2017 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

• 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)
• Schedule of Events
• Live Results
• Streaming (BTN subscription required)
• Championship Central: here

Day Three of the 2017 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships are set to continue tonight in Columbus, Ohio. Swimmers will be competing in the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 individual free, 100 breast, and the 100 back. The divers will also compete in the 3-meter springboard. Big names from across the conference—Wisconsin’s Brett Pinfold and Matt Hutchins, Ohio State’s Matt McHugh, Indiana’s Blake Pieroni, and Penn State’s Shane Ryan—will all see action tonight as they seek to maximize their championship points for their respective teams.

Indiana is currently leading the meet (562 points), while Michigan (461.5) and Ohio State (430) round out the top three.

Men’s 100 Fly Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 45.73
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 48.29
• B1G Meet Record: Ohio State, 2017, 45.29 (Matt McHugh)

1. Matt McHugh, Ohio State, 44.91
2. Vinicius Lanza, Indiana, 45.07
3. Cannon Clifton, Wisconsin, 45.81

Ohio State’s Matt McHugh broke his own Big Ten Championship Record, set in prelims, with a 44.91 in the 100 fly final to open up Day Three and defend his title. That’s already 7-tenths of a second faster than McHugh was in the NCAA final last season, where he placed 6th.

With the Big 12 and ACC yet to swim their 100 fly finals, he now ranks 3rd nationally behind only Caeleb Dressel at Florida (44.21) and Andrew Sansoucie at Missouri (44.86). McHugh becomes just the 15th man in history to go under 45 seconds in the event.

Indiana’s Vinicius Lanza,  who already has an individual 200 IM victory this week, placed second in 45.07. That time breaks the Indiana school record and is an NCAA Automatic Qualifying Time.

Wisconsin’s Cannon Clifton took 3rd in 45.81, joining the school record run.

In spite of Lanza’s runner-up finish, Michigan still clawed back big points in the 100 fly with 4 swimmers in the top ten, as compared to just one for the Hoosiers.

Men’s 400 IM Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 3:40.76
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 3:54.49
• B1G Meet Record: Michigan, 2009, 3:38.03 (Tyler Clary)

1. Charles Swanson, Michigan, 3:41.13
2. Jakub Maly, Minnesota, 3:44.41
3. Ching Lim, Ohio State, 3:46.89

Michigan freshman Charles Swanson came away with his first individual B1G title in a big way, winning by more than three seconds over second-place Jakub Maly, a senior at Minnesota. Swanson finished 10th in the 200 IM yesterday. Swanson was one of only two underclassmen to make the final heat. The other underclassman was sophomore Stephen Holmquist, also from Michigan, who finished in 3:48.21. Michigan put four swimmers in the A-final, and racked up 103 points in the event.

Purdue’s Joshua Brooks finished fourth (3:47.58), and Michigan’s Cameron Stitt touched in fifth (3:47.72).

Men’s 200 Free Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:32.97
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:37.99
• B1G Meet Record: Michigan, 2014, 1:32.14 (Michael Wynalda)

1. Blake Pieroni, Indiana, 1:32.13
2. Joshua Fleagle, Ohio State, 1:33.25
3. Felix Auboeck, Michigan, 1:33.27

Blake Pieroni appears to be riding the momentum from this past summer’s Olympics, as he lowered the B1G meet record by one tenth. He was more than a second ahead of second-place Ohio State senior Joshua Fleagle. Michigan continues to flaunt its stellar freshman class, as newcomer Felix Auboeck fell just two-tenths shy of Fleagle’s time to finish third with a 1:33.27. Wisconsin senior Brett Pinfold got fourth (1:33.85), and Indiana junior Mohamed Samy got fifth (1:34.05).

It was a bit of a kooky 200 free final, as the top seed from prelims, Indiana senior Marwan El Kamash, faded to the last position in the A-final heat. His time of 1:35.86 was more than 2.5 seconds slower than his morning swim.

Men’s 100 Breast Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 51.93
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 55.39
• B1G Meet Record: Indiana, 2013, 51.50 (Cody Miller)

1. Ian Finnerty, Indiana, 51.38
2. Jacob Montague, Michigan, 52.08
3. Jack Barone, Ohio State, 52.26

The final of the B1G men’s 100 breast was a swift one, as 6 swimmers dipped under 53 seconds. Indiana sophomore Ian Finnerty eclipsed Olympian Cody Miller’s B1G meet record by .12 seconds. He won the event comfortably, but the remaining competitors were tightly bunched. The 4th and 5th spots both went to Gophers, as Conner McHugh swam a 52.44 and Eric Sande touched in 52.52.

Men’s 100 Back Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 45.37
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 48.49
• B1G Meet Record: Ohio State, 2016, 45.07 (Matt McHugh)

1. Shane Ryan, Penn State, 44.65
2. Matt McHugh, Ohio State, 45.52
3. Robert Glover, Indiana, 46.45

Penn State’s Shane Ryan put a stop to Matt McHugh‘s winning ways, and also swiped his B1G meet record in the 100 back from last year’s championships. Ryan’s time won by nearly a second, and took more than half a second off the meet record. McHugh secured the silver by a comfortable margin, even if he was a bit tired from his lights out swim in the 100 fly earlier this evening.

Ohio State’s Thomas Trace finished in fourth (46.53) and Michigan’s Tristan Sanders finished fifth (46.61).

Men’s 3 Meter Diving Finals

• NCAA qualifying: 320 points

1. Michael Hixon, Indiana, 520.40
2. Collin Zeng, Ohio State, 510.30
3. Steele Johnson, Purdue, 506.45

Olympian Michael Hixon, also known as Zac Efron’s “secret twin,” took top honors over a talented field. Said field included fellow 2016 Olympian Steele Johnson.

Penn State’s Hector Boissier finished fourth (465.85), and Hixon’s teammate, James Connor, finished fifth (455.95).

Men’s 200 Free Relay Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:17.77
• NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:18.46
• B1G Meet Record: Michigan, 2013, 1:16.42 (Turk, M. Ortiz, Fletcher, B. Ortiz)

1. Ohio State, 1:16.61
2. Indiana, 1:16.72
3. Michigan, 1:17.58

Ohio State took more than two seconds off its entry time to win the event. Matt McHugh split an 18.85 and Josh Fleagle split a 19.00. Indiana came in second thanks to a 18.93 split from Blake Pieroni. Michigan’s Paul Power led off in an 18.98.

Minnesota grabbed 4th and Iowa topped Wisconsin to grab fifth.

After Event 14, Indiana has retained its first place ranking, while Ohio State has clipped Michigan to slide into the second position. The top three teams have broken away from the remaining seven teams in the field, but they are within 76 points of one another. There is just one day of competition remaining.