Maggie MacNeil Finishes Big Ten Championships with 100 Free Conference Record

2020 WOMEN’S B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming & Diving
• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm (6pm Saturday)
• Where: Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, Iowa City, Iowa (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana University Hoosiers (1x) (results)
• Live Results
• Streaming: Big Ten Network
• Championship Central: here
• Fan Guide
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
• Day 4 Prelims Recap

It was a record-breaking meet for Michigan sophomore Maggie MacNeil this weekend in Iowa City. On Saturday, she closed that meet with a Big Ten Record (conference and championship) in the women’s 100 free, winning the final in 46.57 and setting another NCAA “Automatic” Qualifying Time.

MacNeil broke the University of Michigan and Big Ten Records in the 100 yard freestyle that were both previously held by Siobhan Haughey in 46.64 from the 2019 NCAA Championships. Haughey also held the old Championship Record of 47.06 from last year’s Big Ten meet.

MacNeil set the Big Ten Championship Record in the 100 fly this week in 49.42 as well, though was still short of her tied-for-best-ever time of 49.26 set earlier this season at the Minnesota Invite. She also had the fastest-ever 50 yard backstroke in a 200 medley relay leadoff.

MacNeil was one of two Michigan Wolverines to set Big Ten Records on the final day of competition, along with teammate Olivia Carter, who swam 1:53.28 in the 200 fly. In spite of the records, it was Ohio State that used overwhelming depth at the meet to cruise to a 197-point margin of victory.

MacNeil is already having a better season this year than her prior history-making freshman season, but her end-of-season planning is a little more complicated than most of her competitors. That’s because the women’s NCAA Championship meet, which will be held from March 18th-21st,  will finish only 9 days before the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials in Toronto.

While in her specialty event, the 100 fly, where she’s the defending World Champion, MacNeil has about 2 seconds of cushion before she’d be in danger of losing a spot on the team, if she wants to expand her schedule at all from there, the slots get more competitive.

2019 Canadian Ranking:

Women’s 50 Free

1. Kayla Sanchez, 25.31
2. Hanna Henderson, 25.33
3. Maggie MacNeil, 25.40
4. Taylor Ruck/Sarah Fournier, 25.45

Women’s 100 Free

1. Taylor Ruck – 53.03
2. Penny Oleksiak – 53.60
3. Kayla Sanchez – 53.61
4. Maggie MacNeil – 54.51
5. Rebecca Smith – 54.82

While MacNeil is young enough to bounce back quickly after NCAAs, and has shown the ability to swim fast at off-meets before, Swimming Canada is loaded with young talent that will be hungry to chase Olympic spots, making this year’s Trials meets rather unpredictable.