2017 MEN’S B1G SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When:Â Wednesday, February 22th to Saturday, February 25th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
- Where:Â Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion:Â Michigan Wolverines (results)
- Live Results
- Streaming (BTN subscription required)
- Championship Central:Â here
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Thursday Prelims Heat Sheets
Indiana took the lead after the first night of competition, scoring 128 points to Michigan’s 110. Both Ohio State and Wisconsin are very much in the mix as we enter the first day of individual events, which includes the men’s 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 freestyle. Indiana senior Marwan El Kamash enters the meet as the top seed in the 500 freestyle, joined by fellow seniors Jordan Wilimovsky from Northwestern and Matthew Hutchins from Wisconsin. All are chasing the B1G record of 4:12.37, the oldest mark on the books and held by Michigan’s Olympic medalist Peter Vanderkaay.
Indiana also holds the top seed in the 200 IM in the form of Vinicius Lanza‘s swift mark of 1:43.57, an entry just over a second off of the NCAA ‘A’ cut. Michigan’s Paul Powers, last year’s B1G champion in the splash n’ dash, is the top seed for today’s 50 freestyle prelims as he tries to repeat his title.
MEN’S 500 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- NCAA ‘A’ cut: 4:13.22
- NCAA ‘B’ cut: 4:24.99
- B1G Meet Record: Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan, 2005 – 4:12.37
- Top 8:
- Felix Auboeck, Michigan – 4:13.36
- Matthew Hutchins, Wisconsin – 4:14.26
- Marwan El Kamash, Indiana – 4:15.00
- Brayden Seal, Ohio State – 4:15.11
- Jackson Miller, Indiana – 4:15.24
- PJ Ransford, Michigan – 4:15.78
- Jordan Wilimovsky, Northwestern, 4:16.30
- Joseph Long, Ohio State – 4:16.67
The key players in this event staked their claim early, with the top two swimmers nailing their fastest times so far this season. Freshman Felix Auboeck of Michigan led the pack with his super quick mark of 4:13.36, a personal best by 4 seconds and just .14 off of the NCAA ‘A’ standard. He also became the 6th-fastest Michigan swimmer of all-time with that performance. This Wolverine is on a roll, having knocked out a mighty 800 free relay split of 1:31.74 to help his squad power to a bronze medal finish last night. All 7 Michigan swimmers made it back for tonight’s finals in this event, with 2 in the A, 3 in the B and  in the C final.
Wisconsin’s 2016 B1G runner-up in this event, Matthew Hutchins is also gunning for the win in the men’s 500m free tonight, establishing himself as the 2nd seed in 4:14.26. That’s just shy of his season-best of 4:15.03 from December. Hutchins ultimately finished 6th in this event at NCAAs last year, clocking a time of 4:13.36, so he’s capable of firing off a big swim tonight.
Also lurking in tonight’s A final is PJ Ransford of Michigan, last year’s B1G 3rd place finisher, as well as 2016 Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky who nabbed the 7th seed in 4:16.30. Ohio State saw two swimmers score places in tonight’s A-Final in the form of Brayden Seal and Joseph Long, while the Hoosiers also nabbed 2 A-final swimmers in Marwan El Kamash and Jackson Miller.
MEN’S 200 IM – PRELIMS
- NCAA ‘A’ cut: 1:42.15
- NCAA ‘B’ cut: 1:49.09
- B1G Meet Record: Kyle Whitaker, Michigan, 2014 – 1:41.14
- Top 8:
- Vinicius Lanza, Indiana – 1:43.29
- Ian Finnerty, Indiana – 1:43.33
- Brett Pinfold, Wisconsin – 1:43.76
- Jacob Montague, Michigan – 1:44.12
- Evan White, Michigan – 1:44.30
- Blake Pieroni, Indiana – 1:44.46
- Jakub Maly, Minnesota – 1:44.58
- Christopher Klein, Michigan – 1:44.65
Hoosier sophomore Vinicius Lanza produced a big-time swim this morning to take the top seed in the men’s 200 IM. The Brazilian athlete touched in 1:43.29 to shave about .3 of a second off of his personal best from just December of this year. Teammate Ian Finnerty also broke his previous best-time barrier, firing off a solid 1:43.33 to take the 2nd seed headed into tonight’s final. This pair is used to battling together, as they finished in 4th (Finnerty) and 5th (Lanza) at last year’s B1G championship meet.
A 3rd Hoosier, Blake Pieroni, last night’s 200m freestyle lead-off hero, also threw down a lifetime best to make it into the 200 IM final, stopping the clock at 1:44.46 for 6th.
