2015 Men’s B1G Championships: Day 3 Prelims Heat Sheet Preview

We continue Day 3 of the B1G Championships with a monster line-up of events on today’s agenda, which includes the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke.  The Michigan Wolverines currently hold a 70 point lead over Indiana University after yesterday’s Finals, but look for the Hoosiers to fire off some big guns in Steve Schmuhl and Anze Tavcar, among others. Ohio State and Wisconsin will also look for their key players to step up, with Matt McHugh and Josh Fleagle trying to wrangle in some Buckeye points, while Cannon Clifton, Drew Teduits and last night’s big winner Matthew Hutchins make a move for the Badgers.

2015 B1G MEN’s CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 25th to Saturday, February 28th
• University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium, Iowa City, IA
• Defending Champions: Michigan (results)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Friday Morning Timeline/Heat Sheets

EVENT ORDER

Friday

•  400 IM
•  100 Butterfly
•  200 Freestyle
•  100 Breaststroke
•  100 Backstroke
•  3-mtr Diving

HEAT SHEET PREVIEW

400 IM – 5 of the 8 men from last year’s B1G 400 IM Final are back at it this year, with Minnesota sophomore Jakub Maly holding the top seed in 3:44.60, sitting 14th in the NCAA’s rankings.  Dylan Bosch, the Wolverine who was runner-up in the event last year, is leading heat 5 with the 2nd-seeded time just three tenths behind Maly in 3:44.92. That time currently ranks Bosch 18th in the NCAA.  Three additional seniors from last year’s finals will try to take tonight’s title, Hoosier Steve Schmuhl, Buckeye Tamas Gercsak and Boilermaker Guillermo Blanco will attempt to put forth just the right amount of effort in today’s prelims to set themselves up for a title-winning finals swim tonight.

100 Butterfly – The NCAA’s top times in this event are situated in the Big 12 and SEC conferences with the likes of Caeleb Dressel, Joseph Schooling, Jack Conger and Arther Medes leading the nation with sub-46 swims.  In fact, only one swimmer in the B1G has logged a time within the NCAA’s top 25 swims of the season so far, and he sits as the top seed on today’s heat sheets.  Iowa’s Jerzy Twarowski snagged a 46.70 back in December and will lead the field this morning on his mission to earn Iowa its first B1G title of this year’s championships.  Last night’s 200 IM runner-up, Wolverine Evan White, seems locked and loaded to give this event his best shot (4th-seeded in 47.36), as does Minnesota sophomore Daryl Turner, who holds the number two seed with a time of 47.10.  Pete Brumm from Michigan is also in the mix, in the middle of heat 4 with a seed-time just one tenth behind Turner in 47.11.

200 Free – We should see an exciting chess match between Josh Fleagle (Ohio State, 1:34.33) and Blake Pieroni (Indiana,1:34.55 ), as the #1 and #2 200 freestyle seeds try to strategize this morning’s race to earn the pole position for tonight’s final.  Each would give his school its first individual win of this year’s championships, which is in itself is huge motivation going into Day 3.  Pieroni’s teammate Anze Tavcar will be looking to improve upon his 10th place finish from his 50 freestyle yesterday and Michigan’s Anders Nielsen will also perhaps be seeking redemption from his at-the-wall loss to Wisconsin’s Matthew Hutchins in the 500 free.  Hutchins will also be grinding away in this race, positioned in the 6th heat with a time of 1:36.86, so we’ll see if he can continue a time drop streak in this shorter distance.

100 Breaststroke – Michigan’s Richard Funk currently holds the NCAA’s 8th-fastest time in this event, an NCAA B time of 52.36, which gives him the top-seeded position for today’s race.  His Wolverine teammate Bruno Ortiz is today’s 2nd seed, with his 52.71 time giving him the middle of the pool for heat 4.  Purdue’s Lyam Dias (52.81) and Iowa’s Roman Trussov (52.98) are the only other sub-53-seeded swimmers, but Indiana’s Tanner Kurz is right on their heels with his 53.38, as is Ohio State’s DJ MacDonald (53.68) who will race right next to Funk in the final prelims heat.

100 Backstroke – This is today’s second individual event in which Iowa holds the top seed, with senior Grant Betulius swimming in heat 6, lane 4 with an entry time of 45.56 – the only NCAA automatic qualifying time of the field – which gives him about a half second advantage over 2nd-seeded Shane Ryan from Penn State (46.26).  Ryan was last year’s B1G champion, winning the event in a swift 45.13.  He and teammate Nate Savoy, who finished 2nd in that race, were the only 2 swimmers to dip under the 46.0-mark.  Savoy will also be representing the Nittany Lion contingent in today’s race, seeded 46.46, and swimming next to last year’s 5th place finisher, Drew Teduits from Wisconsin (47.45).