2014 Big Ten men’s championships: Whitaker comes up B1G for dominant Wolverines

Night two of the men’s Big Ten Championships will kick off at 6:30 Eastern Time in Ann Arbor. Michigan had a great morning at home, placing 6 in the top 8 of the 500 free and breaking a conference record with 200 IMer Kyle Whitaker. He’ll have to fight off the previous record-holder Cody Miller of Indiana, though, as well as his own teammate Dylan Bosch.

Minnesota’s Derek Toomey tied the Big Ten record set by his former Golden Gopher teammate Michael Richards in the 50 free. He’ll try to take sole possession of the mark tonight, and sits just .06 away from becoming the first man to go sub-19 at the Big Ten Championships.

The night will also feature 1-meter diving and the 400 medley relay.

Prelims recap here

B1G MEN MEET DETAILS

  • 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

500 Free

Connor Jaeger, defending NCAA champ in every individual race above 400 yards, took home the first individual title of the 2014 men’s Big Ten Championships. The Wolverine senior went 4:12.52 en route to the win, outlasting a gauntlet of his Michigan teammates as well as the rest of the Big Ten’s best. This is about a second faster than he went at the conference level last year, and he was able to cut three seconds then to go 4:10.8 for the national title. If he could have a similar drop this year, he’d be in the relative ballpark of the 4:08.5 American record held by another famous Wolverine, Peter Vanderkaay.

Last night’s relay hero Michael Wynalda took second in 4:13.91 – that’s almost three seconds of improvement since last season in what’s been a fantastic senior year for Wynalda. Danish import Anders Nielsen rounded out the top three for Michigan in 4:14.66.

The first non-Wolverine was Wisconsin’s Nicholas Caldwell, who went 4:16.00 in his first Big Ten appearance since transferring to Madison from the Florida Gators. Sean Ryan of Michigan took fifth, and Penn State’s Nicholas Ankosko broke up a pair of Wolverines, getting in behind Ryan and just ahead of top seed Hassan Abdel Khalik, who gained four and a half seconds from his 4:15.11 morning performance.

Michigan’s sixth A-finalist, Justin Glanda, took 8th. Ohio State won the B final with Rowan Williams‘ 4:18.64.

200 IM

Michigan made it two in a row on Kyle Whitaker‘s 200 IM win. The senior went 1:41.30, just missing his Big Ten record from the preliminaries by .16 but still holding off a loaded field for the conference title. Whitaker was followed by sophomore teammate Dylan Bosch, who put up a fast 1:41.66, and looks like a contender to put his name on the record after Whitaker graduates.

The difference between the two was breaststroke, where Whitaker put up a field-best 28.53 to Bosch’s 29.07 that ranked second in the event. Otherwise, the splits were very even. Whitaker actually went out faster than Bosch on butterfly, which was a big statement, considering the South African is one of the conference’s premier butterflyers and the defending champ in the 200 fly.

Indiana’s Stephen Schmuhl was knocking on the door of 1:41 as well, going 1:42.05 for third place. He led a trio of Hoosiers: Eric Ress was fourth in 1:42.95 and defending champ Cody Miller fifth in 1:43.75. It appears Miller is probably not as rested for this meet as he was a year ago, when he destroyed the field with his 28.4 breaststroke split and went 1:41.85.

Michigan’s Pete Brumm went 1:45.20 for sixth, Penn State’s Nathaniel Savoy took seventh in 1:46.11, and Minnesota freshman Jakub Maly rounded out the a final with a 1:46.98.

Wisconsin backstroke star Drew teDuits put up a 1:44.99 to win a big B final battle with Indiana’s Donald Hurley. Teduits triumphed on a 25.0 backstroke split, better than anyone else in the event.

50 Free

He’s been the fastest sprinter in the Big Ten for awhile now, but Minnesota senior Derek Toomey finally got his first individual Big Ten title. After putting up the fastest 50 time in the conference last year but falling off at finals to miss the gold medal, Toomey decisively closed the door in this final, winning the event by two tenths. After tying his former teammate Michael Richards‘ conference record of 19.05 this morning, Toomey went 19.14 at night, coming back just a hair slower. He’s certainly got 18 seconds in his sights and should be an even bigger factor come nationals, where he finished third a year ago.

Penn State’s Shane Ryan was 19.36 for second place, dropping about a tenth to hang onto his number two seed. That was enough to beat last year’s Big Ten champ Bruno Ortiz of Michigan, who went 19.46. Purdue’s Danny Tucker, who had a huge summer and won the 100 free at U.S. Open, went 19.53 for fourth.

Ohio State’s Michael Disalle was 19.71, Penn State’s John Hauser and Northwestern’s Chase Stephens 19.8s, and Buckeye Tim Phillips closed out the field in 19.95.

Indiana’s Anze Tavcar won the B final, touching out Penn State’s Shane Austin 19.91 to 19.93. Michigan’s Vinny Tafuto was also under 20 in that heat, and C final winner Matt McHugh of OSU put up a 19.91 of his own in what was an outrageously deep event – 16 different men went sub-20 between prelims and finals.

1-Meter Diving

A tight finish saw Indiana’s Darian Schmidt successfully defend his title on 1-meter. He sccored 381.30 to top Purdue’s Jamie Bissett by just .15 points in a very crowded diving field. Ohio State’s Stephen Ettienne wasn’t far behind, himself, scoring 274.95 for third.

Indiana had three divers up, with Emad Abdclatif taking fourth and Josh Arndt seventh. Between the two were Purdue’s Layne Rogers and Minnesota’s Manny Pollard. Timothy Faerber of Michigan finished 8th.

