B1G Men Prelims: Whitaker & Toomey Highlight Session With New B1G Records

B1G MEN MEET DETAILS

(from our Big Ten men’s championship fan guide by Troy Gennaro)

• Dates: Wednesday, February 26th – Saturday, March 1st; prelims 11AM/Finals 6:30PM
• Location: Canham Natatorium, University of Michigan (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Michigan (3x) (results)
• Live Results: Swimming | Diving
  
• Live Video (If available): 
  
• Championship Central

After just two events last night, Michigan already leads by 16 points, with Ohio State sitting second, just two ahead of a Penn State squad that really showed up to swim early. Just two points back of the Nittany Lions is Indiana, and Wisconsin is just two back of them in an already-tight battle for the spots behind Michigan. Today we move into the first day of full competition, with the 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 freestyle schedule.

Finals tonight will include the 200 freestyle relay.

500 Freestyle

Michigan has six of the top eight qualifiers for tonights A final. The field is lead by Khalik Abdel, who dropped 7 seconds from his seed, to claim himself an A standard. His final time was 4:15.11 for this morning. Anders Nielsen is very close behind at 4:15.69 for second.

The 4:15’s keep rolling for Michigan with Connor Jaeger at fourth, 4:15.88, and Michael Wynalda at 4:15.91, for fifth. That was big a drop drop for Wynalda. As the 11 second seed time drop was for Sean Ryan, who is sixth for the Wolverines at 4:16.13. The final Michigan swimmer in the heat is Justin Glanda in eighth, 4:18.89.

Outside Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State have a swimmer each. Nicholas Caldwell is in third at 4:15.81. While PSU’s Nicolas Ankosko is seventh, 4:17.65.

The top five qualifiers are all just .8 apart, over a 20 lap race. Adding Ryan to that mix, it’s a 1 second spread between six men. This distance race just got a whole lot more exciting for tonight.

200 IM

The first record went down this morning as Kyle Whitaker of Michigan set a new B1G & Meet Record with a time of 1:41.14 in the preliminary heats of the 200IM. He broke Cody Miller’s 2013 record of 1:41.85.

Michigan and Indiana match each other with three swimmers a piece in the A final for tonight. Michigan has the top two seeds with Whitaker and Dylan Bosch, 1:42.21. The Wolverines also have sixth place with Peter Brumm, 1:45.00.

Indiana went 2-3-4 with Miller, 1:43.30, Stephen Schmuhl, 1:43.66, and Eric Ress, 1:44.00.

Bosch and Miller also swam under the A cut this morning. Minnesota and Penn State round of the seventh and eighth spots with Jakub Maly, 1:45.25, and Nathanie Savoy, 1:45.42.

50 Freestyle

Derek Toomey of Minnesota had his hands at a record as well. He tied the B1G & Meet Record with his time of 19.05 this morning; he tied former Minnesota swimmer Michael Richards 2011 record. To add to that, Toomey was the only A standard swimmer in the field this morning.

The field tonight will be a bit more “diverse” than the other two previous events. Minnesota has one, Penn State at two, OSU with their first A finalist of the night with two, Michigan, Purdue and Northwestern all got a swimmer into the mix tonight.

Shane Ryan is second for PSU, 19.44, with his teammate, John Hauser, eighth at 19.85. Bruno Ortiz is third for Michigan, 19.49. Daniel Tucker from Purdue is fourth, 19.63. Ohio State is fifth and sixth with Michael Disalle, 19.79, and Tim Phillips, 19.80. Chase Stephens tied Phillips for sixth for Northwestern, 19.80.

Even outside the top eight was close. Eighth, ninth and tenth place were all separated by just .01.