2017 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap — Pieroni Leads off with 1:31.8

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

The 2017 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships are set to kick off tonight in Columbus, Ohio. Swimmers will be competing in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. Indiana will be looking to dethrone Michigan, led by returning champions Blake Pieroni and Ian Finnerty. The Wolverines will look to defend their streak with defending champions Paul Powers, Tristan Sanders, and PJ Ransford.

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:25.05
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:25.86
  • B1G Meet Record: Michigan, 2013, 1:23.25
  1. Indiana (Bob Glover, Ian Finnerty, Vini Lanza, Ali Khalafalla): 1:23.61
  2. Michigan (Tristan Sanders, Chris Klein, Vini Tafuto, Paul Powers): 1:24.03
  3. Ohio State (Matt McHugh, Jack Barone, Noah Lense, Mossimo Chavez): 1:24.15

The Hoosiers kicked off the meet in resounding fashion, soundly defeating defending champion Michigan and coming within  few tenths of the meet record in the 200 medley relay.  The squad of Bob Glover (21.19), Ian Finnerty (23.62), Vini Lanza (20.37), and Ali Khalafalla (18.43) finished in 1:23.61, a new school record.  The Wolverines finished 2nd, as Tristan Sanders led things off in 21.67, then Chris Klein closed the gap with a 23.23, while Vini Tafuto (20.54) and Paul Powers (18.59) closed things out for an overall time of 1:24.03.  That’s actually 0.09s faster than Michigan’s winning time from last year.  The OSU men almost kept pace with Michigan.  Matt McHugh led things off in 21.20, then Jack Barone (23.40), Noah Lense (20.68), and Mossimo Chavez (18.87) kept things close, finishing 3rd in 1:24.15.

 

MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY

  • NCAA ‘A’ cut: 6:20.67
  • NCAA ‘B’ cut: 6:24.50
  • B1G Meet Record: Michigan, 2014, 6:09.85
  1. Indiana (Blake Pieroni, Marwan El Kamash, Anze Tavcar, Mohamed Samy): 6:11.98
  2. Wisconsin (Cannon Clifton, Ryan Stack, Matthew Hutchins, Brett Pinfold): 6:13.78
  3. Michigan (Mokhtar Al-Yamani, Felix Auboeck, Tristan Sanders, Jack Mangan): 6:14.00

Junior Blake Pieroni scorched a 1:31.83 lead off, the fastest 200 time in the NCAA so far this year, and Indiana never looked back.  Fellow Hoosiers Marwan el Kamash (1:33.41), Anze Tavcar (1:33.54), and Mohamed Samy (1:33.20) followed Pieroni and set another new school record en route to an almost-two second victory.

Wisconsin and Michigan waged a battle for second place.  Wisconsin’s Cannon Clifton opened it up by out splitting Mokhtar Al-Yamani, 1:33.32 to 1:34.78.  The Wolverines battled back with a 1:31.74 split by Felix Auboeck against Ryan Stack’s 1:34.90.  Tristan Sanders held the lead against Matthew Hutchins, 1:34.19 to 1:33.75, and it came down to the final leg.  Wisconsin’s Brett Pinfold rocked yet another 1:31 split, outracing Jack Mangan 1:31.81 to 1:33.29, and giving Wisconsin a 2nd place finish by a 0.22 margin, 6:13.78 to 6:14.00.

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rjr
7 years ago

Felix will be noticed very soon…..

jay ryan
7 years ago

Felix Auboeck 1:31.74 split for Michigan, almost goes unrecognized.

Uberfan
7 years ago

This is nuts this year you also got returning all Americans Kremer, Fleagle and Carter, Carter has looked especially good. The 200 free is going to be nuts. Dean Farris also split a 1:31 but don’t let that distract you from the fact that The Undertaker threw Mankind 16 feet from the ground in a 1998 Hell in the Cell match.

Uberfan
7 years ago

This is nuts this year you also got returning all Americans Kremer, Fleagle and Carter, Carter has looked especially good. The 200 free is going to be nuts. Dean Farris also split a 1:31 but don’t let that distract you from me fact that The Undertaker threw Mankind 16 feet from the ground in a 1998 Hell in the Cell match.

Kolby
7 years ago

Indiana won that 800free relay handily without using their heavy hitter Matt Anderson. Great start Hoosiers!

Harambe
7 years ago

I heard he dabbed on both his start and finish and immediately shotgunned a red bull as soon as he got out of the water. Interesting to see if he will chose to swim this on Friday of NCAAs when 3m diving is the clearly the better fit for Pieroni

That Guy
Reply to  Harambe
7 years ago

I heard he also flipped so hard on the bulkhead end he moved it further back, making his 1:31 more impressive since he really swam a 210

N P
7 years ago

My stars, did Pieroni just go fast! That makes him the 7th fastest performer ever, according to USA Swimming. Only the 10th person to go under 1:32.

1. Townley Haas 1:30.46
2. Ricky Berens 1:31.31
3. Joao De Lucca 1:31.51
4. Shaune Fraser 1:31.70
5. David Walters 1:31.72
6. Conor Dwyer 1:31.73
7. Blake Pieroni 1:31.83 <-
8. Jack Conger 1:31.89
9. Yannick Agnel 1:31.90
10. Darian Townsend 1:31.93

Admin
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

N P – you’ve got a few missing in there. Koski went 1:31.54 last year chasing Haas, and Simon Burnett went 1:31.20 in 2006 (which was the record until Haas broke it last year).

He’s the 12th person to ever go under 1:32.

N P
Reply to  Braden Keith
7 years ago

Thank you for the clarification! That was such a fast swim for this time of year – I’m really hoping someone will get under 1:30 this March!

EasyBreezy
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

Simon Burnett?

needforspeed
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

what about simon burnett?

Stoyle
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

Missing at least one name, Simon Burnett 1:31.20 from 06 NCAA

jay ryan
Reply to  Stoyle
7 years ago

1:31.20 from Burnett was at the pre-Xmas invitational.

Tea rex
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

Missing Simon Burnett

Harambe
Reply to  N P
7 years ago

I heard he dabbed on both his start and finish and immediately shotgunned a red bull as soon as he got out of the water. Interesting to see if he will chose to swim this on Friday of NCAAs when 3m diving is the clearly the better fit for Pieroni

DREDD
7 years ago

Blake is unshaved. I smell a 1:30 in the near future. Townley has some competition

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