For the Wolverines, this could be a big point pick-up event, with 3 swimmers making it back to the A final. Even without IM maestro Dylan Bosch, last year’s B1G champion in this event, Michigan is well-represented by Jacob Montague, Evan White and Christopher Klein.
Badger Brett Pinfold was the other sub-1:44 swimmer on the morning, checking in as the 3rd seed in 1:43.76. That time sits just .02 off of the Wisconsin school record and represents the first time the senior has dipped into 1:43 territory.
MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- NCAA ‘A’ cut: 19.09
- NCAA ‘B’ cut: 20.19
- B1G Meet Record:Â Paul Powers, Michigan, 2016 – 18.85
- Top 8:
- Ali Khalafalla, Indiana – 19.00
- Paul Powers, Michigan – 19.26
- Bowen Becker, Minnesota – 19.34
- Cannon Clifton, Wisconsin – 19.44
- Matt McHugh, Ohio State – 19.59
- Mossimo Chavez, Ohio State – 19.59
- Shane Ryan, Penn State – 19.63
- Samuel Lorentz, Indiana – 19.70
5 of the 8 A-finalists from last year’s B1G Championships have returned to tonight’s final, led by Indiana’s Ali Khalafalla. Earning a new school record, Khalafalla stopped the clock this morning in 19.00. That dips beneath the NCAA ‘A’ standard and blows away his previous personal best of 19.21, the time that earned him 11th at last year’s NCAAs. It also establishes Khalafalla as the 2nd fastest NCAA D1 swimmer to date, sitting only behind Florida’s Caeleb Dressel (18.46).
Last year’s Big Ten champion, Paul Powers, played it cool this morning, touching in 19.26 for the 2nd seed. He was the only swimmer to venture into the 18-second threshold last year, so we’ll see what the junior has in store tonight. He’s the sole Wolverine in tonight’s A-final.
Ohio State scored two spots in tonight’s A-final, led by Matt McHugh‘s 19.59 in 5th. Mossimo Chavez made it back in 19.59 for the 6th seed. Wisconsin’s Cannon Clifton lowered his own school record with his AM mark of 19.44 and will be looking to improve upon his 8th place B1G finish from 2016’s meet.
Of note, there is a 3-way tie for 16th among Iowa’s William Scott, Michigan’s Vinny Tafuto and Minnesota’s Paul Fair. All 3 men touched in 19.85 and will compete in a swim-off for the B-Final slot.
Michigan freshman Jacob Montague split a 28.9 on the breaststroke of that 200 IM. Expect a huge 200 breast out of this kid, could win it.
Question for the Big Ten coaching staff and for SwimSwam staff. What is being done to increase the African American and Hispanic American representation on Big Ten swim teams? If you take out the contributions from South American and Caribbean international swimmers, the rosters look like this is an all white country club sport.
Well, there’s this really biased, complex process for picking swimmers for college teams. If someone is good at swimming, they get recruited. If someone gets recruited, they swim on the team
Out of curiosity, what do you expect to be done? Coaches are going to recruit athletes based on their times and rate of improvement. Wether or not the athlete is black or hispanic has absolutely nothing to do with wether or not they will get a spot on a big ten team, it comes down to the talent. And sadly, swimming is not that popular among black and hispanic communities. The coaches have no influence over this.
Not looking at the micro level of who got picked for the current teams (of course those who were recruited earned it) but more a macro level concerning what type of efforts have been made to increase diversity and access to opportunity. Long term strategic planning and capacity building efforts. Identifying ALL stakeholders who can influence opportunity.
Are the Big Ten coaching staffs actively involved in diversity outreach with youth swim clubs? Are the Big Ten coaching staffs aggressively recruiting swimmers from USA Swimming’s Diversity Select Camps? Does SwimSwam regularly highlight success stories wrt building diversity in the sport, do they use their platform to increase access to opportunity to all.
It would be a shame if 20 years from… Read more »
All of the B1G coaches are actively recruiting Reece Whitely.
See this is a very tough question to answer. While as a coach, you look at raw numbers, and speed measured by a clock… You shouldn’t understate the impact you can have by recruiting a diverse roster. Personally, I wouldn’t know what to do if I had 2 recruits, similar speed, both nice kids, but one was black, one Swedish. Yeah, it’s probably harder to get to an elite swimming level for the average African American. But the sheer objectivity of a clock makes me reluctant to pick as a form of AA.
Dude, I couldn’t tell you what the correct response is. Like i said, very tough question.
