2020 Big Ten Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheets

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
• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheets

Heat sheets for prelims on day 2, the first prelims session, of the 2020 Big Ten Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. With the Big Ten declining to produce psych sheets for their championship meets, this is the first insights into who’s in, who’s out, and who’s swimming where at this week’s championships.

Calypso Sheridan, who could have rightfully raced any of the 3 individual events on day 1, has chosen the 200 IM, where she’s the 2nd seed behind the defending NCAA Champion Beata Nelson. She is also the conference’s 5th-best 50 freestyler this season and 13th-best 500 freestyler (with a seaosn-best from a dual meet) as well.

That is one of many marked decisions on day 2 of the meet, where among other big swims, Michigan sophomore Maggie MacNeil will swim as the top seed in the 50 free. MacNeil, best known as a butterflier (she’s the defending World Champion in the 100 fly and co-NCAA record holder), swam the fastest-ever 50 yard backstroker on Wednesday leading off Michigan’s winning 200 medley relay. Her lifetime best in the 50 free is 21.49, and she is the defending Big Ten Champion.

There are no highly-seeded day 1 swimmers who seem to be totally absent from the meet, but there were still a few choices to be made. Among them:

• Kathrin Demler from Ohio State has selected the 500 free over the 200 IM. She is the conference’s fastest swimmer in the 500 free this season, and 2nd-best in the 200 IM (four seconds ahead of Nelson, who, again, is the defending NCAA Champion). Demler swam a 1:44.88 leadoff for Ohio State on their 2nd-place 800 free relay on Wednesday. That’s a lifetime best for her by 1.4 seconds. Last season she chose the 200 IM, where she finished 6th in 1:56.63.
• Cora Dupre from Indiana chose the 50 free over the 200 IM. In the 50 free, she is the 2nd seed, whereas in the 200 IM, she is the conference’s 4th-best swimmer this season (and would have been the 3rd seed with the Demler absence). This is Dupre’s first Big Ten Championship meet.
• Miranda Tucker of Michigan has chosen the 50 free over the 200 IM. She is the conference’s 6th-best 200 IMer this season and 6th-best 50 freestyler this season. In both cases, there were 2 scratches ahead of her. Tucker swam her best 50 breaststroke split ever on Michigan’s 200 medley relay on Wednesday. Last year she swam the 200 IM on day 2 of Big Tens and placed 12th in 1:57.45 – about 4-tenths short of her season-best.
• Ally Larson, a freshman at Northwestern, chose the 500 free over the 200 IM. She is the conference’s 14th-best 500 freestyler and 15th-best 200 IMer this season. The difference is that her 500 free season-best of 4:46.98 is from a dual meet, versus her IM best being from a mid-season invite, so Northwestern’s coaches must see more upside there.