2021 BIG TEN MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Tuesday, March 2nd to Saturday, March 6th | Prelims 11am | Finals 5pm Tues, 6:30pm Wed-Sat (ET)
- Where: Ohio State University (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Michigan (1x) (2020 results)
- Streaming: Big Ten Network
- Championship Central
- Live Results
No team has pulled away after Michigan and Indiana caught up to Ohio State and the Buckeyes’ early diving lead. Now, with just four events left, every point and placement matters more than ever.
Michigan has 20 swims this prelims session, with Indiana 17 and Ohio State 15. Of those, the Hoosiers have 13 in the circle-seeded top three heats, the Wolverines have 12 and the Buckeyes have 8. Meanwhile, the Wolverines have five milers, Ohio State has four and the Hoosiers have three. That seems to give Michigan the edge on paper, if only slightly.
In the race for fourth, where Purdue leads Wisconsin and Northwestern, the Wildcats have a marginal edge; NU has 15 swims this morning and 10 are circle-seeded, while Purdue has 14 swims with 8 circle-seeded and the Badgers have 12 swims with 7 circle-seeded. In the mile, Wisconsin and Northwestern have three swimmers each, while Purdue has one. The Badgers have two of theirs in the last heat, which swims with finals.
So far this meet, only Buckeye senior Paul Delakis has won multiple individual events (200 IM, 200 free), but he’ll have to take down Max McHugh of Minnesota and the rest of a deep conference in the 200 breaststroke to make it three.
TEAM SCORES (THROUGH DAY FOUR)
- Indiana – 1036.5
- Michigan – 1010
- Ohio State – 1000
- Purdue – 615.5
- Wisconsin – 571
- Northwestern – 554
- Penn State – 496.5
- Iowa – 444.5
- Minnesota – 396
- Michigan State – 149
100 FREE – PRELIMS
- Big Ten meet record – 41.43, Blake Pieroni (Indiana) – 2018
- Big Ten record – 40.83, Bowe Becker (Minnesota) – 2019
- 2020 NCAA invite time – 42.57
- Defending champion: Bruno Blaskovic (Indiana) – 41.88
Top 8
- Nikola Acin (Purdue) – 42.27
- Sem Andreis (Ohio State) – 42.40
- Hunter Armstrong (Ohio State) – 42.59
- Gus Borges (Michigan) – 42.65
- Tomer Frankel (Indiana) – 42.71
- River Wright (Michigan) – 42.84
- Jack Franzman (Indiana) – 42.85
- Cam Peel (Michigan) – 42.88
Gus Borges was 42.65 to win the final heat, just ahead of Indiana freshman Tomer Frankel (42.71).
Purdue’s Nikola Acin swam a time of 42.27 to win heat seven, the fastest time of the morning, holding off Ohio State’s Hunter Armstrong (42.59) and Michigan’s River Wright (42.84).
In heat six, the first circle-seeded heat, Sem Andreis of Ohio State swam a 42.40, ahead of Indiana’s Jack Franzman (42.85) and Michigan’s Cam Peel (42.88).
Ryan Lawrence of Purdue swam the first sub-44 swim of the morning in heat five, clocking a 43.62 ahead of Michigan State’s Aidan Farley (43.74).
Michigan put three swims into the A-final, with Ohio State and Indiana each putting in two. Michigan also has two B-finalists and a C-finalist here tonight, while IU has a C-finalist and OSU has no other finalists.
200 BACK – PRELIMS
- Big Ten meet record – 1:38.89, Eric Ress (Indiana) – 2014
- Big Ten record – 1:37.58, Tyler Clary (Michigan) – 2009
- 2020 NCAA invite time – 1:41.49
- Defending champion: Gabriel Fantoni (Indiana) – 1:40.31
Top 8
- Brendan Burns (Indiana) – 1:40.33
- Thomas Watkins (Ohio State) – 1:41.15
- Gabriel Fantoni (Indiana) – 1:41.26
- Wyatt Davis (Michigan) – 1:41.34
- Jacob Steele (Indiana) – 1:41.43
- Manu Martos (Northwestern) – 1:42.00
- Michael Daly (Penn State) – 1:42.10
- Jared Daigle (Michigan) – 1:42.18
Indiana sophomore Brendan Burns dropped the fastest time of the morning, going 1:40.33 as he hopes to add to his 200 fly gold medal from last night. That’s the first time Burns has been under 1:42, and he snags his first lifetime best since high school.
In that heat, Manu Martos of Northwestern was 1:42.00 for second, holding off the charge from Penn State’s Michael Daly (1:42.10) and Michigan’s Jared Daigle (1:42.18).
Gabriel Fantoni went 1:41.26 to win heat five, the Hoosier senior and defending champion able to hold off Michigan freshman Wyatt Davis (1:41.34).
Heat four went to Thomas Watkins of Ohio State at 1:41.15, just ahead of Indiana’s Jacob Steele (1:41.43). Michigan’s Bora Unalmis had a strong swim for third, dropping over five seconds from his seed to go 1:42.59.
