Finnerty, Lanza Lead IU to Men’s B1G Title One Last Time

BIG TEN – MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2
• University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
• Champion: Indiana (2x)
• Live results
• Championship Central

FINAL SCORES

1. Indiana: 1705
2. Michigan: 1464
3. Ohio State: 1243.5
4. Purdue: 744.5
5. Minnesota: 726
6. Wisconsin: 593.5
7. Penn State: 563.5
8. Iowa: 560
9. Northwestern: 378
10. Michigan State: 209

IU got it done for a 3rd year in a row, taking the men’s Big Ten title this past weekend. IU showed off some of the most versatile talent around, scoring a minimum of 50 points in every single event. Also of note, as we’ve seen from several of the conference champions so far, every IU athlete scored points at the meet. The Hoosiers couldn’t have asked for a better group of veteran seniors to lead them to to the conference title and into the NCAAs at the end of the month. Highlighting that list of seniors are Ian Finnerty, Vini Lanza, James Connor, and althoug it’s only his first season with the team, Zach Apple.

All four of the above names are among the best in the NCAA in their respective disciplines. Finnerty, defending NCAA champion in both breaststrokes, swept the breaststroke events in record fashion this past weekend. Lanza, one of the fastest returners in the NCAA in the butterflies and 200 IM, won the IM and 200 fly, and came in 2nd in a tight race for the 100 fly. Connor was an NCAA finalist in both board diving events, and swept both the 1m and 3m this past weekend. Apple, in his first and last B1G Champs, won the 200 free for the Hoosiers. Apple is among a competitve list of NCAA title contenders in the sprint free events.

While the seniors were rock-solid at the meet, it was actually the IU sophomores who scored the 2nd most points out of any class from any team at the meet. Bruno Blaskovic, Andrew Capobianco, and Gabriel Fantoni were all sophomores that scored 77+ points.

Additionally, IU was helped by a group of freshmen that really did their part to deliver the victory. Freshmen Michael Brinegar, Mikey Calvillo, Zane Backes, and Van Mathias each scored 50+ points for the Hoosiers, while Jack Franzman contributed 44, and Jakub Karl, Brandon Hamblin and Cole VanDevender each scored a minimum of 15.

While relays aren’t actually that consequential in a conference meet, unless the team battle is very close, IU did it part in that realm as well. The Hoosiers broke a meet record en route to winning 4 of the 5 relays. They broke the 200 free relay record, swimming a faster time than IU went at NCAAs last year, despite losing Blake Pieroni from last year.

IU and Michigan appear to be gearing up for another thrilling team battle next year, as Michigan returns 1054 points, to IU’s 1008.