2020 B1G MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, February 26th to Saturday, February 29th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
- Where: Indiana University (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Indiana Hoosiers (3x) (results)
- Streaming: here
- Championship Central: here
- Estimated NCAA Invite Times
- NCAA ‘A’ Cuts
- Fan Guide
- Heat Sheet
- Live Results
- Saturday AM (Prelims) Heat Sheets
- Saturday 1650 Free (Timed Finals) Heat Sheets
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3
- Michigan – 1063
- Ohio State – 865
- Indiana – 857.5
- Wisconsin – 569
- Purdue – 422
- Minnesota – 420
- Northwestern – 407.5
- Penn State – 379
- Iowa – 360
- Michigan State – 218
The final prelims session of the 2020 Big Ten Championships is underway this morning, featuring heats of the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 200 fly. The early heats of the 1650 and preliminary/consolation rounds of platform diving will be held this afternoon.
Michigan has a 198 point lead heading into today, making it overwhelmingly likely the Wolverines will hold on to snap a 3-year win streak by Indiana. There is a tight battle for 2nd between Ohio State and Indiana, who are separated by just 7.5 points after last night. Wisconsin is sitting solidly in 4th, while Purdue, Minnesota, and Northwestern are locked in a battle for 5th.
Ohio State senior Andrew Loy has already won the 200 IM and 200 free this weekend, and will look to make it 3-for-3 with the 100 free today. Bruno Balskovic (IU), the 50 free champion, is the top seed in the 100 free. Minnesota’s Max McHugh is looking to complete a sweep of the breaststroke events after winning the 100 breast yesterday. McHugh is the top seed in the 200 breast this morning.
IU freshman Brendan Burns is the top seed in the 200 fly by over a second. 100 fly champion Miles Smachlo (Michigan) is the 2nd seed this morning. IU’s Jacob Steele is the top seed in the 200 back.
MEN’S 200 BACK – PRELIMS:
- Meet Record: Eric Ress – 1:38.89
- Pool Record: Andrew Teduits – 1:39.98
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:39.16
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:45.04
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Cameron Tysoe (WISC) – 1:40.62
- Michael Daly (PSU) – 1:41.42
- Manuel Bacarizo (NU) – 1:41.56
- Thomas Watkins (OSU) – 1:41.83
- Colin McDermott (OSU) – 1:41.85
- Gabriel Fantoni (IU) – 1:41.95
- Robert Zofchak (MICH) – 1:41.98
- Jonah Cooper (OSU) – 1:42.05
In an interesting tun of events, none of the swimmers from the final heat made it into the A final. It was Wisconsin’s Cameron Tysoe that led the pack by nearly a second this morning, establishing his top time of the season. Tysoe has a personal best of 1:39.80, which he swam at last year’s NCAAs.
Ohio State had a strong showing, earning 3 of the A finals spots. Thomas Watkins and Jonah Cooper are both Buckeye freshmen, and both swam lifetime bests this morning. 100 back champion from yesterday Gabriel Fantoni (IU) made it through with the 6th fastest time this morning. Fantoni is a threat for the title tonight, coming in with a personal best of 1:39.53.
MEN’S 100 FREE – PRELIMS:
- Meet Record: Blake Pieroni – 41.43
Pool Record: Zach Apple – 42.55- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 41.71
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 43.80
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Bruno Blaskovic (IU) – 41.49
- Andrew Loy (OSU) – 42.30
- Mohamed Samy (IU) – 42.71
- Jack Franzman (IU) – 42.72
- Aleksey Tarasenko (IOWA) – 42.90
- Gus Borges (MICH) – 42.93
- Matthew Abeysinghe OSU) – 42.96
- Sem Andreis (OSU) – 43.08
IU’s Bruno Blaskovic had another stellar prelims swim this morning, blowing away his previous best time with a 41.49. Blaskovic had previously been as fast as 41.99, which he swam back in 2018. Blaskovic’s mark also broke the pool record, which was held by former Indiana teammate Zach Apple at 42.55. The record was actually broken first by Ohio State’s Andrew Loy, in the first of the circle seeded heats. The 1-2 finish by Blaskovich and Loy this morning sets up an interesting dynamic for tonight’s final. Blaskovic has been swimming faster in prelims than finals so far at this meet, while Loy has been dropping from prelims to finals in his events. Blaskovic was the champion in the 50 free, while Loy won the 200 free and 200 IM.
Indiana and Ohio State both had excellent showings in the race, advancing 3 swimmers each to the A final. IU also picked up 3rd and 4th seeds for tonight with Mohamed Samy and Jack Franzman. Ohuio State took the 7th and 8th spots with Matthew Abeysinghe and Sem Andreis. Andreis continued to have a great meet, dropping half a second from his personal best this morning.