400 Medley Relay

Michigan held off rivals Ohio State to remain undefeated in relays for the weekend. The team of Jason Chen, Richard Funk, John Wojciechowski and Bruno Ortiz went 3:06.08 for the title, topping OSU’s 3:06.63. Most notable on that relay were the splits from juniors Funk and Ortiz. The Canadian Funk was 50.92 on breaststroke, likely the fastest of the field (although defending 100 breast champ Cody Miller’s split was lost in a touchpad error), and Ortiz also had the event’s best split in his stroke with a 41.89 on freestyle.

Ohio State went 3:06.63 for second – that was thanks to a 45.0 butterfly split from freshman Matt McHugh, who’s come up big twice already tonight after his sub-20 50 freestyle. Also quick on that relay were backstroker Connor McDonald (46.5) and freestyler Michael Disalle (42.2), also a freshman.

Indiana wound up third, though none of their splits were correct on live results. The Hoosiers went 3:07.98 to just beat Penn State’s 3:08.01, which was powered by Nathaniel Savoy‘s 46.2 backstroke split, the fastest of the field.

After two days, Michigan is firmly in command with 308 points. Indiana sits second, nearly 100 back but also more than 50 up on Ohio State. Penn State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue are all in the thick of things for the next few spots, with plenty of great racing still to come in Ann Arbor.

Current Running Scores

1. Michigan 308
2. Indiana 216
3. Ohio State 158
4. Penn State 154
5. Minnesota 141
6. Wisconsin 118
7. Purdue 113
8. Northwestern 79
9. Iowa 68
10. Michigan State 52

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bobo gigi
10 years ago
coacherik
10 years ago

For the love of smart swimming fellow coaches, show your kids the splits for the A heat of this 500! Top 5 negative split, 6th basically even split it. 7&8 were solid swims in their own right. If you want to go fast you gotta swim smart!

As I tell my swimmers when it comes to anything “distance”: “no one ever remembers who won the first 50 of the mile.”

ole 99
10 years ago

Did Eric Ress lead off the tOSU medley in 45.25? Cody Miller with a 52.36 split?

Admin
Reply to  ole 99
10 years ago

ole 99 – assuming you mean Indiana, that’s about the best I could get when trying to make heads-or-tails of those splits. Those splits make sense – too bad the bads got messed up, because that’s a crazy-fast front half.

ole 99
10 years ago

Michigan is going to be giving up a lot at NCAA’s with a 47.6 leadoff for their 400 medley.

jman
Reply to  ole 99
10 years ago

Chen has been 46.6. 50.9 breast split helps make up for it

calswimfan
Reply to  ole 99
10 years ago

Michigan doesn’t have to worry about the 400 medley. I agree with JMAN.

Peterdavis
Reply to  ole 99
10 years ago

Yeah there is something about a team chasing a title, where the names of the swimmers start to fade from their caps, and it becomes a team effort. Essentially, someone – Chen or otherwise, will step up and swim as needed. I’ll use an example I’m familiar with: Cal men always have at least one totally unexpected relay swimmer step-up. Tony Cox and Guy Barnea, all ten feet of them combined(just kidding guys), stepped in on 2free relays at NCs as if they were 6’7″, despite being straight up backstroke specialists. Both went to 15 off each wall.

I see Michigan’s 4medley going something like…
46.1, 50.8, 45.4, 41.0 for a 303.3 and 2-4th place. A little optimistic? Maybe,… Read more »

Peterdavis
10 years ago

Fast IMs. Could be the premier event at the big meet this year, with 5+ guys threatening to break 1:41. Could take a 1:42 to get up. Expect to see a 1:40 win it. 1:39 soon?? Wow.

Admin
Reply to  Peterdavis
10 years ago

Will we see 1:39 or 1:29 first? on a flat start? 200 IM vs. 200 free. My guess is that there’s a dozen guys walking around capable of both in the post-grad or international ranks, so it’s more a question of who can put it together in yards first.

Flyin'
Reply to  Braden Keith
10 years ago

Ooh, tough call. I’d love to see either!

Bossanova
Reply to  Flyin'
10 years ago

I have a feeling we’ll see a 1:39 200 IM first!

Peterdavis
Reply to  Braden Keith
10 years ago

Yes. I love this conversation. One of the downsides of college swimming is that our stars are swimming so many times in just 3 days. I think that the team dynamic(swimming for each other and a common goal, representing your uni and it’s history and future, etc.) along with their talent and their coaches’ talents, allow these stars to drop the fast times that they do.

But what if they were competing like they did in high school?…a couple individuals and a couple relays, with an easy prelim schedule the day before. Or like a champ trials type meet, with a few individuals over a week’s time? These same athletes would be going faster, likely already at 1:39/1:29. And… Read more »

bobo gigi
Reply to  Braden Keith
10 years ago

Apart from a fully tapered Yannick Agnel, I don’t see who is able to swim 1.29.

DDias
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

BOBO,
yards time are a bit overrated.Agnel, the guy who made 1.43 in LCM?He will pop a time a lot faster than 1.29 with proper wall training.Remember: De Lucca is a 1.48LCM swimmer and is a 1.31.(OK, i will concede he never swim Maria Lenk at his peak because of NCAA´s and will not be surprised with a 1.46 from him, but still…)
Many guys forget when Cielo made 40.92 and 18.47 he wasnt a sub-48 swimmer and was barely under 22(21.84).And he made later 47.67 and 21.30 in 50%poly suit.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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