Bosch Breaks Big Ten Record in 200 Fly, Dances with 1:39 in Prelims at Big Tens

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

So with one more night remaining, Michigan now leads the team scores by nearly 200. Indiana fell briefly behind Ohio State, but used diving to nab second place again by 12. That battle will be the one to watch tomorrow with Michigan all but checked out in first place at this point.

Penn State sits a solid fourth, ahead of Purdue and Minnesota, who dropped off a little on that relay DQ at the beginning of the night but have rallied back into the hunt and passed up Wisconsin by just 1 point.

This morning will include the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. The timed finals of the 1650 will begin this afternoon, with the top 8 swimming in finals.

200 Backstroke

The defending NCAA Champion Drew TeDuitsfrom Wisconsin will have a big battle to defend his national title in a few weeks, but on Saturday it looks like he’s going to get a big challenge for this Big Ten title as well. He will have the advantage of the center lane with a 1:40.23 for the top seed, but a pair of Indiana Hoosiers are nipping at his heels.

Eric Ress, another NCAA title contender in the race, is the 2nd seed in 1:40.39, and James Wells is 3rd in 1:41.33.

Penn State’s Nate Savoy is 4th in 1:41.42; his teammate Shane Ryan didn’t swim the 200 back, choosing to focus on the 100 free instead.

Ohio State’s Connor McDonald, who already has his NCAA qualification well secured, is 5th in 1:41.93, and Michigan’s Ryutaro Kamiya pushed closer to locking up his as well with a 1:42.20. That time for Kamiya is fater than he was last season, where he placed 19th at NCAA’s – one of the few races where Michigan didn’t score en route to a team national title.

Rounding out the A final is Dustin Rhoads from Iowa (1:42.94) and Steven Zimmerman from Ohio State (1:43.18). That’s big for the Buckeyes to get two into the A-final as they battle Indiana for 2nd place in the team standings.

100 Freestyle

Minnesota’s Derek Toomey has his sights set on defense of a second sprint title this week, and he took the top seed in prelims of the 100 free in 42.42. That broke his own Meet Record from last year of 42.60, and was within a tenth of Matt Grevers’ Big Ten Record.

Joining him under the old Meet Record is USA Swimming National Teamer Shane Ryan of Penn State, who was 2nd in 42.46. Michigan’s Bruno Ortiz was 3rd in 42.67, and those three are the big favorites in focus headed into finals.

Ohio State, though, got a great swim from Michael Disalle with a 43.01 – which is good news for them after graduating a lot of sprint depth after last season. Also for the Buckeyes, Josh Fleagle tied for the 5th seed with Michigan’s Michael Wynalda in 43.29.

Purdue’s Danny Tucker dropped a second off of his seed with a 43.30 for 7th, and Northwestern’s Chase Stephens was 8th in 43.41.

200 Breaststroke

Indiana’s Cody Miller vaulted to 5th in the country this year nationally with a 1:53.78 in the men’s 200 breaststroke on Saturday morning, which also gives him the top seed and center lane for finals.

Next to him will be Purdue’s Liam Dias, who swam very fast in his first 100 yards and is the 2nd seed in 1:54.43, and Michigan’s Richard Funk, who was 3rd in 1:54.88.

Miller is well off of the time he swam last year to break the Big Ten Record at last year’s meet (over two seconds), so look for him to either pop in finals, or we can guess he’s saving a lot for NCAA’s.

Wisconsin’s Nicholas Schaefer is the 4th seed in 1:55.33, and Matt McNamara from Michigan is 5th in 1:55.81. Rounding out the top 8 are Indiana’s Donald Hurley (1:56.73), Ohio State’s Daniel Macdonald (1:56.98), and Michigan’s Christopher Klein (1:57.00).

200 Butterfly

Michigan’s Dylan Bosch is a runaway favorite to win his second-straight Big Ten title (as just a sophomore) in the men’s 200 fly, as he threw down a 1:40.37 in prelims for the top seed by two seconds. That demolished his old Big Ten Record of 1:41.1 set at last year’s meet.

Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker was 2nd in 1:42.44, and Indiana’s Stephen Schmuhl was 3rd in 1:43.55. Schmuhl has been good all year long for the Hoosiers, and now settled into his primary events like the 200 fly (not having to worry about medley relays as he’d been doing all year long) his times are dropping quick.

Peter Brumm from Michigan is 4th in 1:44.03, and Minnesota’s Kyler van Swol is 5th in 1:44.44.

Minnesota got two guys into this A-final, with freshman Nick Orf sitting 6th in 1:44.75. Michigan, however, got four with John Wojciechowski 7th in 1:45.06.

Tamas Gercsak from Ohio State rounds out tonight’s championship final with a 1:45.35.