Natalie Schumann is covering the Big Ten Championships for us this week. She is a journalism major at Indiana.
500 Freestyle
Michigan held on tight to their seeds from the prelims, but tonight Connor Jaeger took the B1G title with a time of 4:13.44, ahead of third place teammate Anders Nielsen (4:14.15). Jaeger, who placed fifth at last year’s NCAA meet with a 4:15.67, dropped nearly three seconds from prelims to finals. Nielsen has also proven himself to be a valuable asset to the Wolverines after enrolling at Michigan and joining the team in January, just a month and a half ago.
Wisconsin’s Michael Weiss defended his second place slot, finishing just ahead of Nielsen with a 4:14.07. Weiss dropped over two seconds from prelims to finals, breaking up Michigan’s powerful quartet of finalists. He placed 15th at NCAA’s last year with a time of 4:18.67.
Finishing out the top eight were Michigan’s Michael Wynalda (4:16.83), Indiana’s James Barbiere (4:16.84), Michigan’s Sean Ryan (4:17.48), Ohio State’s Alex Miller (4:18.70), and Penn State’s Nicholas Ankosko (4:20.28).
200 Individual Medley
Indiana’s Cody Miller atop the awards podium for the 200 IM
In a heat composed of only swimmers from the two top-scoring teams of the meet thus far, Indiana’s Cody Miller was victorious. As soon as the breaststroke leg began, Miller emerged as the leader of the pack. He finished with a time of 1:41.85, setting a new pool record, school record and B1G Meet Record (previously set by Tyler Clary in 2010). Miller’s time is the second-fastest time in B1G history behind Clary’s 1:41.67. He is also the defending B1G champion in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
Michigan’s Dylan Bosch (1:42.59) and defending B1G champion Kyle Whitaker (1:42.61) finished second and third, followed by teammates John Wojciechowski (1:44.87, sixth) and Peter Brumm (1:47.27, eighth).
Indiana’s other finalists brought home major points for the Hoosiers, with Steve Schmuhl in fourth (1:43.65), Eric Ress in fifth (1:43.92), and Mike Hurley in seventh (1:45.31).
50 Freestyle
Michigan snuck onto the top of the podium once again, as sophomore Bruno Ortiz claimed first with a 19.27, a tenth faster than last year’s top time. His teammates Zach Turk (19.49, fifth) and brother Miguel Ortiz (19.76, eighth) added another 25 points to Michigan’s score.
After an impressive morning swim, Minnesota’s Derek Toomey fell two spots but still finished third with a time of 19.42. Purdue commanded attention with second and seventh place finishes. Daniel Tucker finished ahead of Toomey with a 19.35, and Charles Destro finished seventh with a time of 19.69. Ohio State’s defending B1G champion Jason Schnur (19.44, fourth) and Indiana’s lone finalist Daniel Kanorr (19. 54, sixth) rounded out the top eight.
1-Meter Springboard Diving
With five divers among the top eight finalists, Indiana collected 70 points total, considerably adding to their overall team score. Junior standout Darian Schmidt finished with a score of 432.15, nearly 30 points ahead of Ohio State’s second place finisher Shane Miszkiel. Purdue’s Alec Back finished third, followed by Minnesota’s Manny Pollard and Indiana’s Mick Dell’Orco, Casey Johnson, Conor Murphy and Bryce Ogden. Michigan did not have any divers qualify for finals.
400 Medley Relay
One disqualification in a conference meet relay final is devastating enough. Two in the same heat, eliminating the second and third place finishers, is an entirely different story. Indiana would have finished second but was disqualified for a double dolphin kick during the breaststroke leg. Penn State, the third place candidate, was disqualified for an early exchange. Instantly, Ohio State’s and Iowa’s relays moved up to claim the second and third spots along with the prized team points.
Michigan was again dominant, touching the wall in a pool record time of 3:05.42 with an impressive freestyle split from 50 Freestyle champion Bruno Ortiz (41.99). Their time tonight would have been top three at last year’s NCAA championship meet. Wisconsin (3:10.29, fourth), Purdue (3:11.12, fifth), Minnesota (3:12.65, sixth), Northwestern (3:13.34, seventh), and Michigan State (3:14.42, eighth) scored the remaining points in the night’s last event.
Day 3
Michigan holds the top team spot after the second day of competition. Even with a relay disqualification, Indiana’s performances in the pool and on the springboard have preserved their second place ranking. Tomorrow brings interesting individual races, specifically the 100 Butterfly, as well as 3-meter springboard diving and the always-exciting 200 Freestyle relay.
Team rankings through day 2:
1. University of Michigan 316
2. Indiana University 237
3. Ohio State University 170
4. Purdue University 144
5. University of Minnesota 133
6. University of Wisconsin 101
7. University of Iowa 86
8. Pennsylvania State University 75
9. Northwestern University 70
10. Michigan State University 60
Love the pants, but why do I have the song “Sweet Georgia Brown” in my head now? 🙂
Nice coverage by Natalie Schumann!
Don’t dis the classic standard IU pants please! Didn’t you see Cody Zeller wearing his pair on the cover of Sports Illustrated recently?? Gheesh. Best in the world, I say.
What’s with the circus sweat pants for Indiana?