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

2020 WOMEN’S B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

View Full 2020 Big Ten Women’s Championships Results 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.

All-Time Big Ten Women’s Championships

Rank Team Titles
1 Michigan 17
2 Minnesota 7
3* Ohio State* 6*
3 Indiana 6
5 Penn State 5

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.

2020 Big Ten Women’s Swimming & Diving Champions

Event Swimmer/Team Time
200 Medley Relay Michigan 1:34.21
800 Free Relay Wisconsin 6:55.84
500 Free Kathrin Demler (Ohio State) 4:37.04
200 IM Beata Nelson (Wisconsin) 1:51.66
50 Free Maggie MacNeil (Michigan) 21.30
1M Diving Mackenzie Crawford (Ohio State) 320.65pts
400 Medley Relay Michigan 3:27.68
100 Fly Maggie MacNeil (Michigan) 49.42
400 IM Calypso Sheridan (Northwestern) 4:03.18
200 Free Cora Dupre (Indiana) 1:43.61
100 Breast Miranda Tucker (Michigan) 58.15
100 Back Beata Nelson (Wisconsin) 49.85
3M Diving Emily Bretscher (Purdue) 356.75pts
200 Free Relay Ohio State 1:27.57
1650 Free Molly Kowal (Ohio State) 15:43.17
200 Back Beata Nelson (Wisconsin) 1:48.73
100 Free Maggie MacNeil (Michigan) 46.57
200 Breast Calypso Sheridan (Northwestern) 2:06.85
200 Fly Olivia Carter (Michigan) 1:53.28
Platform Diving Markie Hopkins (Northwestern) 285.45pts
400 Free Relay Michigan 3:11.94

The following stats were provided through the SwimSwam Swimulator.

Top 5 Swimmers – 2020 Big Tens

1. MACNEIL, MAGGIE – MICHIGAN
100 Free 47.16 867.0 points
50 Free 21.60 872.0 points
100 Fly 49.26 987.0 points
2. NELSON, BEATA – WISCONSIN
200 IM 1:52.27 892.0 points
100 Back 50.05 873.0 points
100 Fly 50.65 859.0 points
3. TUCKER, MIRANDA – MICHIGAN
200 Breast 2:08.01 765.0 points
100 Breast 58.41 829.0 points
50 Free 22.26 739.0 points
4. DEMLER, KATHRIN – OHIO STATE
400 IM 4:03.96 790.0 points
200 Fly 1:55.01 754.0 points
500 Free 4:37.22 780.0 points
5. DUPRE, CORA – INDIANA
100 Free 47.84 800.0 points
200 IM 1:57.33 719.0 points
50 Free 22.09 771.0 points

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.

Simulated NCAA Finish – Big Ten Teams (as of 2/22/20)

Rank Team Points
4 Michigan 236
19 Wisconsin 62
20 Indiana 53
21 Ohio St 50
30 Northwestern 30
32 Minnesota 19
40 Iowa 4

 

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Casual Observation
4 years ago

Simulated NCAA points for all teams are also completely incorrect. It looks as though this article was done before times went into databases perhaps? Looking forward to the article update once all info has been inputted. Keep up the good work.

GoBlue
Reply to  Casual Observation
4 years ago

Big Ten is salty today. I just pulled up the Swimulator for myself – looks like maybe they’re off by a point or two, but don’t look “completely incorrect” to me. Just because you don’t like the outcome doesn’t mean they’re “completely incorrect.”

Let me guess – Buckeye fan????

Reality Check
Reply to  GoBlue
4 years ago

Isn’t this the same program that told us Ohio State was going to get 3rd at the 2020 big ten meet and only had a 4.6% chance to win?

Reply to  Reality Check
4 years ago

Swimulator doesn’t predict or tell you who will get what place. It showed the scores teams would have if they were scored based on their season best times before the meet. I think there’s been a lot of confusion about that.

Casual Observation
Reply to  GoBlue
4 years ago

No Big10 times are inputted so the difference is significant. No Buckeye fan here, just a fan of accurate analysis.

Obvious mistake
4 years ago

I don’t see how Calypso Sheridan of Northwestern was not one of the Top 5 swimmers. According to the swimulator she is #3. Also Northwestern moving from 7th to 4th and scoring 400 points higher than 2019 seems like it should vault them into the most improved program conversation.

SWIMFAN123
Reply to  Obvious mistake
4 years ago

Couldn’t agree more. A move from 7th to 4th yet not one of the most improved teams?? How does that make sense? Seems like you’re always forgetting about the Wildcats…

Admin
Reply to  SWIMFAN123
4 years ago

Hi guys, the strength/improvement rankings have not been updated for the new year’s data yet ( the rest of Swimulator is up to date). Sorry for the confusion (though, keep in mind that it is a multi-year analysis, so Northwestern, while they had a great jump this year, won’t automatically jump to the top of those rankings).

Casual Observation
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Braden, will the article be updated to reflect the correct information?

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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