BIG TEN – MEN
- Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27
- Boilermaker Aquatic Center, West Lafayette, IN (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Michigan (5x) (results)
- Live results
- Live Video ($)
- Championship Central
Reminder of Event Scoring:
A Final Scoring: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22
B Final Scoring: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11
C Final Scoring: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Plus 17-24 in Diving Prelims)
Relay Scoring: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-40-34
Top 5 Team Standings Through Event 2:
- Michigan 128
- Indiana 112
- Ohio State 106
- Iowa 100
- Wisconsin 98
500 FREESTYLE – FINAL
- Anders Nielsen, Michigan – 4:12.83
- Matthew Hutchins, Wisconsin- 4:14.36
- PJ Ransford, Michigan – 4:14.54
Michigan clinched a smooth 59 points in just the first individual event, as senior Anders Nielsen (“the Great Dane”) and sophomore PJ Ransford go 1 & 3 in the 500 freestyle. Anders zipped off the blocks with the only sub-23 opening 50 of the field (22.86) and also closed in the only sub-25 split of the top 3 in the final 50, contributing to his first place time of 4:12.83, a new pool record. Nielsen’s time is also an NCAA automatic qualifying performance and crushes his own 4:14.06 runner-up mark from last year’s Big Ten Championships. Nielsen wound up finishing 4th overall at last year’s NCAA Championships with a time of 4:12.16.
2015’s Big Ten 500 freestyle title winner Matthew Hutchins from Wisconsin just wasn’t able to match Nielsen’s determined speed tonight. His mark of 4:14.36 is just .36 slower than his personal best of 4:14.00, the time which rendered the Badger the victory at this meet last year.
Ransford‘s mark of 4:15.54 registers as the sophomore’s new personal best, dropping just over .3 of a second off of his 4:15.85 outing from this morning, which put him in the center of the pool as the top seed.
The NCAA D1 invite time last year was 4:17.15, so just the top 3 finishers slid beneath that mark tonight.
Top 3 Team Score Watch: Michigan 244, Ohio State 186, Indiana 185.5
200 IM – FINAL
- Dylan Bosch, Michigan – 1:43.02
- Evan White, Michigan – 1:43.11
- Peter Brumm, Michigan – 1:43.78
The individual swimmer order was shuffled between prelims and finals, but the top 3 remained Wolverines, as Michigan swept the 200 IM final tonight in West Lafayette. Senior Dylan Bosch successfully defended his Big Ten title, taking tonight’s race in a time of 1:43.02.
Just .02 of a second quicker than his morning swim, Bosch still lowered his own pool record and now holds 2 of the Big Ten’s top 10 performances of all time in the event. At NCAAs last year, Bosch’s 6th place garnering time was 1:42.62, so the South African is already within half a second from that mark, although Bosch went an incredible 1:41.93 when winning the title at this meet last year.
Sophomore teammate Evan White improved on his incoming 3rd seeded spot to take the runner-up role in tonight’s race, stopping the clock at a quick 1:43.11, just .09 of a second behind Bosch. The mark now sits as the swiftest of White’s young career, surpassing his previous personal best of 1:43.24 from this meet last year.
Rounding out the top 3 is senior Peter Brumm, who finished right around where he scored in prelims, registering a mark of 1:43.78 for the 2nd best of his career. Brumm entered prelims this morning with a seed time of 1:49.75, owning a career-fastest of 1:45.00 he threw down back in 2014.  Brumm secured the fastest final 50 of the top 3 swimmers, scoring a final split of 24.65 in freestyle.
Last year’s NCAA D1 Invite time was 1:44.58, so the top 6 men tonight all fall beneath that threshold.
Top 3 Team Score Watch: Michigan 352, Indiana 277.5, Ohio State 239
50 FREE – FINAL
- Paul Powers, Michigan – 18.85
- Ali Khalafalla, Indiana – 19.27
- Adam Johnston, Purdue – 19.61
Sophomore Paul Powers demolished his personal best from this morning (19.03) and crushed a new Big Ten Conference record time of 18.85 to take the win tonight. Splitting 9.12/9.73, Powers manhandled the men’s 50 freestyle, owning the race from start to finish and touching almost half a second ahead of the next competitor. Remember, Powers won this event in 2015 in a time of 19.30….a time which seems, dare I say, “slow” compared to what the NCAA studs have been throwing down as of late.