I’m sorry you’ve hit such an intense wall of ignorance that people are downvoting you and replying with dopey comments, for asking a pretty reasonable question. It’s true that college probably isn’t the place to start, in terms of broadening the sport’s talent pool, but it’s a spirt-wide issue and answering by again, “black people don’t like to swim” just makes you look foolish. Social issues aside, if a sport has a broader base to draw from, the overall quality of athletes will go up. Swimming has real limitations here, due to costs, culture and no doubt a lot of other factors. I’d be interested to hear what top-level college coaches think about this.
Thank you… of course my original post really was a question designed to elicit conversation, awareness, and continued action. And of course college isnt the place to start, but college coaches do have a seat at the table with regards to assisting with solutions.
The hyper-aggressive obtuse responses, the immense downvoting without explanation, etc. actually is one of many symptoms of the challenge in making progress. (although we are making progress of course). Too many people stay within their comfortable lives and within their stovepipes, saying “not my problem”. The collegiate coach says “I’m paid to win meets, not my problem.” The USA Swimming local swim club coach says “I’m paid to coach the kids of engineers, doctors, and… Read more »
It’s not that black people don’t like to swim, so much as it is that their fellow black peers push them to participate more in football and basketball instead of olympic sports.
What an asinine and vile question? I bet you believe affirmative action isn’t racist too. Everything that has to do with athletics and academics is and should meritorious. To put a black or Hispanic swimmer on these teams based on the idea of inclusion is only a burden for said teams. That would take a scholarship spot that another *qualified* swimmer could have had. So not only is that unfair to the respective schools, it’s inherently racist against whites.
Asking how we diversify our beautiful sport is asinine? Hmmm… maybe James Brock pouring muriatic acid into a motel pool to rid the pool of blacks was asinine… maybe restrictive housing covenants and planning & zoning committees building public pools with public tax dollars in all white neighborhoods was asinine… these asinine attitudes and policies resulted in our current state of 70% of blacks, 60% of hispanics, and 60% of immigrants not being able to swim. I did not state, or imply, that token Black or Hispanic swimmers should be added to collegiate swim teams. I was asking a long term strategic question.
We have at least three large metro areas in Iowa with significant populations of Black, Hispanic,… Read more »
I don’t think I’d call this question “asinine”, but I’m also not sure that Big Ten coaches are responsible for trying to fix it – are you also asking what the area club coaches are doing to bring exposure to these areas? What about the parents of these families – are you asking them why they’re not exposing their children to swim programs at earlier ages? If those programs aren’t available, are those families reaching out to their local programs? I think there are a whole lot of possible options here, and while the Big Ten coaches may be able to play a larger role, I think it’s unfair to say it rests on them to do something about the… Read more »
The asininity and vileness that I speak of is directed to how he phrased it. He accuses the coaches and not the USA Swimming organization. That’s the asininity.
Let me parse your response….
1. “I’m not sure Big Ten coaches are responsible for trying to fix it.” Of course they are a stakeholder… they can can run camps and clinics, outreach to minority communities via staff and student athlete, partner with USA Swimming and YMCA LSCs, etc. Lots to do if they choose. Lots NOT being done currently.
2. “Are you asking what club coaches are doing?” Of course they are a stakeholder too, but this is a SwimSwam page dedicated to the Big Ten Swimming, so I’m asking about the college coaching involvement here.
3. “What about the parents of the families?” This question represents 90% of the problem with trying to fix the problem. The… Read more »
No. Diversity in swimming is not asinine nor did I imply it. You specifically asked about diversity within a specific conference within a certain higher level of competition. Coaches of these teams have no obligation to give special attention to minority groups in order to get them on their teams. You talk about a social problem within minority communities not producing top level talents within swimming. Do not conflate the production of talent with the final product. High level coaches should have laser focus on recruiting the top recruits they can get and developing the swimmers they currently have. On top of that, it would be unfair to the entire swimming community for these top level coaches to visit with… Read more »
Your response is my “mic drop” to end this conversation. Open mouth, insert foot, remove all doubt of the problem we all face. Thanks for comments all, I’m out 🙂
Although this question is an important one, B10 is NOT an ALL white. There is a very fast African American on 1 of the better teams, I saw at least two of mixed race & a few of different Hispanic backgrounds (ex…Brazil) on PS & 1 from Israel. Even their Diving is diverse. I know that USA Swimming has been active in trying to teach Water safety in the inter cities. I participated a few years back, in a Diversity Camp in Camden, NJ, Athony Irvin was there. (Who BTW is proudly 1/2 Black & 1/2 Jewish) So things are moving forward in the right direction but it also takes alot of dedication from parents for this sports. In addition,… Read more »
I agree, Anthony Irvin is an awesome dude! Had many a beer with him many moons ago. Diversity camps are great, the optics and awareness of of Lia and Simone and Natalie and Cullen are great too. But take out all international swimmers and the Big Ten swim meet is very white (but you’re right, not all white). Much work to do.
