Ohio State Wins First Women’s Big Ten Conference Title in 34 Years

2020 WOMEN’S B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming & Diving
• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm (6pm Saturday)
• Where: Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, Iowa City, Iowa (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana University Hoosiers (1x) (results)
• Live Results
• Streaming: Big Ten Network
• Championship Central: here
• Fan Guide
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. Ohio State – 1503.5
2. Michigan – 1306.5
3. Indiana – 964
4. Northwestern – 907.5
5. Wisconsin – 734
6. Minnesota – 617
7. Purdue – 602
8. Penn State – 517.5
9. Iowa – 430
10. Nebraska – 385
11. Rutgers – 291
12. Michigan State – 203
13. Illinois – 193

The Ohio State Buckeyes earned their first Women’s Big Ten Conference title in 34 years this weekend. After finishing 3rd last year, Ohio State outperformed defending champion Indiana, and 2016-2018 champion Michigan, winning by a margin of by 197 points. They scored 1,162.5 points for 3rd last year, marking a 341 point increase over last year. The last time Ohio State won the women’s Big ten meet was in 1986, which capped off 5 straight victories from 1982-1986. At that time, Nebraska, Penn State, and Rutgers were not members of the Big ten conference.

Under head coach Bill Dorenkott, the Buckeyes posted dominant performances in the number of events over the course of the meet. One such event was the 100 freestyle on day 4, where Ohio State managed to outperform their seeding, and advance 5 swimmers the the A final. They ended up finishing 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th in finals, racking up 122 points on that race alone. Ohio State also put on a show in the mile, where Molly Kowal led a 1-6-9-10-14 finish. All 5 of the Buckeyes who swam the mile finished in the top 16. Ohio State also scored the most points as a team in the 500 free, 200 IM, 400 IM, 1 meter diving, and 3 meter diving.

It was the 400 IM, which has historically been a great event for Ohio State, where the Buckeyes scored the most points. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 12th, 15th, and 17th in the 400 IM for a total of 126 points, which is just under 10% of their total points.

Ohio State took 4 event titles:

• 500 free: Kathrin Demler – 4:37.04
• 1650 free: Molly Kowal – 15:43.17
• 1 meter diving: Mackenzie Crawford – 320.65
• 200 free relay: Taylor Petrak, Freya Rayner, Amy Fulmer, Lucija Jurkovic-Periscija) – 1:27.57

Ohio State now has a few weeks to prepare for the NCAA Championships, where they came in 25th with 43 points last year. If the Buckeyes can build on their momentum from this Big Ten title, they should be able to significantly outscore what they did last year.