Indiana Men Win Huge Battle Over Michigan in B1G Tri; Michigan Women Cruise

NORTHWESTERN V. MICHIGAN V. INDIANA

• January 16, 2021
• Bloomington, IN
• Short course yards (SCY)
• Results on Meet Mobile

WOMEN’S MEET

• Score
  • Michigan 174, Indiana 126
  • Michigan 185.5, Northwestern 112.5
  • Indiana 177, Northwestern 117

The Michigan women took control of this meet, starting off with a medley relay win (1:39.17) and a 1-2 finish in the 1000 free with senior Sierra Schmidt (9:50.93) and sophomore Kaitlynn Sims (9:59.31). Schmidt and Sims would later follow-up with another 1-2 finish in the 500 free, with Schmidt going 4:49.61 and Sims going 4:51.05.

Maggie MacNeil was 24.02 leading off Michigan’s 200 medley relay, and she swam an off-event, the 200 free, which led to a win at 1:47.00. That’s a lifetime best by default; it’s the first time she’s ever swum a 200 free in yards, though she’s shown freestyle endurance in LCM (her best is a 2:02.61 from 2017). Michigan kept rolling with a 1-2 in the next event, the 100 back, with freshman Casey Chung (54.41) and Mariella Venter (55.76).

The first non-Michigan winner was Northwestern’s Sophie Angus, as she threw down a 1:00.68 in the 100 breast in a tense race with Indiana’s Emily Weiss (1:00.80) and Noelle Peplowski (1:00.99). NU’s Hannah Brunzell followed in fourth (1:01.87).

Olivia Carter was dominant in the 200 fly (1:56.85) for Michigan, before Daria Pyshnenko claimed another Wolverine win before the first break. Pyshnenko was 22.67 in the 50 free, edging ahead of IU’s Ashley Turak (22.81). Coming out of the break, Pyshnenko dipped under 50 seconds to take the 100 free (49.91).

Chung and Venter returned to take the top spots in the 200 back, with Venter claiming first this time (1:58.36) ahead of Chung (1:59.70). In the 200 breast, IU turned the tables on the Wildcats, with Peplowski (2:13.41) and Weiss (2:13.57) lunging ahead of Angus (2:14.50).

After the Michigan 1-2 in the 500, Carter picked up the remaining events, clocking a 53.66 in the 100 fly and a 2:00.94 in the 200 IM. Michigan’s A 400 free relay won by more than two seconds over Indiana’s A, going 3:19.20 with a 49.2 lead-off from MacNeil and a 49.5 split from Pyshnenko. Northwestern’s A and B relays, Indiana’s B relay and Michigan’s C relay all got DQ’d.

MEN’S MEET

• Score
  • Indiana 173, Michigan 127
  • Indiana 241, Northwestern 59
  • Michigan 229.5, Northwestern 70.5

Michigan and Indiana clashed throughout this meet, but Indiana was too strong in too many events for the Wolverines.

Michigan got off to the quick start, edging IU in the 200 medley, 1:26.14 to 1:26.37 with a 21.8 lead-off from freshman Wyatt Davis.

Indiana surged in response, going 1-2 in the 1000 free with Michael Brinegar (9:04.03) and Mikey Calvillo (9:07.32) and then snagging the 200 free win. Freshman Tomer Frankel is already looking like a big-time addition out of Israel; he was 1:36.40 to win the 200, defeating Michigan’s Patrick Callan (1:36.65). They took their third straight event, the 100 back, as Jacob Steele (47.38) out-touched Wolverines Davis (47.45) and Eric Storms (47.84).

Will Chan put a stop to the IU run, taking down Hoosier Zane Backes in the 100 breast, 53.99 to 54.58. After that swim, though, the Hoosiers poured it on. Brendan Burns was 1:44.30 to dominate the 200 fly, with teammate Corey Gambardella behind him (1:47.31), while Jack Franzman eked out the 50 free victory over Wolverine Gus Borges, 19.69 to 19.70.

After Franzman came out of the break with a 100 free win (43.52), Davis was able to avenge his 100 back loss. The freshman went 1:43.95, downing Steele (1:44.71) and Burns (1:44.94). Then, AJ Bornstein pushed to the 200 breast win (1:58.61), locked in battle with Northwestern’s Marcus Mok (1:58.65) who finished second. That was NU’s top finish on the men’s side.

IU’s distance group was back on top, though, as Calvillo (4:23.65) and Brinegar (4:25.64) picked up a 1-2 finish. In the next event, the 100 fly, Burns swept in with a 47.28 for his second win in three individual events, taking it over River Wright of Michigan (47.70).

Michigan added a 1-2 finish in the 200 IM with Jared Daigle (1:47.39) and Davis on his third event (1:48.49), but Indiana put a cap on the meet with a triumphant 2:55.34 in the 400 free relay, beating Michigan by almost three seconds. Bruno Blaskovic (43.46), Gavin Wight (43.75) and Franzman (43.52) were all great on that relay for IU, while Borges’ 43.26 split topped the field.

Though he didn’t get any wins, IU freshman Wight clocked lifetime bests in the 100 free (44.35) and 100 back (48.32) to go with his big 400 free relay split and a 22.55 lead-off on IU’s B 200 medley.

Aside from Mok’s second-place finish in the 200 breast, Northwestern’s Aleksa Bobar and Dartmouth transfer Connor LaMastra each chipped in third-place efforts. Bobar was 1:39.18 in the 200 free and LaMastra 1:47.38 in the 200 fly.