The teams are going to reflect the ethnicity of the talent pool of available swimmers. It seems you are insisting that the coaches should search out and discriminate in favor of an AA recruit if he is “close enough” with his times or his potential improvement trajectory. Maybe we should apply the same standard to the NBA and insist on more white athletes. If America is half white than it should be illegal for an NBA to have fewer than 8/15 roster spots going to the white athletes. The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of certainty involved in swimming because of the use of the clock. In many team sports it can pretty… Read more »
You missed the point. I was speaking to Big Ten coaching staffs getting involved in minority communities to assist in building diversity at the grassroots level, from pre-K, to K-12. I was speaking to the SwimSwam staff using their platform to help with a long term strategic approach to increasing diversity in YOUTH swimming. These type of efforts by all stake holders will ensure we have lots of Lia’s and Simone’s and Natalie’s and Cullen’s and Anthony’ s in college swimming 20 years from now. It doesn’t just happen. It takes awareness, planning, etc.
And yes the clock is objective… I was a sub 4:20 500y freestyler, and a sub 15:00 1650y freestyler and I remember every 5am practice,… Read more »
You got this so wrong. He was not talking about “affirmative action ” for college swimming. That would be absolutely nuts.
He was simply talking about increasing the presence of minorities in the sport of swimming. I think this is already slowly happening. Many African American kids probably have never even thought of swimming as a sport until they saw or heard about Simone Manuel winning a gold medal. I think the real problem is the lack of exposure in the sport of swimming. A televised Olympic swimming event every 4 years is not enough. Swim meets need to be accessible like college football games. It’s hard work to watch a swim meet. You might even need a special… Read more »
What really bugs me about questions like this is you don’t reveal what you are doing or have done. You state you were an All-American. Surely you could be doing something…don’t just have to be a B1G coach. Peter Vanderkaay runs an organization called Detroit Swims that reaches to the inner city. And i know Mike Bottom and his elite team at CW has also been involved in this process.
I’m familiar with the Detroit Swims programs through their metro YMCA, it’s a nice YMCA and a nice program. There are a lot of urban YMCA programs in the Big Ten region that are doing similar work. My original post was simply a question, what is being done by the Big Ten coaching staffs and the SwimSwam staff to make the sport inclusive. Not what is USA Swimming doing, not what are prior Olympians doing, not what are parents doing, not what is Michael Phelps doing, not what are you or I doing, but what are the Big Ten coaching staffs and the SwimSwam staff doing for their part of the solution? This is the appropriate place to ask the… Read more »
Since I’ve focused on asking what Big Ten coaching staffs are doing, I should also ask is SwimSwam doing all they can? I see an annual post announcing Diversity Camps, and an occasional human interest story like the one Braden wrote in 2013 about Manuel, Neal, and Hu. How about setting an editorial goal of one story a month focusing on diversity issues… success stories, human interest stories, etc. It can even have a catchy title so we can all look forward to it. How about developing a group of special contributors who provide regular input on the topic. How about an annual video highlighting the Diversity Camps with the opportunity of getting to know the human story behind the… Read more »
It also struck me as I was looking through the SwimSwam staff biographies. The staff of SwimSwam looks like the rosters of most college swim teams, very white. It may be valuable to get a different perspective by adding a Black/Hispanic individual to your staff. Or if your budget is limited, at least a dedicated group of Black/Hispanic regular volunteer contributors. Diversity in journalism is a good thing.
Please… If you have anything else to complain about, please tell us.
forgive us for not being as enlightened as you. You still haven’t told us what you are doing. You may think my post is aggressive, i think your is accusative.
I noticed Iowa didn’t have a single swimmer make the A, B, or C final in the 500y freestyle. I also noticed most of their distance swimmers do not consistently improve on a year to year basis.
Chris Dawson:
HS: 4:27
FR: 4:23
SO: 4:28
JU: 4:25
Kyle Gannon:
HS: 4:29
FR: 4:28
SO: 4:22
JU: 4:29
SR: 4:26
Thomas Rathbun:
HS: 4:30
FR: 4:27
SO: 4:29
JU: 4:26
Forrest White:
HS: 4:30
FR: 4:26
Michael Tenney:
HS: 4:27
FR: 4:27
Logan Samuelson:
HS: 4:22
FR: 4:25 (Auburn)
SO: 4:31
JU: 4:29
Ben Colin:
HS: 4:35
FR:… Read more »
Hats off to you for compiling that info for us but yes thats something very worth mentioning
This is not necessarily unheard of… Artur Wojdat broke the 400 LCM freestyle world record at Mission Viejo before enrolling as a freshman at Iowa, then essentially went 1:33/4:13 all four years at Iowa. Same for Tomasz Gawronski who went essentially 4:22/15:05 all four years at Iowa. Seems to me that a properly structured mens distance program should be able to consistently improve it’s swimmers times, considering most males continue to physically mature from 18-24, and most collegiate programs add a strength and conditioning component that many high school swimmers don’t experience.
