2017 Men’s B1G Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2017 MEN’S B1G SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 22th to Saturday, February 25th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
• Where: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Michigan Wolverines (results)
• Live Results
• Streaming (BTN subscription required)
• Championship Central: here

500 YARD FREESTYLE

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 4:13.22
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 4:24.99
• B1G Meet Record: Peter Vanderkaay (Michigan) 2005 – 4:12.37
• B1G Conference Record: Peter Vanderkaay (Michigan) 2006 – 4:08.60

1. Felix Auboeck MICH 4:10.63
2. Matthew Hutchins WISC 4:11.98
3. Marwan El Kamash IU 4:12.11
4. PJ Ransford MICH 4:14.27
5. Jordan Wilimovsky NU 4:15.93
6. Brayden Seal OSU 4:16.13
7. Jackson Miller IU 4:17.36
8. Joseph Long OSU 4:18.57

Michigan picked up some points here with a 1-4 finish thanks to freshman Felix Auboeck (4:10.63) and junior PJ Ransford (4:14.27). Auboeck’s time of 4:10.63 is the fastest time by a Big Ten swimmer since Peter Vanderkaay set the conference record of 4:08.60 in 2006, and it ranks him as the third all-time B1G performer behind only Vanderkaay (4:08.60) and Tom Dolan (4:08.75), adding his name to Michigan‘s distance freestyle legacy. Auboeck also broke Vanderkaay’s meet record.

Wisconsin’s Matthew Hutchins swam well for 2nd in 4:11.98, just touching out Indiana‘s Marwan El Kamash (4:12.11), with both Hutchins and El Kamash breaking respective school records. Pay close attention to how Michigan and IU swimmers do in tonight’s finals, as the team race for a B1G title is very close between the Wolverines and Hoosiers. Northwestern’s Jordan Wilimovsky touched 5th at 4:15.93.

With that event done, Michigan has edged ahead of IU.

200 YARD IM

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:42.15
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:49.09
• B1G Meet Record: Kyle Whitaker (Michigan) 2014 – 1:41.14
• B1G Conference Record: Kyle Whitaker (Michigan) 2014 – 1:41.14

1. Vini Lanza IU 1:41.59
2. Ian Finnerty IU 1:41.86
3. Evan White MICH 1:43.45
4. Blake Pieroni IU 1:43.50
5. Jacob Montague MICH 1:43.58
6. Brett Pinfold WISC 1:43.60
7. Chris Klein MICH 1:44.08
8. Jakub Maly MINN 1:45.05

Right after Michigan had a huge 500 free, the Hoosiers struck back with a 1-2-4 finish in the 200 IM. Vini Lanza and Ian Finnerty were a step above the rest, sweeping with respective times of 1:41.59 and 1:41.86. Lanza, for his part, broke the Indiana school record. 3rd through 6th was incredibly close, with Wolverine Evan White sneaking ahead of Blake Pieroni 1:43.45 to 1:43.50.

Jacob Montague of Michigan touched 5th in 1:43.58, just ahead of Brett Pinfold of Wisconsin. Montague, who just slipped under 29 on his breast split this morning in prelims, split even faster at 28.66.

Despite having a more impressive spread in the A final, IU finds itself down by 50 due to a large Michigan presence in the B final, where the Wolverines went 2-3-4.

50 YARD FREE

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 19.09
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 20.19
• B1G Meet Record: Paul Powers (Michigan) 2016 – 18.85
• B1G Conference Record: Paul Powers (Michigan) 2016 – 18.85

1. Paul Powers MICH 18.80
2. Ali Khalafalla IU 18.94
3. Shane Ryan PSU 19.03
4. Bowen Becker MINN 19.08
5. Cannon Clifton WISC 19.39
6. Mossimo Chavez OSU 19.45
7. Matt McHugh OSU 19.50
8. Sam Lorentz IU 19.53

Paul Powers successfully defended his conference crown in a shoot-out with IU’s Ali Khalafalla. The Michigan junior hit the wall at 18.80 for a new B1G record in the 50 free, taking down his own meet and conference marks set last season. Khalafalla’s 18.94, meanwhile, makes him the 2nd best all-time B1G performer in this event and only the third-ever B1G swimmer to break 19 seconds in a flat start 50 free.

Penn State’s Shane Ryan edged out Minnesota’s Bowen Becker in a close 19.03 to 19.08, making a case for how fast Big Ten sprinting is this season. Ryan took down the Penn State program record with his time tonight, and the top four swimmers cleared the NCAA ‘A’ cut. Meanwhile, IU essentially made up all of its lost ground on Michigan with that event in the books.

1-METER DIVING

1. Michael Hixon IU 488.65
2. James Connor IU 487.50
3. Collin Zeng OSU 474.60
4. Steele Johnson PUR 470.05
5. Joseph Cifelli PUR 439.20
6. Brandon Loschiavo PUR 398.30
7. Matt Barnard MINN 338.80
8. Cody Coldren IU 310.25

With a huge push in diving, IU has amassed an 88.5 point lead over Michigan heading into the 400 medley relay. IU’s Michael Hixon took down B1G conference and meet records tonight, as well as the IU program record.

400 MEDLEY RELAY

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 3:07.75
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 3:09.68
• B1G Conference Record: Northwestern (2007) 3:04.40

1. Indiana 3:03.28
2. OSU 3:04.13
3. Minnesota 3:07.03
4. Michigan 3:07.71
5. Penn State 3:08.04
6. Wisconsin 3:08.44
7. Purdue 3:08.59
8. Iowa 3:11.36

To cap off a very strong night for the Hoosiers, Bob Glover (46.11), Ian Finnerty (51.18), Vini Lanza (44.64), and Blake Pieroni (41.35) combined for a new B1G record in the 400 medley relay. All four relay legs were firing on all cylinders, and Lanza’s untouchable 44.64 split really did it for IU.

Ohio State got a 45.63 lead-off from Matt McHugh and another very fast fly split, this time a 45.09 from freshman Noah Lense. Jack Barone was 51.97 on breast with Josh Fleagle anchoring in 41.44. Minnesota had a 51.63 breast leg out of Conner McHugh and a 41.92 anchor from Bowen Becker, with Wisconsin getting a 41.51 anchor from Cannon Clifton and Penn State got a very quick 44.95 back split from Shane Ryan, scaring the B1G record of 44.72 set in 2008 by Ben Hesen of Indiana.

With Day 2 down, IU leads with 562 points over Michigan‘s 461.5, with OSU in third with 430 points.

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 7                       
 
  1. Indiana University                562   2. Michigan, University of         461.5
  3. Ohio State University             430   4. Wisconsin, University of, Madi    276
  5. University of Minnesota           262   6. Purdue University               236.5
  7. Pennsylvania State University     207   8. Iowa, University of               191
  9. Northwestern University           160  10. Michigan State University         126