2016 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2016 Big Ten Men’s Championships

• Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27
• Boilermaker Aquatic Center, West Lafayette, IN (Eastern Time Zone)
• Prelims 11AM / Finals 6:30PM (Eastern Time)
• Defending Champion: Michigan (5x) (results)
• Live results
• Live Video ($)
• Championship Central

We’re already up to the third day of the 2016 Big Ten Championships, with Michigan and Indiana battling for position at the top of the conference.

Indiana took the top qualifying spot in three of five prelims events. Tanner Kurz is on the edge of 51 seconds in the 100 breaststroke, Anze Tavcar leads the 200 free with Blake Pieroni not far behind, and freshman Vinicius Lanza made a stellar debut with the top 100 fly time.

Michigan won the depth battle, though, earning 23 total scoring swims for tonight, plus the 200 free relay. Dylan Bosch is set up for a repeat 400 IM title, and Anders Nielsen is second in the 200 free.

Meanwhile Ohio State’s Matt McHugh has a shot at two titles. He leads the 100 back and is second in the 100 fly after winning that event last year.

• Prelims recap
• Day 3 Ups/Mids/Downs

Keep refreshing this page for live, event-by-event updates of all the action from Big Tens.

200 Free Relay – Timed Final

1. Indiana – 1:16.93
2. Michigan – 1:17.38
3. Ohio State – 1:17.87

Though Michigan won both relays on night 1, it’s been all Indiana in that realm since. The Hoosiers took their second relay title with the 200 free relay, breaking the pool record in 1:16.93.

Ali Khalafalla was the key split, leading off in 19.34, though the relay was really consistent across the board. Pieroni had the fastest split overall at 19.12, with his split coming on a flying relay start as opposed to Khalafalla’s flat start. Anze Tavcar (19.25) and Oliver Patrouch (19.22) were both 19.2s to close out the relay.

Michigan had the field’s best leadoff split, though Paul Powers couldn’t match his Big Ten record 18.85 from last night in that role. Powers was 19.06, and Anders Nielsen anchored in 19.18 for Michigan, though the Wolverines lost ground on IU through the middle two legs, which were 19.5 and 19.6. The Wolverines finished in 1:17.38, also under the old pool record.

The 400 free relay takes on some special significance tonight, with both Indiana and Michigan sitting at two relay wins. The Hoosiers won the 200 free relay and the Wolverines the 800, which should set up the 400 as perhaps a more neutral middle distance.

Ohio State’s Matt McHugh was 19.48 on the leadoff, and Andrew Appleby anchored in 19.20 as the Buckeyes went 1:17.87, just a half second back of Michigan.

Purdue was fourth in 1:18.18 on a pair of 19.39s from Austin Flager and Filip Bujoczek, and Minnesota finished fifth with the field’s best split coming in the form of Paul Fair‘s 19.02.

With the win, Indiana pulls to within 36 points of Michigan, though they’ll still have their work cut out for them to reel in the defending champs. Ohio State is third, 24.5 points back of IU, with Minnesota leading Wisconsin by 42 for fourth place.

400 IM – Finals

1. Dylan Bosch, MICH – 3:41.61
2. Jakub Maly, MINN – 3:44.30
3. Ian Rainey, MICH – 3:45.94

Dylan Bosch picked up a repeat 400 IM title to become the meet’s first double individual champion of 2016. Bosch was 3:41.61 in finals, just about a tenth faster than he went in prelims.

Minnesota junior Jakub Maly picked up second place. The Austrian was a bit off his prelims mark with a 3:44.30, but still took runner-up honors by a wide margin.

Michigan’s Ian Rainey was 3:45.94 for bronze, also a few tenths off his personal-best morning swim, but still better than he had been prior to today.

While the top three were spread out pretty well, things got close after that. Purdue’s Daniel Conway (3:47.26) finished just a few tenths ahead of Michigan’s Cameron Stitt (3:47.65), and Minnesota’s John Bushman (3:47.86) was just behind them.

The team points are starting to spread out some, with Michigan increasing its lead to more than 100 and Ohio State actually overtaking Indiana for second. Behind them, Minnesota is still solidly fourth, with Purdue vaulting over Wisconsin to round out the top 5.

100 Fly – Finals

1. Matt McHugh, OSU – 45.46
2. Vinicius Lanza, IU – 45.64
3. Aaron Whitaker, MICH – 46.06

Ohio State sophomore Matt McHugh won a Big Ten title in the first of his two races on the night, successfully defending his 100 fly championship even with a tough test from Indiana freshman Vinicius Lanza.

McHugh went 45.46, blasting away at the field with a huge first split of 20.87 to win the event and come within .01 seconds of the meet record set by Michigan’s Chris Brady back in 2009.

Lanza closed extremely hard, but couldn’t run down McHugh in time, settling for second in 45.64 as the duo were the only two under 46 seconds.

