2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, February 25–Saturday, February 28
• Location: Soderholm Family Aquatic Center, Madison, WI
• Defending champions: Indiana men (4x)
• Live Results (also available on Meet Mobile: “2026 Men’s B1G Championship”)
• Live Video ($): B1G+
• Championship Central – Big Ten
• Championship Central – Wisconsin
• SwimSwam’s Meet Preview
• Teams: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, USC, Wisconsin
• SwimSwam Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 Relays | Day 2

Team Scores After Day 2

1. Indiana – 535
2. Michigan – 491
3. Ohio State – 414.5
4. Wisconsin – 349
5. Northwestern – 319
6. Purdue – 313
7. USC – 291.5
8. Minnesota – 249
9. Penn State – 170

The third day of action at the 2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships in Madison gets underway this morning with preliminary heats in the 100 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 500 freestyle, and 50 freestyle.

Pre-meet favorites Indiana hold a narrow 44-point lead over Michigan on their quest to win their fifth consecutive and 32nd-ever conference title.

Indiana enters the day with the top seeds in two of the four events: the 100 back with senior Owen McDonald (44.13) holding a half-second lead on the field, and the 500 free, where Zalan Sarkany (4:09.57) holds a second-and-a-half advantage on the field. Both are the defending champions from last year, when they transferred from Arizona State.

The men’s 200 breast top seed is Penn State senior Mariano Lazzerini (1:50.93), who has a seven-tenths lead on the psych sheets, but Indiana’s loaded breaststroke crew may have something to say about it. They historically have a number of swimmers step up in this event in the post-season, and it could come from just about any of a handful of them…including #4 seed freshman Josh Bey, who sliced 7.72 seconds off his 400 IM yesterday and enters with his best time of 1:52.51 from November’s Ohio State Invite.

The 50 free should be an exciting battle between Michigan senior Tyler Ray (18.66) and Ohio State sophomore Matthew Klinge (18.68). Both swimmers set their PBs leading off their teams’ 200 free relays last night, with Ray’s time a new Big Ten Record, taking down Minnesota’s Bowe Becker‘s mark from 2018 by three one-hundredths.

MEN’S 100-YARD BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 43.22, Hubert Kos (Texas) – 2025
• Big Ten Record: 43.61, Brendan Burns (Indiana) – 2023
• Big Ten Meet Record: 44.31, Brendan Burns (Indiana) – 2022
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 46.29
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 45.26

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 44.28 *Meet Record*
2. Mira Knedla (Indiana) – 44.67
3. Jack Wilkening (Michigan) – 44.79
4. Raekwon Noel (Indiana) – 44.88
5. Matthew Bittner (Penn State) – 44.98
6. Michal Chmielewski (USC) – 45.08
7. Alex Hotta (Purdue) – 45.38
8. Stuart Seymour (Northwestern) – 45.41

The Indiana Hoosiers kicked off Friday morning by placing three swimmers in the top four of the 100 backstroke prelims.

Leading the way was senior Owen McDonald, the defending champion, who clocked a meet-record 44.28, coming just 15 one-hundredths shy of his personal best from the Ohio State Invitational in November.

Sophomore Mira Knedla swam a time of 44.67 to advance second to the final, slicing 11 one-hundredths off his personal best set at a dual meet with Louisville late last month, with Michigan senior Jack Wilkening rounding out the top three with a time of 44.79.

Like Knedla, Wilkening slashed 11 one-hundredths off his personal best, though his was set at last season’s NCAA Championships. His time also represents a new school record; his prior PB was the previous mark.

Two other swimmers broke through the 45-second barrier, with Indiana sophomore Raekwon Noel and Penn State senior Matthew Bittner recording times of 44.88 and 44.98, respectively. For Noel, it was a PB by 0.03, eclipsing his previous best from the Ohio State Invite, while Bittner demolished the 45.48 lifetime best he swam in prelims of this meet last year.

MEN’S 200-YARD BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 1:46.35, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2024
• Big Ten Record: 1:48.30, Jassen Yep (Indiana) – 2025
• Big Ten Meet Record: 1:49.45, Max McHugh (Minnesota) – 2022
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 1:54.95
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 1:52.89

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Josh Bey (Indiana) – 1:50.59
2. Mariano Lazzerini (Penn State) – 1:51.14
3. Luka Mladenovic (Michigan) – 1:51.40
4. Toby Barnett (Indiana) 1:51.59
5. Noah Cakir (Indiana) – 1:52.23
6. Joe Polyak (Minnesota) – 1:52.39
7. Joshua Staples (Northwestern) – 1:52.93
8. Dominik Mark Torok (Wisconsin) – 1:53.06

Indiana freshman Josh Bey has simply been on fire this week in Madison.

After winning the Big Ten title in the 400 IM about 16 hours ago with a 3:34.90, seven seconds faster than his pre-meet career best of 3:42.46, he just sliced 1.92 seconds off his personal best in the 200 breast to lead the field by over half a second heading into the championship final.

