2024 Big 12 Championships: Houston Tightens Grip On 2nd Place (Day 3 Ups/Mids/Downs)

2024 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

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.

TEAM SCORES – THRU DAY 3

Women:

  1. Texas – 1076
  2. Houston – 597.5
  3. TCU – 584
  4. Cincinnati – 458
  5. BYU – 411
  6. WVU – 348
  7. Kansas – 323
  8. Iowa State – 284

Men:

  1. Texas – 1231
  2. TCU – 747
  3. BYU – 681
  4. Cincinnati – 616.5
  5. WVU – 572.5

Coming out of Thursday night finals, the closest team battle is the race for 2nd in the women’s meet between Houston and TCU, while Cincinnati holds a 47-point buffer on BYU for 4th.

On the men’s side, things have spread out as predicted, with Cincinnati and WVU representing the closest teams with 44 points separating them in 4th and 5th.

DAY 4 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS — WOMEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

All 200 Fly 100 Breast 100 Back
Texas 10/1/1 3/0/0 3/0/1 4/1/0
Houston 5/7/0 4/2/0 1/3/0 0/2/0
TCU 3/6/3 1/1/2 1/3/1 1/2/0
Cincinnati 3/5/5 0/2/2 1/1/2 2/2/1
WVU 1/3/5 0/3/2 1/0/0 0/0/3
Kansas 1/1/4 0/0/1 0/0/1 1/1/2
BYU 1/1/2 0/0/0 1/1/1 0/0/1
Iowa State 0/0/4 0/0/1 0/0/2 0/0/1

Scored Prelims — Women

  1. Texas, 304
  2. Houston, 235
  3. TCU, 176
  4. Cincinnati, 156
  5. WVU, 92
  6. Kansas, 61
  7. BYU, 48
  8. Iowa State, 14

After the 200 fly and 100 breast, Houston was outscoring Texas on the day, which, while it didn’t mean anything in the team race with the Longhorns well ahead, was still something to see given Texas’ Big 12 dominance historically.

That changed in the 100 back, however, where the Longhorns put four up to place a total of 10 swimmers into ‘A’ finals tonight.

Houston’s impressive morning was highlighted by going 4/2/0 in the 200 fly, with them putting a total of 12 swimmers into the top 16.

It wasn’t a great morning for BYU, as they were nearly doubled up by WVU in terms of projected points this morning as the Mountaineers try and close the gap in the race for 5th.

POINTS PER EVENT – WOMEN

Houston Texas TCU Cincinnati WVU BYU Kansas Iowa State
200 Fly 133.0 87.0 46.0 29.0 51 0 9 7
100 Breast 71.0 92.0 69.0 53.0 26 43 4 4
100 Back 31 125 61 74 15 5 48 3

Day 3 Scores + Prelim Projections — Women

  1. Texas, 1380
  2. Houston, 832.5
  3. TCU, 760
  4. Cincinnati, 614
  5. BYU, 459
  6. WVU, 440
  7. Kansas, 384
  8. Iowa State, 298

The only team battle that projects to be close at the end of tonight’s session is between BYU and WVU. After 63 points separated them after Day 3, the margin could be less than 20 after finals.

DAY 4 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS — MEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

All 200 Fly 100 Breast 100 Back
Texas 10/0/0 6/0/0 2/0/0 2/0/0
BYU 5/5/3 1/2/1 2/0/2 2/3/0
Cincinnati 4/6/3 1/2/1 1/2/1 2/2/1
TCU 3/8/4 0/3/1 2/3/1 1/2/2
WVU 2/5/5 0/1/2 1/3/0 1/1/3

Scored Prelims — Men

  1. Texas, 270
  2. TCU, 235
  3. BYU, 217
  4. Cincinnati, 192
  5. WVU, 153

Scoring out the prelims of the five men’s teams results in the same order as the current team standings, meaning we likely won’t see any changes in position barring a DQ or something drastic in a relay.

Texas went 10/0/0, including occupying six of spots in the ‘A’ final of the 200 fly.

BYU put five up, including two in both the 100 breast and 100 back, but TCU, despite only three ‘A’ finalists, put eight into consols to give them a projected 235 points on the day compared to BYU’s 217.

POINTS PER EVENT – MEN

TEXAS TCU BYU Cincinnati WVU
200 Fly 151.0 56.0 69.0 56.0 24
100 Breast 59.0 107.0 65.0 51.0 70
100 Back 60.0 72.0 83.0 85.0 59

Day 3 Scores + Prelim Projections — Men

  1. Texas – 1501
  2. TCU – 982
  3. BYU – 898
  4. Cincinnati – 808.5
  5. WVU – 725.5

TCU seemingly has a firm grasp on the runner-up position, projected to land 84 points ahead of BYU at day’s end. Cincinnati is 89.5 back of the Cougars, while WVU is a further 83 back in 5th.

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About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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