I do see that a lot of people down voted the comment, but no one is commenting on the specifics of Iowa’s distance program.
maybe it is simply technical; did you see their 800 free relay? looked like super fit country club swimmers
That program has been on a downward spiral for years. waste of a nice facility.
Good observation.
Looks like purdue and penn state had none either.
They are probably an after thought to other groups…..
Maybe the reason nobody is commenting is because what you’re saying doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Swimmers reach their max potential at different ages and switch events throughout their careers. If you were inside a division one program, you might see that.
Also, I find it interesting you go by “Hawkeye”, yet you’re going out of your way to talk down on the program.
And last night, Iowa set an 800 free relay team record. Which included two of the above mentioned names
Gannon: 1:35.7
Rathbun: 1:36
Been there… sub 4:20 500y freestyle, sub 15:00 1650y freestyle, NCAA All American. Hawkeye and Cyclone fan. Mature, healthy collegiate distance programs generally see their swimmers lower their times over 4 years. I know Marc was a sprint freestyler and a sprint butterflyer, so wasn’t sure what type of distance support staff he had. He’s a great guy by the way, not commenting on his character or that of the team. Just curious about the distance training philosophy.
You must not have done your sub 4:20 at Iowa because Wojdat is the only Hawkeye to break that barrier. Where is it you were under 4:20 and 15:00, as you like to mention?
Grad school at Iowa. Great university. Beautiful campus. Love following the sport. Doesn’t matter where I swam undergrad, too many crazies on these boards to give out personal info. I love distance swimming and was curious about Iowa’s distance program. With Iowa State, Illinois, and UNI having shut their men’s programs years ago, I always figured Iowa would have a stronger distance program than they have (no ncaa all Americans since wojdat and gawronski, 1 big ten champ). And I’ve noticed a lot of inconsistent individual progression in the distance swimmers over the years, as well as difficulty at times with the double taper for those who have made it to NCAAs. If you doubt me, analyze the data from… Read more »
I like how you went and stalked the entire team and judged all of them based on what times they went. Interesting… It also sounds like your someone that got beat by an Iowa swimmer recently.
Day 1 Scoring
IU – 128
MICH – 110
UP/MIDDLE/DOWNS
500
IU – 2/3/0
MICH – 2/3/2
IM
IU – 3/1/1
MICH – 3/4/2
50
IU – 2/2/0
MICH – 1/0/2
500/IM/50 Post-Prelims Projections
IU – 89/107/82
MICH – 116/131/37
Total Projections After 50 Free
IU – 406
MICH – 394
Good Work B1G B10 Big Ten Poppa. It will be interesting as always to see the movement in finals. IU will get more diving points that M. 400 Medley: Michigan should pull closer than before on BK, have an advantge on BR, slight drop off as Paul Powers goes long for a 100 FR. There’s a chance Michigan can win that relay.
What were the 50 FR swim off times? Vinny T from Mochigan was bumped to the C Final.
IU’s sprint freestylers making primal monkey noises before their races is always incredibly bizarre but also hilarious
MI just to deep in events today!! All 7 swimmers are bk in 500 free alone!!!! Several in 200im also. I predict a big lead for them after tonight!!! IN just didn’t get same # of people in pts!!!
I predict not …. After diving factored in will be tied or slight lead for the Hoosiers after tonight
I don’t expect anyone to have a large lead after tonight. MI will not win the 400 Medley, and will not score nearly as many points as OSU, MINN, or IU in diving. IU and MICH have 13 finalists for tonight in either the 500 or 200IM and will surely get outscored by IU in the 50. If anything, It’ll be a closer meet than anyone thinks between the top 3 teams diving included.
Michigan may have the most finalist overall, but keep in mind they have many C-finalists. That will not by any means foreshadow a “large lead.”
Will by no means have a “large lead,” especially after diving. Almost equal in finalists between them and IU for tonight overall, and OSU, MINN, and IU have much better chance at scoring B1G points in diving. Will be close.
Indiana got a big bump with that 50 free though, Michigan got only one up and maybe one mid depending on swim off. And they almost matched up with Michigan in the other events…
I believe Michigan only has 2 C finalists in the 500, not 3 😉