2020 B1G Women’s Champs Wrap-Up: Ohio State Wins Title #6, Tied for #3 All-Time

2020 WOMEN’S B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming & Diving
• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm (6pm Saturday)
• Where: Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, Iowa City, Iowa (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana University Hoosiers (1x) (results)
• Live Results
• Streaming: Big Ten Network
• Championship Central: here
• Fan Guide
• Estimated NCAA Invite Times
• NCAA ‘A’ Cuts

View Full 2020 Big Ten Women’s Championships Results Here

• Read about Ohio State’s historic win here.
• Read about the 2020 B1G meet’s scoring breakdown here.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

• CHAMPION: Ohio State – 1503.5
• RUNNER-UP: Michigan – 1306.5
• BRONZE: Indiana – 964
• FOURTH: Northwestern – 907.5
• 5th: Wisconsin – 734
• 6th: Minnesota – 617
• 7th: Purdue – 602
• 8th: Penn State – 517.5
• 9th: Iowa – 430
• 10th: Nebraska – 385
• 11th: Rutgers – 291
• 12th: Michigan State – 203
• 13th: Illinois – 193

The Ohio State Buckeyes’ 2020 Big Ten win in Iowa marked their first championship title since 1986. The program’s most recent title now ties them with Indiana for the 3rd-most Big Ten titles in history. Michigan remains first with 17 titles earned.

Heading over to this year’s Big Ten champions, Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil (50/100 free, 100 fly) and Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson (100/200 back, 200 IM) were the lone two swimmers to sweep all three of their individual events. Northwestern’s Calypso Sheridan was the only other swimmer to earn multiple individual wins thanks to her 400 IM and 200 breast titles.

Overall, the Michigan Wolverines earned the most 2020 Big Ten titles with 8 titles, despite taking second in the team scores. Next, Ohio State and Wisconsin both earned 4 wins while Northwestern captured 3 titles.

It’s noteworthy that while the Ohio State Buckeyes won the Big Ten title with only four wins, they were able to score 58 swims throughout the weekend.

The following stats were provided through the SwimSwam Swimulator.

2020 Big Ten Team Ratings

According to our Swimulator’s ratings, Wisconsin and Ohio State are the most improved Big Ten teams this season. Last year, Ohio State placed just 3rd place overall while Wisconsin earned the addition of the 800 free relay title in 2020 (remaining 5th with Nelson’s 3-for-3 wins).

Looking at team strengths, Indiana (581.4 pts) was ranked stronger than Michigan (579.5 pts). One example of why this may be was the teams’ breaststroke representation. While Michigan’s Tucker won the 100 breast and A-finaled in the 200 breast (worth 58 points), no other Wolverines scored. On the other hand, Indiana was able to have Noelle Peplowski and Emily Weiss collect 109 points total from the 2 breaststroke events.

Simulated NCAA Finish

This is not a final prediction for the 2020 NCAAs, as many other Power Five/Mid-Major conferences have yet to compete.

While Michigan did not have the depth to win the Big Ten title, their top swimmers and relays look to score much higher than Ohio State at the national level. Our Swimulator has predicted Michigan to place 4th, putting them in a great position this year despite losing their 2019 seniors.

Last season, Indiana finished in 9th place, but after the loss of Lilly King among others a drop for this season was not unexpected. Ohio State looks to be on the right track to improving from their 25th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA meet, sitting in 21st with the Pac-12 women and a few mid-major conference championship meets yet to go.