2017 B1G WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 18th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Michigan Wolverines (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Stream via Big Ten Network
- Championship Central
Defending NCAA and Olympic gold medalist in the 100 breaststroke Lilly King swam her first individual breaststroke race of the 2017 Big Ten Championships on Friday morning, and posted a 57.46 benchmark that breaks a 7-year old Pool Record at Purdue. The old mark was a 58.06 done by then-Arizona swimmer Annie Chandler at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
King’s swim was short of both her Big Ten Conference Championship Record of 57.35 from last year, and her NCAA and U.S. Open Record of 56.85 from last year’s NCAA Championship meet, but was good enough to be the fastest swim in a facility that has hosted the NCAA Champions in this decade – which is not an unremarkable accomplishment.
King’s 57.30 from the College Challenge in November is the fastest time in the country so far this season, and she will be a bigger favorite in this 100 than she will in the 200 come NCAAs (she’s the defending champion in both). The 4 closest swimmers nationally are all from the ACC, who have had their conference championship meet, and the 2 closest (Natalie Pierce of Florida State and Laura Simon of Virginia) did their swims at December invites.
The 57.46 by King is the 10th-fastest performance of all-time, which now gives her 5 of the 10 best 100 yard breaststrokes in history. It’s a follow up to her first swim this meet, where she swam the fastest 50 breaststroke split in history; and the 200 IM, which she won in 1:55.90 after a lifetime best of 1:55.49 in prelims.
Top 10 performances (through prelims)
- 56.85 – Lilly King, 2016 NCAAs
- 57.15 – Lilly King, 2016 NCAA prelims
- 57.23 – Breeja Larson, 2014 NCAAs
- 57.28 – Breeja Larson, 2014 SECs
- 57.29 – Alia Atkinson, Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships
- 57.30 – Lilly King, 2016 College Challenge
- 57.35 – Lilly King, 2016 Big Tens
- 57.36 – Sarah Haase, 2016 NCAAs
- 57.43 – Breeja Larson, 2013 SECs
- 57.46 – Lilly King, 2017 Big Ten prelims
Finishing 2nd in the race was Indiana freshman Lindsey Horejsi in 58.96. Also of note, 6th-place finisher Emily Kopas broke the Michigan school record by .01. The old mark was a 59.80 done in 2013 by Angie Chokran.
