist, Paul DeLakis (1:33.55).

DAY 3 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

DAY 3 SCORING EVENT BREAKDOWN

SCORED PRELIMS

1. Michigan – 270
2. Indiana – 226
3. Northwestern – 118
4. Ohio State – 113.5
5. Wisconsin – 91
6. Penn State – 88.5
7. Iowa – 81
8. Purdue – 67
9. Minnesota – 29
10. Michigan State – 2

As a result of Michigan’s second morning of returning 250+ points, the Wolverines are now expected to jump both Indiana and Ohio State for the narrow lead in the team scores by 22.5 points before the evening relay. Meanwhile, Iowa’s 5 B-finalists project them to pass Minnesota for 8th place.

CURRENT SCORES + SCORED PRELIMS

1. Michigan – 796
2. Indiana – 773.5
3. Ohio State – 741.5
4. Purdue – 481.5
5. Wisconsin – 436
6. Northwestern – 414
7. Penn State – 355.5
8. Iowa – 331
9. Minnesota – 288
10. Michigan State – 104