2019 Big Ten Men’s Championships: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

Big Ten – Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2
• University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana (1x) (results)
• Live results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Day 2 Scratches
• Thursday prelims heat sheets

The two meet favorites, Michigan and Indiana, split the titles on night 1 of the Big Ten Championships, with Michigan breaking the Meet Record in the 200 medley relay and Indiana breaking a Pool Record in the 800 free relay.

With no Mohamed Sany for Indiana on day 2, the Wolverines have a chance to make some headway against Indiana’s dominant diving group. Michigan holds the top seed in all 3 of the day’s individual swimming events, including the 50 free where Gus Borges split an 18.40 on the 200 medley relay. He’ll face off against defending conference champion Bowen Becker, who’s already time-trialed a 19.00 at this meet.

Men’s 500 Free – Prelims

• Meet Record – Felix Auboeck, Michigan, 4:09.29 – 2018
• Pool Record – Clark Smith, Texas, 4:09.72 – 2015
• Estimated NCAA Invite Time – 4:15.44

Two-time defending 500 free champion Felix Auboeck of Michigan is the top qualifier on Thursday in the 500 free free, swimming a 4:15.13. He was 4:09 in finals at this meet last year and 4:10 the year before, though his 1:32.4 relay split from last night doesn’t indicate that he’s quite in the same form this year as he was last year (where he split about a second faster).

His Michigan teammate, freshman Kevin Callan, took 2nd in 4:16.04, while Indiana’s top finisher, Michael Calvillo, qualified 3rd in 4:17.36.

Conference leader Ricardo Vargas Jacobo of Michigan qualified 4th in 4:17.40, which is 6 seconds off his season-best time this year. In total, the Michigan men put 5 swimmers into the A-final of this race, as compared to 2 Hoosiers and 1 Ohio State Buckeye.

Top 8 in prelims:

1. Felix Auboeck, Michigan – 4:15.13
2. Kevin Callan, Michigan – 4:16.04
3. Michael Calvillo, Indiana – 4:17.36
4. Ricardo Vargas Jacobo, Michigan – 4:17.40
5. William Roberts, Michigan – 4:18.08
6. James Brinegar, Indiana – 4:18.54
7. Nicholas Hogsed, Ohio State – 4:19.34
8. Mokhtar Al-Yamani, Michigan – 4:19.84

Men’s 200 IM – Prelims

• Meet Record – Kyle Whitaker, Michigan, 1:41.14 – 2014
• Pool Record – David Nolan, Stanford, 1:39.38 – 2015
• Estimated NCAA Invite Time – 1:43.88

Ohio State junior Andrew Loy swam a 1:42.15 in the 200 IM which ranks him 2nd in the country so far this season nationally in the event (behind only Andrew Seliskar). His previous best time, from last year’s Big Ten Championships, was 1:44.24. The swim is also almost a 4-second drop from his mid-season swim, which mirrors previous seasons where he always had significant improvements from mid-season to Big Tens.

Indiana’s Vini Lanza qualified 2nd in 1:42.78. He’s the defending champion in the even and was the fastest butterfly split in the field, opening in 21.88. Indiana’s Ian Finnerty, the fastest yards breaststroker in history, qualified 3rd in 1:43.26. He had easily the fastest breaststroke split in the field (27.81, nobody else was under 29) and also had the 2nd-best fly split in the field (22.06).

Ohio State moved up big in this race. Besides Loy, sophomore Paul DeLakis improved his spot from a 1:47.64 seed to a 1:43.52 5th place in prelims. Purdue’s Erik Juliusson also jumped up and grabbed a spot in the A-Final, dropping a full second to qualify 8th in 1:44.83.

Minnesota’s Tuoma Pokkinen dropped 4 seconds, but that was only enough to lift him to 9th in 1:45.05.

Top 8 in Prelims:

1. Andrew Loy, Ohio State – 1:42.15
2. Vini Lanza, Indiana – 1:42.78
3. Ian Finnery, Indiana – 1:43.26
4. Charlie Swanson, Michigan – 1:43.52
5. Paul DeLakis, Ohio State – 1:43.91
6. Thomas Cope, Michigan – 1:44.10
7. Jacob Montague, Michigan – 1:44.29
8. Erik Juliusson, Purdue – 1:44.83

Men’s 50 Free – Prelims

• Meet Record – Bowen Becker, Minnesota, 18.69 – 2018
• Pool Record – Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 18.67 – 2016
• Estimated NCAA Invite Time – 19.35

Michigan sophomore Gus Borges wasn’t as quick in prelims of the 50 free as he was on the medley relay on Wednesday, but his 19.15 was still enough to grab the top seed through to finals. That put him .01 ahead of defending champion Bowen Becker of Minnesota (19.16) and .03 ahead of Indiana senior Zach Apple of Indiana (19.18).

Penn State sophomore Gabe Castano qualified 4th in 19.24. That’s half-a-second faster than his previous lifetime best, and makes him just the 2nd Nittany Lion in history to go sub-19.5 in the event, after Shane Ryan’s school record of 19.03 from 2017. His teammate William Roberson qualified 8th and is now #3 in school history with a 19.52.

The Ohio State men cocntinued to move up with big time drops from both Ruslan Gaziev (19.34) and Benjamin Sugar (19.45), though they ultimately finished with the 2 A finalists they were seeded to have anyway.

Top 8 in Prelims:

1. Gus Borges, Michigan – 19.15
2. Bowen Becker, Minnesota – 19.16
3. Zach Apple, Indiana – 19.18
4. Gabe Castano, Penn State – 19.24
5. Bruno Blaskovic, Indiana – 19.32
6. Ruslan Gaziev, Ohio State – 19.34
7. Benjamin Sugar, Ohio State – 19.45
8. William Roberson, Penn State – 19.52.