Big Ten Weekend Recap: Ress Puts Up Top Time Nationally in Loaded Big Ten Weekend

The Big Ten, which is one of the biggest swimming conference in the country, had a typically loaded weekend. Both the Indiana men and women impressed me this week in big wins. We also got our first glimpse of the massive Michigan freshman class. Our Big Ten weekly awards go to:

Big Ten Male Swimmer of the week: Eric Ress (Indiana)

Big Ten Female Swimmer of the week: Amy Modglin (Penn State)

Iowa Men & Women Top Young Spartans

Iowa topped the Michigan State in a joint dual on Friday in Lansing, Michigan. The men’s score was 175-125, and the women’s was 181-119, both in favor of the Hawkeyes.

• On the women’s side, Iowa got a great early-season swim from Danielle Carty, who went a 57.18 to take the 100 back.
• Michigan State’s women went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle from Tori Merritt and Summer Strickler, both in 53-lows.
• The Iowa women swept the relays, though Michigan State’s A-200 medley would have won by a good 3-seconds were it not for a DQ.
• On the men’s side, the star of the meet was Jacob Jarzen from Michigan State in a losing effort. He put up the 8^th-best time nationally in both the 100 fly (48.91) and 100 back (49.60). He outdid those efforts with the second best time in the nation in the 200 back (1:47.66) and has established himself as a contender for Big Ten swimmer of the year.
• We got the Jarzen-Paul Gordon matchup that we were anticipating. In the 100 fly, Jarzen out-touched Gordon, who finished in 49.10. Gordon’s time stands as 11^th best in the country. Gordon also went a 1:39.75 in the 200 free, which is 12^th best in the country.

Complete results through the Michigan State website.

Indiana Sweeps Wildcat Duals Behind Several Top-15 Swims

The Indiana Hoosiers Men and Women’s teams knocked off Northwestern in Bloomington on Friday 159-131 (men) and 158.5-135.5 (women). They also topped Kentucky on Saturday by scores of 155-126 (men) and 156-129 (women). The combined Indiana teams put up 18 top-15 swims between the two meets.

• Indiana’a Eric Ress dominated the backstroke events against Northwestern on the men’s side. In the 100, he went a 49.11, good for 6^th best in the country, and a 1:47.39 in the 200 back, which is the best time in the nation so far this season.
• There was a great four-way showdown in the 400 IM in the Indiana-Northwestern meet, resulting in the 5^th, 6^th, 8^th, and 9^th best times in the country. Northwestern took top honors in the event, with sophomore Charlie Rimkus just missing the four-minute mark at 4:00.01.
• Kentucky’s only swimming event wins came in the 100 breaststroke, where Matt Russell swam a 57.54, and the 200 medley relay, where they went a 1:32.3. That time is top-20 in the nation this season and their best chance to return a relay to the NCAA finals. They also won 3-meter diving in a very close competition, with Greg Ferrucci nipping Indiana’s Zach Nees by just over 2 points.
• Titus Knight put up two great freestyle swims against Northwestern, with a 45.22 in the 100 free and a 1:39.16 in the 200. If he keeps swimming like that, the Indiana relays could be dangerous this season.

• On the women’s side, Indiana demonstrated why they are a top-10 contender this year. Allysa Vavra is emerging as one of the best combo IM’ers in the country, with a win in the 200 against Kentucky (2:02.43, sixth best in the country) and the 400 against Indiana (4:09.37, fourth best in the country).
• The Indiana freshmen class that I was very excited about announced their presence in a big way. Lindsay Vrooman won the 1000 against Northwestern in 10:06.19, the 15^th-best time in Indiana History. She even bested Indiana distance star Nikki White, who went a 10:08 for second.
• Sara Delay showed that Indiana’s sprinters are now viable on the NCAA level by tying Northwestern’s Taylor Reynolds in the 50 free at 23.88, just ahead of Wildcat Jackie Powell, who touched at 23.90. She also anchored the 200 medley relay to a win in 23.05.
• Despite a freestyle-heavy class, Indiana still has work to do in the 400 free relays. They lost that relay against both Kentucky and Northwestern.

Results from the Northwestern meet are available here, and the results from Kentucky are available here.

Virginia Tech, Penn State Split Lopsided Meets

The Virginia Tech men dominated Penn State 181.5-118.5, and the Nittany Lions returned the favor on the women’s side with a 187-113 victory.

• The race of the meet was the men’s 200 backstroke. Penn State’s Jeff Gomez sat behind a trio of Hokies headed into the last 50, but split a great final 50 of 27.65 to shoot past all of them, including Tom Sheranek by .01 seconds.
• Charlie Higgins had a great swim in the 100 back for Virginia Tech with a 49.95. The Hokies look like they could be surprisingly good this year.
• Penn State’s Mitch Scherer swept the breaststroke events, including a 2:04.9 in the 200 breaststroke.

• Penn State’s Amy Modglin was a middle-distance machine, as she won three individual events for Penn State: the 200 free, 200 back, and 200 IM. Her best time was a 1:58.82 in the backstroke, which is just off of her season best.
• Her lone defeat came in the 500 freestyle, where Virginia Tech’s Erika Hajnal knocked her off with a swift 4:51.82. That time is 14^th best in the nation this year.

Full results are available from the Penn State website here.

Michigan Men Dominate Notre Dame, Oakland

The Michigan 20-strong freshmen class had a very successful debut in dual wins over Notre Dame and Oakland (MI). They led Michigan to a pair of victories with scores of 172-120 (Notre Dame) and 185-105 (Oakland).

• Kyle Whitaker announced his presence with authority by taking the 200 IM in 1:50.34. This blew away two great times from the Fighting Irish from Michael Sullivan and Bill Bass, who both went 1:52’s. Whitakers time is 5^th best in the nation, and Sullivan’s is 12^th.
• Another Michigan freshman, Sean Ryan, went a 9:18.46 in the 1000, good for the 7^th best time in the nation. He was followed closely by sophomore teammate Ryan Feeley, who went a 9:19.32 (tenth best).
• Michigan’s Miguel Ortiz, another young sophomore, swept the sprint freestyles with times of 20.62/45.34. Both times are in the top 20 in the nation. If Michigan’s young freshmen and sophomores continue to perform like this, this program will be a contender again much sooner rather than later.
• Notre Dame and Oakland both had very good 400 free relay times of 3:03.71 and 3:03.91, which sit in the top 15 in the country this season.
• Notre Dame’s Eric Lex had an impressive performance in sweeping the 1 and 3-meters.
• Notre Dame nipped Oakland in the third leg of the triangle 166-132.

Complete results are available here from the Michigan website.

Michigan Women Take Down Toledo

The Michigan women beat the Toledo women in Toledo 182.5-112.5 on the strength of superior depth. Michigan exhibitioned the last two events of the meet.

• Senior Natasha Moodie lived up to billing as Michigan’s new leader, after big graduations, by sweeping the freestyle events, though neither time was great.
• Adrienne Bicek, went a season best of 10 minutes on the dot in the 1000. She was one of two swimmers across the nation to exactly nail the ten minute mark (freshman Shannon Vreeland of Georgia is the other), which stands as the 10^th best time in the country this year. The year of ’10 could be a lucky one for the sophomore.
• Toledo’s only victories on the day came from Laura Lindsay, who swept the breaststrokes.

Results are available here from the Toledo website.