2017 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 4 Prelims 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)
  • Schedule of Events
  • Live Results
  • Streaming (BTN subscription required)
  • Championship Central: here

The Indiana Hoosiers all-but-locked up the Big Ten title on Saturday morning by getting call-backs for 15 of their 16 swims from the 4 prelims session events, including top seeds in the 200 back and 200 fly. With platform diving, where Indiana excels, and the mile, where Michigan is good but Indiana is better with 6 of the top 14 seeds, the Hoosiers will be hard-pressed to give away the 60.5 point lead they hold over Ohio State and 75.5 point lead over Michigan after 3 days of competition.

The Buckeyes, with defending NCAA platform champion Collin Zeng, are in the best position to pick off the Hoosiers, though they don’t have as much in the mile as either Michigan or Indiana.

Men’s 200 Back – Prelims

  • Big Ten Championship Record – Eric Ress, Indiana, 1:38.89
  • NCAA “A” Cut – 1:39.87
  • NCAA “B” Cut – 1:46.39
  1. Bob Glover, Indiana, 1:41.59
  2. Brett Pinfold, Wisconsin, 1:41.75
  3. Kenneth Mende, Iowa, 1:42.19
  4. Thomas Trace, Ohio State, 1:42.66
  5. Jack Mangan, Michigan, 1:42.75
  6. Luke Papendick, Michigan, 1:42.95
  7. Tristan Sanders, Michigan, 1:43.22
  8. Jacob Thomas, Purdue, 1:43.24

Indiana senior Bob Glover kicked off the morning session with a 1:41.59 top qualifying time in the 200 back, just out-pacing Wisconsin’s Brett Pinfold, who was 2nd in 1:41.75. For Glover that was near his lifetime best, and for Pinfold it was his lifetime best, coming out of two programs with strong histories in this event.

Iowa’s Kenneth Mende tied the school record in the 200 back with a 1:42.19 – one of two school records for the Hawkeyes in the morning session – Jack Smith swam 43.15 in the 100 free for the other school record.

Ohio State (Thomas Trace, 4th, 1:42.66) and Michigan (Jack Mangan, 5th, 1:42.75) are also represented in the top 8. Michigan put 3 swimmers into the top 8 of this event, along with another 2 into the B final, which should surge them close to the Hoosiers after the first event on Saturday evening.

Men’s 100 Free – Prelims

  • Big Ten Championship Record – Shane Ryan, Penn State, 42.08
  • NCAA “A” Cut – 42.25
  • NCAA “B” Cut – 44.29
  1. Cannon Clifton, Wisconsin, 42.00
  2. Shane Ryan, Penn State, 42.14
  3. Bowen Becker, Minnesota, 42.24 (TIE)
  4. Blake Pieroni, Indiana, 42.24
  5. Josh Fleagle, Ohio State, 42.48
  6. Anze Tavcar, Indiana, 42.72
  7. Ali Khlafalla, Indiana, 42.80
  8. Paul Powers, Michigan, 42.84

Any momentum that Michigan picked up in the 200 back, they gave right back to Indiana in the 100 free. The Hoosiers put 3 swimmers into the A-final, while Michigan has just one: Paul Powers, the 8th qualifier in 42.84. Powers did win the 50 in a new conference record earlier in the meet, so he should climb the ranks in finals.

Indiana actually had 5 of the top 10 qualifiers in the 100 free.

Wisconsin’s Cannon Clifton was the fastest in the heats with a 42.00, which is an NCAA Automatic Qualifying Time and breaks the Big Ten Championship Record. That record was previously held by Shane Ryan, who qualified 2nd on Saturday with a 42.14. Olympian Blake Pieroni touched in 42.24, matched by Minnesota’s Bowen Becker.

