2022 Men’s B1G Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2022 MEN’S B1G SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 23-26, 2022
• Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center, West Lafayette, IN
• SCY (25 yards)
• Prelims at 10AM Eastern, Finals at 5:30PM Eastern
• Defending Champions: Michigan (2x)
• Championship Central
• Live Results
• Live Stream: DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4
• B1G Men’s Record Book
• 2021 Men’s B1G Champs Results

Thursday’s finals session features the first full night of racing at the 2022 Men’s B1G Swimming & Diving Championships. The 500 freestyle will feature a showdown of Michigan Olympians Patrick Callan and Jake Mitchell, who are seeded 4th (4:16.63) and 7th (4:18.10), respectively, but were well off their seed times this morning. Will they be able to catch top seed Jacob Newmark of Wisconsin, who dropped six seconds from his seed time to claim the middle lane tonight?

Indiana will have three swimmers in the 200 IM A-final tonight with Luke Barr leading the way seeded 4th (1:43.80). He’s followed by Van Mathias (1:44.18) in 5th, and Jacob Steele (1:44.45) in 6th. The 200 IM has the potential to keep Indiana’s momentum towards the top of the B1G team podium.

Tokyo Olympian Hunter Armstrong of Ohio State is seeded 1st in the 50 freestyle (19.02). The A-final will be a tight race with the seed times all within .54 seconds of each other. Armstrong sits just in front of teammate Semuede Andreis (19.19), who is the reigning B1G champion in this event. Michigan placed three swimmers in the A final: Cameron Peel (5th 19.40), Bence Szabados (6th 19.51), and William Chan (8th 19.56).

On the 1-Meter board, Indiana senior, Olympian, and B1G reigning champion Andrew Capobianco sits in 1st place (395.75). He’s 6.95 points ahead of Purdue Senior Greg Duncan (388.80). Ohio State has three divers competing in the A-final: Jacob Fielding (3rd 383.90), Joseph Canova (6th 375.35), and Lyle Yost (8th 349.00).

The 400 medley relay will likely be a showdown between Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State, who hold the top three seeds, respectively. Indiana won this event last year, and looks to defend its relay title, but this year’s lineup won’t include Zane Backes, who elected to end his swimming career early. In the 200 medley relay last night, Ohio State won in a new B1G meet record time with Indiana finishing 2nd, and Michigan touching just behind for 3rd.

Men’s 500 Freestyle

• NCAA A standard: 4:11.62
• NCAA B standard: 4:23.34
• B1G meet record: 4:09.29, 2/22/2018 Felix O Auboeck, Michigan

Top 3

1. Jacob Newmark, Wisconsin (4:12.43)
2. Jake Mitchell, Michigan (4:12.88)
3. Charles Clark, Ohio State (4:13.77)

Jacob Newmark of Wisconsin held on for the win, defeating Olympian and reigning B1G Champion Jake Mitchell. Newmark, who dropped six-seconds from his seed time this morning, shaved off another 1.62 seconds in the finals. Last year, Newmark won the B-final at B1G championships (4:17.72). Newmark’s swim puts him just a half-second off of the Wisconsin school record.

This marks the 3rd time in B1G history that Wisconsin has won a 500 freestyle title. Previous Wisconsin winners are Matthew Hutchins in 2015, and Aaron Gabriel in 1984.

Mitchell charged home with a 24.26 seconds final 50, but it wasn’t enough to close on Newmark. Last year, Mitchell won the B1G title in 4:12.92 seconds. Clark rounded out the podium after finishing 4th last year (4:17.74). He held off Minnesota freshman Bar Soloveychik (4:13.77), who charged home in 24.34 seconds and dropped almost two-seconds from his prelims swim en-route to breaking his school record.

In 5th was Newmark’s teammate, freshman Yigit Aslan (4:15.20), who finished in-front of last year’s runner up, Patrick Callan of Michigan (4:16.72). In 2021, Callan posted a 4:13.10 to finish behind his teammate, Mitchell.

Touching 7th was Warren Briggs of Indiana (4:17.65), who is competing in his 1st B1G Championships after transferring from Pitt. In 8th was Minnesota sophomore James Freeman (4:18.37), who dropped .65 seconds off his time this morning, after dropping five-seconds from his seed time in prelims.

Men’s 200 IM

• NCAA A standard: 1:41.34
• NCAA B standard: 1:46.77
• B1G meet record: 1:41.05  2/28/2019 Vinicius M Lanza, Indiana

Top 3

1. Gal Cohen Groumi, Michigan (1:41.54)
2. Alex Quach, Ohio State (1:42.47)
3. Jared Daigle, Michigan (1:43.63)

Two freshman led the way in the 200 IM tonight. Gal Cohen Groumi of Michigan held on to the 1st place seed tonight claiming his first individual B1G title by almost one-second over Alex Quach of Ohio State. Groumi took the lead after the breaststroke leg, which propelled Michigan to 1st and 3rd place points in the event.

Groumi’s teammate Jared Daigle touched just ahead of Wisconsin’s Wesley Jekel (1:43.68), who took the race out the quickest at the 100, but faded to 4th on the back half. Jekel was 3rd in the 200 IM last year (1:43.78), where he also was in 1st at the 100 mark, and then finished 3rd. Wisconsin also picked up 5th place points with Caleb Aman (1:43.72), who was 6th in this event last year (1:44.47).

