2021 Big Ten Men Ups/Downs: Michigan Expected to Jump from 3rd to 1st

2021 BIG TEN MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

CURRENT SCORES

  1. Ohio State – 628
  2. Indiana – 547.5
  3. Michigan – 526
  4. Purdue – 414.5
  5. Wisconsin – 345
  6. Northwestern – 296
  7. Penn State – 267
  8. Minnesota – 259
  9. Iowa – 250
  10. Michigan State – 102

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.

On day three of the 2021 Big Ten Men’s Championships, the top three teams are expected to play musical chairs after an explosive morning session. Both Michigan and Indiana are expected to jump current leader Ohio State in the team scores after both squads out-scored the Buckeyes by over 100 points. The Michigan Wolverines ended the morning session with a whooping 15 returning swims, 8 of which are in the A-final. Indiana also had 14 returning swims, with 6 in the A-final and a sextuplet of Hoosiers in the C finals (1-9 possible scoring points). In contrast, Ohio State only managed to score one swimmer in the A finals (22-32 points) and four swimmers in the B finals (11-20 points).

The Michigan men were dominant this morning, expecting to swim 3 Wolverines in the 400 IM A-final, 4 into the 200 free A-final, and sophomore River Wright in the 100 fly A-final (seeded second). In the long IM race, #3 seed Jared Daigle will lead a Wolverine trio, behind top seed Penn State’s Michael Daly (3:43.29). In the 200 free A-final, the Wolverines when 3-4-5-6 with a star-studded quartet of Patrick CallanGus BorgesJake Mitchell, and Wyatt Davis.

Indiana also had a dominant 100 fly showing, picking up 4 Hoosiers into the top final. Sandwiching #2 seed Wright are top seed Tomer Frankel (45.08) and #3 seed Brendan Burns, along with teammates Van Mathias and Corey Gambardella. Frankel is also the second seed in the 200 free behind Ohio State’s lone A-finalist, Paul DeLakis (1:33.55).

DAY 3 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

All 100 Fly 400 IM 200 Free
Michigan 8/3/4 1/2/3 3/1/1 4/0/0
Indiana 6/2/6 4/0/0 1/2/2 1/0/4
Northwestern 3/3/3 0/0/0 1/1/2 2/2/1
Wisconsin 3/1/1 2/0/0 1/0/0 0/1/1
Penn State 2/2/2 0/2/2 2/0/0 0/0/0
Ohio State 1/4/3 0/2/1 0/1/2 1/1/0
Purdue 1/2/3 1/0/1 0/1/0 0/1/2
Iowa 0/5/0 0/1/0 0/1/0 0/3/0
Minnesota 0/2/1 0/1/0 0/1/1 0/0/0
Michigan State 0/0/1 0/0/1 0/0/0 0/0/0

DAY 3 SCORING EVENT BREAKDOWN

Michigan Indiana Northwestern Ohio State Wisconsin Penn State Iowa Purdue Minnesota Michigan State
100 Fly 71 106 0 42.5 51 34.5 17 27 11 2
400 IM 97 67 43 22 28 54 17 16 18 0
200 Free 102 53 75 49 12 0 47 24 0 0

SCORED PRELIMS

  1. Michigan – 270
  2. Indiana – 226
  3. Northwestern – 118
  4. Ohio State – 113.5
  5. Wisconsin – 91
  6. Penn State – 88.5
  7. Iowa – 81
  8. Purdue – 67
  9. Minnesota – 29
  10. Michigan State – 2

As a result of Michigan’s second morning of returning 250+ points, the Wolverines are now expected to jump both Indiana and Ohio State for the narrow lead in the team scores by 22.5 points before the evening relay. Meanwhile, Iowa’s 5 B-finalists project them to pass Minnesota for 8th place.

CURRENT SCORES + SCORED PRELIMS

  1. Michigan – 796
  2. Indiana – 773.5
  3. Ohio State – 741.5
  4. Purdue – 481.5
  5. Wisconsin – 436
  6. Northwestern – 414
  7. Penn State – 355.5
  8. Iowa – 331
  9. Minnesota – 288
  10. Michigan State – 104

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🚂🚂🚂
3 years ago

Liam Walker (Yes, you know the one) scored his first big tens points in the 100 fly tonight as he dominated his heat on a belly full of country friend steak. Reportedly, Brett Riley is also untapered for this meet. Talk about a false positive personal best!

Last edited 3 years ago by 🚂🚂🚂
Coach Chackett
3 years ago

Tomer Frankel will have less rest tonight. Is this now a IU – Michigan Battle?

MFan
3 years ago

That’s a Big Go Blue!!!

Yaboi
3 years ago

Rob Cecil from Northwestern posting a C final time this morning in the 200 free, his first B1G finals appearance as a senior. How he manages to swim this fast while simultaneously maintaining an A average in history of investing (one of Northwestern’s most notorious BIP classes) is beyond me! I can only imagine the second and third round interviews flowing in after these performances.

nOrTHweSTern
Reply to  Yaboi
3 years ago

Rob Cecil, known lover of frosted flakes cereal, & true definition of a student-athlete

SwimFani
Reply to  Yaboi
3 years ago

Northwestern is an average to slightly above university academically

Admin
Reply to  SwimFani
3 years ago

That’s not true.

north
Reply to  SwimFani
3 years ago

Sounds like someone couldn’t get into Northwestern

Snarky
Reply to  Yaboi
3 years ago

History is like basketweaving. 🙂

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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