Men’s 200 Breast – Prelims

  • Big Ten Championship Record – Cody Miller, Indiana, 1:51.03
  • NCAA “A” Cut – 1:52.99
  • NCAA “B” Cut – 1:59.79
  1. Marat Amaltdinov, Purdue, 1:53.76
  2. Christopher Klein, Michigan, 1:53.93
  3. Jacob Montague, Michigan, 1:55.00
  4. Conner McHugh, Minnesota, 1:55.04
  5. Jack Barone, Ohio State, 1:55.46
  6. John Bushman, Minnesota, 1:55.51
  7. Jakub Maly, Minnesota, 1:55.66
  8. Charles Swanson, Michigan, 1:55.80

Purdue is aiming for its third-straight title in this event thanks to Marat Amaltdinov‘s prelims swim of 1:53.76. He’ll have to remain patient in finals, though, as Michigan’s Chris Klein opened up with a fast 25.39 split en route to a 2nd qualifying 1:53.93.

Nobody else is really within striking distance after prelims, though Minnesota’s Conner McHugh didn’t swim his season best in prelims (1:55.04) and could be saved up for finals.

Michigan had 3 swimmers in the A-Final, and Minnesota had 4. The Gophers aren’t in contention for the overall team title, but are holding on to about a 50 point lead over Purdue and Wisconsin – both of whom have strong final days ahead of them.

Men’s 200 Fly – Prelims

  • Big Ten Championship Record – Dylan Bosch, Michigan, 1:40.37
  • NCAA “A” Cut – 1:41.86
  • NCAA “B” Cut – 1:47.99
  1. Vinicius Lanza, Indiana, 1:42.22
  2. Miles Smachlo, Michigan, 1:42.86
  3. Noah Lense, Ohio State, 1:43.14
  4. Max Irwin, Indiana, 1:43.53
  5. Evan White, Michigan, 1:43.71
  6. Henrique Painhas, Ohio State, 1:44.85
  7. Michael Salazar, Ohio State, 1:45.60
  8. Harrison Tran, Wisconsin, 1:45.70

Indiana’s Vinicius Lanza, already the Big Ten Champion in the 200 IM and the runner-up in the 100 fly, qualified 1st into the final of the 200 fly on Saturday. His 1:42.22 bested a pair of freshmen, Michigan’s Miles Smachlo (1:42.86) and Ohio State’s Noah Lense (1:43.14), for the middle lane in finals.

Lanza had a 5 second margin over anybody else in the field in-season this year, and so is the heavy favorite in finals – in spite of a big prelims drop for Smachlo. In spite of that result, though, Michigan took another lump in this 200 fly by only putting 2 into the final (Evan White is the other, qualifying 5th in 1:43.71). They entered the meet with 3 of the top 6 seeds, but senior Julian Ballestas slid all the way to 18th in prelims.

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SHOCKED
7 years ago

Wow, Ohio State is really going to win this meet..

BODY SHOTS
Reply to  SHOCKED
7 years ago

LOL

SUNY Cal
7 years ago

Still really think MI has a chance to pull this out? It all depends on divers and relay I guess!! Bottom must be going nuts to think he would lose his reign on BIG championships, not losing in 7 yrs on men’s side. Guess there’s a changing of the tide at MI – women’s team moving up and men’s going bkwd!!

B1G Poppa
Reply to  SUNY Cal
7 years ago

Or they’re 150 pts better in the pool with no divers. Potato/Potahto.

SVIRD
Reply to  B1G Poppa
7 years ago

Don’t even. Indiana has won 3 of the 4 relays, while Michigan has been back in 3rd-4th. Michigan got soundly smacked this meet.

SUNY Cal
Reply to  SVIRD
7 years ago

I agree, few yrs bk MI won & they brought no divers!! I guess Bottom won’t give any scholarship $ to divers so it’s hard to get any top talent. Mostly all divers they get are in state only.

IUFan
Reply to  SVIRD
7 years ago

OSU has a good shot of winning after diving. HaS anyone scored out based on prelims placing? It has to be close between the 3 teams.

Buckeye1
7 years ago

LETS GO BUCKSSSSSS

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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