2022 Big Ten Women’s Swimming Championships – Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2022 B1G WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 16 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
• Where: Madison, Wis. – Soderholm Family Aquatic Center
• Defending Champion: Ohio State (2x) (2021 Results)
• Championships Central
• Live Results
• Streaming: DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4
• Championships Central
• Prelims: 10 am, Finals: 5:30 pm (Central), (Wednesday night relays begin at 5 pm)

Women’s 200 Medley Relay – Timed Final

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.40
• Big Ten Championship Record: Indiana, 2018 – 1:34.16
• Big Ten Conference Record: Indiana, 2018 – 1:33.89
• 2021 Champion: Ohio State, 1:34.46

Top 3:

1. Ohio State – 1:33.64
2. Michigan – 1:34.69
3. Northwestern – 1:35.23

The Ohio State women, underestimated en route to the last two Big Ten Championships, have come out swinging this week in Madison.

The Buckeyes began their hunt for a threepeat with a new Big Ten Championship Record of 1:33.64, clearing out the 2018 record fo 1:34.16 set by Lilly King and the Indiana Hoosiers.

That also breaks the overall Big Ten Record of 1:33.89 that was set later that season at the 2018 NCAA Championships by the same Indiana relay.

The standout split was a 25.51 breaststroke leg for junior Hannah Bach. That is the third-fastest breaststroke split on a medley relay in history, behind only two Lilly King swims. She was joined by Emily Crane (23.77), KitKat Zenick (22.73), and freshman Teresa Ivan (21.63) in the win.

Michigan finished in 2nd place in 1:34.69, with a pair of freshmen on their relay. That included a 23.48 leadoff swim from Maggie MacNeil, who is the World Record holder in the 50 backstroke in short course meters. At last year’s Big Tens, she split 23.02 to lead off this relay, which is the best time ever in that leg.

Northwestern finished 3rd in the relay in 1:35.23. After placing 6th in this relay in 2019, that’s a third-straight top 3 finish for the Wildcats.

The top five teams, including Wisconsin (1:36.22), hit the NCAA “A” standard. Minnesota finished 6th, missing the standard by .01 seconds.

Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 7:00.86
• Big Ten Championship Record: Michigan, 2019 – 6:54.58
• Big Ten Conference Record: Michigan, 2018 – 6:50.03
• Defending Champion: Michigan – 7:02.22

The Ohio State women finished day 1 of the Big Ten Championships undefeated, topping the 800 free relay in 6:58.17. That is the Buckeyes’ first Big Ten title since 1991

That time took a second-and-a-half off Ohio State’s School Record in the 800 free, which has stood since 2019. The last two legs of this year’s winning relay were also on that 2019 relay – 5th years Kristen Romano (1:44.18) and Katherine Trace (1:44.86)

They were joined by junior Amy Fulmer, who had the fastest split in the entire field, leadoff or not, in 1:43.46, while freshman Paige Hall split 1:45.67 on the second leg of the race.

It was Romano’s 1:44.18 that pulled Ohio State ahead of runners-up Indiana (6:58.60), and Trace brought them home to victory.

Indiana got a 1:43.53 leadoff from freshman Anna Peplowski in her first Big Ten Championship relay. Her best time coming into the meet was a mid-season 1:44.34, and she entered Indiana with a best time of 1:47, meaning that she dropped almost four seconds already in the race in her freshman year.

Michigan was 3rd, including a 1:43.95 anchor from Olivia Carter, who pulled double relay duty on Wednesday. Of the four 1:43 splits in the field, three were on leadoff legs. That includes senior Lillie Hosack of Wisconsin’s 4th-place relay. She split 1:43.84, which was her first time sub-1:44.

Day 1 Team Scores

1. Ohio State – 128
2. Michigan – 110
3. Indiana – 108
4. Northwestern – 104
5. Wisconsin – 102
6. Minnesota – 96
7. Rutgers – 90
8. Penn State – 86
9. Nebraska – 84
10. Purdue – 68
11. Illinois – 64
12. Iowa – 60