In the third heat, Minnesota’s Gavin Olson put down a 1:43.41 for the heat win.
Colin McDermott of Ohio State had a big swim in heat two, dropping over seven seconds from his seed time for a 1:42.86.
Out of heat one, Spencer Carl of Michigan swam a winning time of 1:44.30, earning a spot in the B-final at 16th.
Indiana goes 3/0/1 in finals with this event, getting three into the A and looking like they’ll earn another title here with either Burns or Fantoni, while Michigan went 2/2/0 and Ohio State went 1/2/1.
200 BREAST – PRELIMS
- Big Ten meet record – 1:50.30, Ian Finnerty (Indiana) – 2019
- Big Ten record – 1:49.41, Max McHugh (Minnesota) – 2019
- 2020 NCAA invite time – 1:54.03
- Defending champion: Thomas Cope (Michigan) – 1:51.44
Top 8
- Paul Delakis (Ohio State) – 1:52.20
- Max McHugh (Minnesota) – 1:52.84
- Will Chan (Michigan) – 1:53.27
- Jason Mathews (Ohio State) – 1:53.79
- Zane Backes (Indiana) – 1:53.92
- Mason Hunter (Michigan) – 1:54.15
- Connor Isings (Ohio State) – 1:54.36
- AJ Bornstein (Michigan) – 1:54.42
Max McHugh of Minnesota dominated the final heat, posting a 1:52.84, well ahead of Northwestern’s Kevin Houseman (1:56.16).
Will Chan of Michigan took heat four, going 1:53.27 ahead of Buckeye Jason Mathews (1:53.79).
In heat three, Paul Delakis of Ohio State and Zane Backes of Indiana went head-to-head, as the Buckeye pulled away over the back-half. He swam a 1:52.20, with Backes in second at 1:53.92. That’s an A-cut for Delakis, who was just off of his best and school record of 1:51.65.
The heat two win went to Michigan’s Mason Hunter, dominating the heat with a 1:54.15, a time that would secure him a spot in the A-final tonight.
Ohio State was strong here, going 3/0/2, while Michigan put three up into the A-final. Indiana was 1/2/2.
I’m actually kind of disappointed there was no use of penultimate. Was looking forward to see how you would use it.
Dat aint no word down used down South…we can even spell it.
If every miler swam exactly their lifetime best tonight, these would be your complete up/mid/downs entering the night:
TOTAL AM UPS/MIDS/DOWNS
Based on:
- Michael Brinegar, IU – 14:27.50
- Mikey Calvillo, IU – 14:40.59
- Josh Dannhauser, WISC – 14:52.29
- William Roberts, MICH – 14:54.04
- Danny Berlitz, MICH – 14:55.26
- Jacob Mitchell, MICH – 14:57.92
- Sawyer Grimes, MINN – 15:05.23
- Jude Williams, WISC – 15:07.73
- Charles Clark, OSU – 15:07.84
- Cameron Kelley, MINN – 15:07.86
- Andrew Fierke, IOWA – 15:10.24
- Dongjin Hwang, NU – 15:11.21
- Carson Burt, OSU – 15:13.30
- Jack Leuthold, WISC – 15:13.94
- Ryan King, NU – 15:14.66
- North Hansen, OSU – 15:14.67
- Jeffrey Durmer, NU – 15:15.15
- Andrew Babyak, MICH– 15:16.16
- Aaron Frollo, PUR – 15:18.02
- Ben McDade, OSU – 15:18.06
- Sam Rennard, PSU – 15:19.71
- Tom Schab, IOWA – 15:26.33
- Evan Holt, IOWA – 15:27.23
- Christopher Nagy, MINN
… Read more »Is it just me or is the B1G like the least thrilling conference to watch. I’d say in order of most to least exciting… SEC>ACC>PAC 12> BIG 12> B1G. Even though B1G has more competitive teams than the BIG 12 does, the texas guys usually make it pretty interesting.
Give me a close three team battle in the final session at B1Gs any day over the uncompetitive formality that is the Big 12.
The team finish will be really close tonight. It’ll be exciting. We’ve seen some fast/deep breaststroke fields this meet, and some good swims in other events, even though some events were not as strong as some other conferences.
The BIG 12 is not entertaining.
Bad take
Go Blue! Strong morning for the Wolverines! Huge qualifying swims by so many guys… guys we expect to crush it like Wyatt… but so many huge breakouts like Jared Daigle this meet… and Spencer Carl with a tremendous 200 back to score consolation final points. Sprinters getting it done. and 3 breaststrokers making the finals after like 5 of our top breaststrokers graduating last year! Huge morning! Way to get it done, fellas!
Love this energy
So far it is:
Michigan 8/3/1
Indiana 6/2/4
Ohio State 6/2/3
Happy to report that Michigan went 8/4/1 with Callan making the mid consol in the 100 free!
Hair dyed and face and chest painted! Ready to go! Indiana WE’RE ALL FOR YOU!
Cody Miller got the fastest dolphin kicks on this side of the Mississippi