Indiana swept 6th, 7th, and 8th, with Jacob Steele (1:44.31), Luke Barr (1:44.56), and Van Mathias (1:45.00), respectively. Mathias was 2nd in this event in 2021 (1:43.61), while Steele was 8th (1:44.44).

Men’s 50 Freestyle

• NCAA A standard: 18.96
• NCAA B standard: 19.96
• B1G meet record: 18.69, 2018 Bowen Becker, Minnesota

Top 3

1. Hunter Armstrong, Ohio State (18.93)
2. Semuede Andreis, Ohio State (19.15)
3. Victor Baganha, Penn State (19.18)

Armstrong and Andreis picked up big points for Ohio State with a 1-2 finish. Armstrong’s time breaks his own Ohio State school record, The previous record stood at 19.04 seconds from 2021, but Armstrong broke that in prelims when he posted a 19.02. This is Armstrong’s 2nd B1G title of these championships, after leading off the winning and record setting 200 medley relay last night, which Andreis anchored. Andreis was the reigning B1G Champion in this event, winning in 19.05 seconds last year.

Freshman Victor Baganha picked up Penn State’s first podium finish of these championships. Bruno Blaskovic, a 5th year at Indiana, who won this event at the 2020 B1G Championships (18.97), took 4th (19.43). In 2021, Blaskovic did not compete in B1G Championships or NCAA Championships due to an injury.

Michigan took 5th, 6th, and 8th place with Cameron Peel (19.44) Bence Szabados (19.46), and William Chan (19.67) respectively. Peel was 10th in this event last year (19.60), while Chan was 13th (19.73).

Indiana senior Jack Franzman finished 7th (19.60) after placing 2nd (19.14) last year. As a sophomore in 2020, Franzman was 6th (19.46). He was 12th (19.74) in 2020 as a freshman.

Men’s 1-Meter Diving

• B1G meet record: 493.60, 2018 Michael Hixon, Indiana

Top 3

1. Andrew Capobianco, Indiana (454.25)
2. Quinn Henninger, Indiana (435.95)
3. Tyler Downs, Purdue (427.55)

Tokyo Olympian Andrew Capobianco of Indiana defended his B1G Championship title on the 1-meter board. Last year, he won with 437.35 points. As a sophomore in 2019, he was 2nd with 458.90 points, after placing 9th as a freshman (414.85) in 2018. Capobianco led a 1-2 finish for Indiana along with freshman Quinn Henninger.

Finishing in 3rd was Tyler Downs, a freshman from Purdue, who finished just ahead of 4th place teammate, senior Greg Duncan (416.05). In 2021, Duncan was 12th (300.65). Ohio State took 5th, 6th, and 7th place with seniors Jacob Fielding (397.35) and Jospeh Canova (396.55), and junior Lyle Yost (384.50). Last year, Yost was 3rd (388.35) Canova was 4th (380.25) and Fielding was 6th (367.70).

Taking 8th was Wisconsin senior Tazman Abramowicz (360.45). Last year, Wisconsin did not have any divers compete in the finals. Their highest finisher was Abramowicz, who was 18th (279.85) in 2021.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

• NCAA A standard: 3:05.47
• NCAA B standard: 3:07.53
• B1G meet record: 3:01.30, 2018, Indiana

Top 3

1. Indiana (3:00.95)
2. Ohio State (3:01.44)
3. Wisconsin (3:05.09)

After taking 2nd place in the 200 medley relay last night, Indiana won its 4th consecutive B1G title in the 400 medley relay in meet record time. The winning lineup featured Brendan Burns (44.43), Josh Matheny (50.76), Tomer Frankel (44.55), and Rafael Miroslaw (41.21).

Armstrong had the quickest backstroke split in the field for Ohio State (44.36), which breaks the B1G meet record, puts him 1st in the NCAA this year, and makes him the 10th fastest performer in history. Freshman Quach put up an impressive fly split (44.17), which was the quickest in the field. However, Indiana took the lead after the breaststroke. After Indiana and Ohio State finished, there was a battle for 3rd place between Wisconsin, Michigan (3:05.44), and Northwestern (3:05.87). Last year, Michigan was 2nd (3:03.16), Wisconsin was 5th (3:06.39), and Northwestern was 8th (3:07.80).

Taking 6th was Penn State (3:06.36) in a school-record time. The relay was propelled by freshman Baganha‘s fly split (44.97). In 2021, Penn State finished 9th (3:08.38). Finishing in 7th was Purdue, after finishing 4th last year (3:05.92).

Minnesota was disqualified after an early take-off from swimmer #3, Kaiser Neverman. After two relay disqualifications on Wednesday night, the B1G has turned off reaction times from appearing in the meet results. Prior to the disqualification, Max McHugh had the fastest breaststroke split in the field (50.51).

Team Scores After Day 2:

1. Ohio State, 487.5
2. Indiana, 449
3. Michigan, 408
4. Purdue, 288.5
5. Wisconsin, 278
6. Northwestern, 236
7. Penn State, 230
8. Minnesota, 179