Bey hit the wall with a time of 1:50.59, obliterating his former best of 1:52.51 from the Ohio State Invite. Having entered college with a best time of 1:53.74, he’s already dropped 3.15 seconds, with up to three more tapered swims to continue chipping away.

He now ranks equal 5th in the NCAA rankings, tying fellow freshman Gabe Nunziata of Tennessee as the fastest freshman in the nation this season, and is now the 11th swimmer to dip under 1:51 in 2025-26:

2025-26 NCAA Standings:

1. Yamato Okadome, California — 1:48.87
2. Nate Germonprez, Texas — 1:48.94
3. Will Scholtz, Texas — 1:49.59
4. Ben Delmar, UNC — 1:49.76
5. Gabe Nunziata, Tennessee & Josh Bey, Indiana — 1:50.59*
6. –
7. Baylor Nelson, Texas — 1:50.71
8. Daniel Li, Stanford — 1:50.79
9. Mariano Lazzerini, Penn State — 1:50.93
10. Andy Dobrzanski, Arizona State — 1:50.95
11. Arsenio Bustos, NC State — 1:50.98

Penn State senior Mariano Lazzerini, who took second in last night’s 100 breast, qualified second in a time of 1:51.14. He was just over two tenths shy of his lifetime best (1:50.93), which he clocked at the Ohio State Invite.

Michigan freshman Luka Mladenovic (1:51.40) dropped over half a second from his previous personal beast of 1:51.99 to advance third, grabbing a new school record in the process.

MEN’S 500-YARD FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 4:02.31, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2024
• Big Ten Record: 4:08.95, Felix Auboeck (Michigan) – 2017
• Big Ten Meet Record: 4:09.29, Felix Auboeck (Michigan) – 2018
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 4:18.07
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 4:14.13

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Zalan Sarkany (Indiana) – 4:10.99
2. Luke Whitlock (Indiana) – 4:11.67
3. Lorne Wigginton (Michigan) – 4:13.99
4. Aaron Shackell (Indiana) – 4:14.10
5. Enzo Solitario (Wisconsin) – 4:14.33
6. Luke Brennan (Minnesota) – 4:16.46
7. Jordi Vilchez (Ohio State) – 4:16.57
8. Mason Edmund (Ohio State) – 4:16.64

Defending champion Zalan Sarkany of Indiana established himself as the man to beat in the 500 freestyle. The senior clocked a time of 4:10.99 to lead prelims by nearly seven tenths over sophomore teammate Luke Whitlock (4:11.67) and Michigan sophomore Lorne Wigginton (4:13.88).

Sarkany’s time this morning was 1.42 seconds off his season-best 4:09.57 from the Ohio State Invite, while his personal best is the 4:09.19 he threw down for runner-up at the 2024 Pac-12 Championships while representing the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Whitlock’s performance sliced 0.15 off his personal best from the Ohio State Invite, while Wigginton’s outing was a lifetime best by 0.62, his previous best having been swum at the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge in November.

Like the 100 back, Indiana qualified in three of the top four spots. Junior Aaron Shackell was fourth-quickest this morning at 4:14.10, well off his personal best of 4:11.14 from the Ohio State Invite.

Not to be overshadowed was Wisconsin freshman Enzo Solitario, who threw down a 2.14-second personal best of 4:14.33 to advance in fifth. He’s been one of the breakout stars of the meet, having split 1:30.43 on Wisconsin’s runner-up 800 free relay, the second-fastest freshman split of all time. Yesterday, he went on to win bronze in the individual 200 free, clocking 1:32.12 to back up his prelims PB of 1:32.09, which was his first time under 1:33.

MEN’S 50-YARD FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 17.63, Caeleb Dressel (Florida) – 2018
• Big Ten Record: 18.66, Tyler Ray (Michigan) – 2026
• Big Ten Meet Record: 18.66, Tyler Ray (Michigan) – 2026
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 19.43
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 19.02

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Matthew Klinge (Ohio State) – 18.94
2. Tyler Ray (Michigan) – 19.00
3. Mikkel Lee (Indiana) – 19.11
4. Janis Deivs Dzirkalis (Purdue) – 19.21
5. Ben Wiegand (Wisconsin) – 19.28
6. Ole Eidam (Michigan) – 19.34
7. Dylan Smiley (Indiana) – 19.35
8. Cooper Scharff (Wisconsin) – 19.36

Ohio State sophomore Matthew Klinge and Michigan senior Tyler Ray picked things up right where they left off from yesterday’s 200 free relay.

Klinge posted the sole sub-19 outing of the session in 18.94, while Ray clocked 19 seconds on the dot to rank second heading into the final. Indiana junior Mikkell Lee was the only other swimmer to go under 19.2, logging 19.11 to advance third.

Lee is the clear frontrunner for bronze on paper, having led off Indiana’s victorious relay in 18.90 last night, his first time cracking 19 seconds.