MEN’S 200 BREAST – PRELIMS:
- Meet Record: Ian Finnerty – 1:50.30
- Pool Record: Cody Miller – 1:51.03
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.61
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:58.43
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Paul DeLakis (OSU) – 1:52.39
- Max McHugh (MINN) – 1:52.44
- Tommy Cope (MICH) – 1:52.55
- Jason Mathews (OSU) – 1:52.76
- Charlie Swanson (MICH) – 1:52.88
- Jeremy Babinet (MICH) – 1:54.11
- Daniel Swanepoel (IOWA) – 1:54.54
- Jian Mao (WISC) -1:54.78
Ohio State continued to have a great morning session, with Paul DeLakis taking the top seed for tonight’s final. DeLakis has already finished runner-up in the 200 IM and 200 free at this meet, and will be looking for his first title tonight. 100 breast champion Max McHugh has the fastest best time in the field, coming in at 1:49.41.
Michigan’s breaststroke squad came through, with 3 Wolverines earning spots in tonight’s A final. The Wolverines also picked up 3 B finalists in the event. Notably, Indiana had no swimmers make the A final in the event.
MEN’S 200 FLY – PRELIMS:
- Meet Record: Vini Lanza – 1:39.28
- Pool Record: Dillon Bosch – 1:41.18
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:40.76
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:46.69
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Federico Burdisso (NU) – 1:42.45
- Brendan Burns (IU) – 1:42.47
- Miles Smachlo (MICH) – 1:42.55
- Noah Lense (OSU) – 1:43.18
- Van Mathias (IU) – 1:43.56
- Michael Tenney (IOWA) – 1:44.18
- Joseph Milinovich (WISC) – 1:44.44
- Christian Bathurst (IU) – 1:44.45
Two freshmen led the way this morning. Federico Burdisso picked up Northwestern’s first top seed of the meet, swimming a personal best 1:42.45 to narrowly take the top time in the event. IU freshman Brendan Burns, the top seed coming into the race swam a1:42.47 for 2nd. Burns has been 1:41.45 this season. Miles Smachlo has a personal best of 1:41.84, but came in 3rd this morning in 1:42.55.
IU had another strong showing, picking up 3 A finalists, all of whom are underclassmen. Sophomore Van Mathias was th this morning in 1:43.56, and Christian Bathurst, a freshman, swam a lifetime best by 3 seconds to get the 8th spot.
What an advantage for a sprinter to have the name Bruno. Just messes with everyone else’s head.
Rob Zofchak! That is a hell of a swim Dexter! Great job!
Love seeing him in that A final
Sorry Cody, but McHugh is about to destroy that pool record
And after being shot too.
Gonna have to wait until tonight…..
I appreciate the fact that all 8 finalists went under it lol.
Nah the one in this article isn’t the actual pool record. The real pool record is 1:51.03 by Cody. I just realized that too lol.
Why do some teams leave so many points on the table with the distance events? There is only a single OSU swimmer entered in the mile today. Yesterday’s 400 IM same thing. Are the distance events so unique that a team can’t have guys successfully compete both a distance event and a shorter event?
I saw it in the women’s conference meet too. I think a lot of it is that they’re very niche events – I almost see the mile and 4IM as different categories. When I was in school a lot of the good milers I knew did open water as well, but were maybe not as up to par in the 200 or 500. Same with 4IM – a lot of those swimmers may not have the most competitive 100 or 200 times in the strokes, but can be competitive all together. I saw someone compete the mile and 2fly double last week but I think that’s a rare case; many of the 200/500/mile folks are primarily competitive in the shorter… Read more »
How do the event entry limits work at this meet? Does each team get a certain number of overall entries for the entire meet, or are they limited per event?
If the former, I guess I could see where some schools would choose not to enter many guys in one event over another.
It doesn’t matter how many per event… I believe each team is allowed 18 swimmers and ‘x’ divers.
Teams get 24 competitors total, & divers count as a half. So if you bring two divers, you can bring 23 swimmers. Or 22 swimmers & 4 divers, 21 swimmers & 6 divers. Entry limits: each swimmer gets a max of 3 ind. events & 4 relays or 2 ind. events & 5 relays, but a max. 3 ind. events. No max. on how many competitors a team can enter in any given event. So you can put 7, 8, 9 (or more) in a given event, but if you do, inevitably you put fewer in some of the others.
So if you brought 22 swimmers and entered them in three individual events each, you’d have 66 entries across 13 events (average ~5.08 entries/event)
Apparently they’re all going to Notre Dame.