Michigan swept the next two spots with Aaron Whitaker (46.06) and Evan White (46.59), and the other swimmer to crack 47 was Minnesota junior Daryl Turner at 46.91.

200 Free – Finals

1. Blake Pieroni, IU – 1:32.33
2. Anders Nielsen, MICH – 1:33.03
3. Peter Brumm, MICH – 1:33.62

A fast 200 free field shattered the pool record set by former Michigan star Dan Madwed in 2009, with the top 4 swimmers all getting under the old record.

Indiana’s Blake Pieroni led the way, rising from the third seed to the Big Ten champ in 1:32.33, just two tenths off the meet and conference record.

He blew out a tough field, finishing seven tenths ahead of runner-up Anders Nielsen of Michigan (1:33.03) and a full second ahead of the rest of the field.

Michigan took second and third, with Peter Brumm taking third place. Brumm swam the 100 fly/100 back double on this day last year, but didn’t place as high in either race as he did tonight. Brumm was 1:33.62, topping #1 prelims qualifier Anze Tavcar of Indiana (1:33.72) by a tenth.

Michigan and Indiana swept the top five sptos combined, with Jack Mangan going 1:34.21 for fifth.

The Wolverines also won the B final, and have extended their lead to more than 200 now. Ohio State maintained second place, now sitting 21.5 points up on Indiana.

100 Breast – Finals

1. Ian Finnerty, IU – 51.75
2. Roman Trussov, IA – 52.17
3. Tanner Kurz, IU – 52.32

Indiana’s Tanner Kurz led all swimmers out of prelims, but it was his teammate Ian Finnerty who took home the title at finals, going 51.75 to break the pool record and rattle the conference record of 51.41 set by Richard Funk last year.

Finnerty has had an explosive freshman year, dropping all the way from a 53-low to a 51.7 and becoming just the 5th man in Big Ten history to break 52 seconds.

Iowa’s Roman Trussov was right on the cusp of that barrier too, going 52.17 to sneak in for second place – that’s a drop of nearly a second form the prelims time that earned him the third seed.

Kurz faded to third, still putting up a 52.32, but missing his prelims swim by three tenths. Ohio State’s DJ MacDonald did slip back under 53 with a 52.96, but missed his time from last season and ended up 4th.

Indiana’s Cody Taylor was 53.00 in a big event for the Hoosiers, taking fifth. That helped push IU back ahead of Ohio State in the team points. Meanwhile, Minnesota sits third, just ahead of Wisconsin as Golden Gopher sophomore Conner McHugh won the B final and broke a prestigious school record in 52.89.

100 Back – Finals

1. Matt McHugh, OSU – 45.07
2. Aaron Whitaker, MICH – 45.97
3. Jason Chen, MICH – 46.65

Matt McHugh made it a perfect 2-for-2 on the night individually for Ohio State, going 45.07 to break the meet record and win the 100 backstroke.

McHugh once again opened the race at a blistering pace, going 21.71 on the opening split to take a big lead. He actually outsplit the field in the second 50 by a wide margin too, coming home in 23.36.

That’s an A cut and smashes the pool record he set in prelims by 1.2 seconds.

Michigan was second and third, with Aaron Whitaker going 45.97 and Jason Chen 46.65, topping Indiana’s Robert Glover (46.83). Also under 47 was Minnesota junior Daryl Turner, who went 46.99 while swimming that same 100 fly/100 back double as McHugh and Whitaker did.

Though Michigan has all but wrapped up a 6th consecutive Big Ten title, the team points battle for second is razor-thin. Ohio State won both the A and B finals (with McHugh and Thomas Trace, respectively) to earn a 3.5-point lead heading into the night’s final event, the 3-meter dive. Elsewhere, Minnesota leads Wisconsin by just 3 points for fourth.

3-meter Diving – Finals

1. Matt Barnard, MINN – 427.55
2. Colin Zeng, OSU – 427.40
3. Josh Arndt, IU – 400.20

In one of the tightest finishes of the meet so far, Minnesota’s Matt Barnard beat out Ohio State’s Colin Zeng for the 3-meter diving title by just .15 points.

Barnard scored 427.55 points to beat out Zeng, the 1-meter champion from Thursday night. Zeng scored 427.40.

Indiana’s Josh Arndt also broke 400 points, scoring 400.20, and in a big event for the Golden Gophers, Dylan Zoe took fourth with 392.80 points.

Team Scores Through 3 Days:

Michigan leads handily up 149 points on Ohio State. The battle for second is outstanding, with OSU leading Indiana by just 10.5 heading into the final day. And behind them, Minnesota has put a big of space between themselves and Wisconsin and Purdue for fourth.

1. Michigan – 1005
2. Ohio State – 855.5
3. Indiana – 845
4. Minnesota – 611
5. Wisconsin – 518
6. Purdue – 501
7. Iowa – 382
8. Northwestern – 337
9. Penn State – 283.5
10. Michigan State – 189