With Florida’s Caeleb Dressel and now two NC State swimmers scoring sub-19-second times, Powers chose just the right time to unleash his potential and rock the conference’s fastest time in history.
Knocking .03 of a second off of his own newly-minted school record from this morning, Indiana sophomore Ali Khalafalla touched in 19.27 to win the runner-up spot in the men’s 50 freestyle.
Purdue’s Adam Johnston wrangled in a 3rd place finish with his mark of 19.61 to round out the podium and clear 27 points for the Boilermakers.
19.52 stood as last year’s NCAA D1 invite time, a mark which just tonight’s top 2 finishers dipped under through both prelims and finals.
Top 3 Team Score Watch: Michigan 425, Indiana 358, Ohio State 297.5
1 MTR DIVING – FINAL
- Colin Zeng, Ohio State – 450.55
- Joey Cifelli, Purdue – 401.10
- Manny Pollard, Minnesota – 386.80
Top 3 Team Score Watch: Michigan 440, Indiana 388, Ohio State 375.5
400 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL
- Indiana – 3:05.61
- Michigan – 3:07.06
- Iowa – 3:07.83
The Hoosiers close out the night with a big win in the 400 medley relay, although the results took several minutes to pass review.  Robert Glover, Tanner Kurz, Vinicius Lanza and Blake Pieroni combined to take the Big Ten title in a mark of 3:05.61, a new pool record.
Ironically, Kurz was on the cusp of making tonight’s B-Final in the 200 IM, as he was tied with Michigan’s Tristan Sanders after prelims. However, Kurz opted out of the swim-off and settled for the C-Final, with observers speculating the Hoosiers were saving Kurz’s energy for tonight’s relay. The move seems to have paid off, as Kurz rocked a 51.52 breaststroke split, the 2nd-fastest of the field. The remaining Hoosier splits were as follows: Glover (46.63), Lanza (45.65) and Pieroni (41.81).
The Hoosiers time tonight of 3:05.61 ranks as the 4th-fastest in Big Ten Conference history.
Michigan topped off their stellar night with a runner-up spot in the relay, collectively touching 3:07.06 with the following members: Aaron Whitaker (46.16), Chris Klein (52.79), Dylan Bosch (46.07), Paul Powers (42.04).
The Iowa squad pulled off an NCAA automatic qualifying time for themselves as well, registering a time of 3:07.83 for 3rd place. Roman Trussov clocked the swiftest breast split of the entire field with 51.45.
Top 3 Team Score Watch: Michigan 496, Indiana 452, Ohio State 427.5
Is it a mistake that it says the guys 500 free d1 invite time was 4:27 last year?
Look at the 400 Medley relay results, both Indiana and Michigan had negative (-) exchange times. No DQ?
results show Pieroni leaving -.02 early and powers -.37??? I understand not seeing .02 but .37 is outrageous.
*on 4 med relay*
-.02 is legal (the threshold is -.03 due to equipment limitations), but there must have been a malfunction with Powers’ takeoff, or the relay would have been DQ’d.
NCAAs is going to be Lit. Olympic years sure are fun
Powers coming up BIG with that 18.8.
Anyone not named Dressel is going to be scared come NCAAs.
Lets see how NC State responds in the 200 free relay.
6+ men under 19 flat start at NC’s???
Dressel
Powers
Bilis
Held
Ringgold
Murray
and more maybe???
Gkolomeev
Chadwick
Sub 19 seconds for the entire A final???
Gkloomev (sp?) will be like 18.6
Holoda from Auburn?
Also if Messerschmidt can be back on this top form he has been dangerously close to under 19.
Michigan’s top guys look like they’re rolling so far. Nielson, PJ, Bosch, White, Powers all put up good ones this morning. Second and third tier on the other hand not so much. Expected to see more out of Sanders, Papendick, and Tafuto this morning.
IU swimming well all around.
Should be fun to watch.