2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships: Day 4 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 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 Relays | Day 2 | Day 3

Team Scores After Day 3

1. Indiana, 1061.5
2. Michigan, 811
3. Ohio State, 712.5
4. Wisconsin, 569.5
5. Purdue, 527
6. Northwestern, 514
7. USC, 463.5
8. Minnesota, 430
9. Penn State, 307

Welcome to the last prelims session of the 2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships! After three full days of racing, there are just four individual events this morning, the 200 IM, 100 freestyle, 200 butterfly, and 200 backstroke, with the 1650 freestyle and 400 free relay to be swum as timed finals tonight.

Pre-meet favorites Indiana hold a 250.5-point lead over Michigan on their quest to win their fifth consecutive and 32nd-ever conference title. The Hoosiers hold the top seed in three of the four events this morning.

Senior Owen McDonald leads the way in the 200 IM, having opted for that event over the 200 back. He’s the defending champion and Big Ten Record holder in both, but the new NCAA event schedule has prompted him to reevaluate his slate of events. Junior Dylan Smiley tops the 100 free psych sheet, and sophomore Miroslav Knedla does the same in the 200 back.

On the Michigan side, senior Tyler Ray enters as the top seed in the 200 butterfly as he looks to complete his sweep of the flys.

Stay tuned for live updates.

MEN’S 200-YARD IM – Finals

• NCAA Record: 1:36.34, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2024
• Big Ten Record: 1:39.42, Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 2025
• Big Ten Meet Record: 1:39.89, Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 2025
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 1:44.13
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 1:42.65

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 1:41.23
2. Tristan Jankovics (Ohio State) – 1:41.57
3. Josh Bey (Indiana) – 1:41.72
4. Colin Geer (Michigan) – 1:41.76
5. Joshua Staples (Northwestern) – 1:41.83
6. Eitan Ben-Shitrit (Michigan) – 1:42.39
7. Luka Mladenovic (Michigan) – 1:42.40
8. Toby Barnett (Indiana) – 1:42.44

Defending champion Owen McDonald of Indiana led a field of five 1:41-second swims in the 200 IM prelims. The senior touched the wall with a time of 1:41.23 to qualify ahead of Ohio State senior Tristan Jankovics (1:41.57) and freshman teammate Josh Bey (1:41.72).

McDonald, who set the meet record of 1:39.89 and Big Ten Record of 1:39.42 last season, owns a lifetime best of 1:39.23 from the 2024 NCAA Championships, when he helped the Arizona State Sun Devils claim the national crown.

Jankovics’ personal best is the 1:41.09 he recorded to take fifth last year, while Bey obliterated the 1:43.96 he swam at the 2025 IHSAA Championships to continue his rapid time drops at this meet.

Michigan junior Colin Geer (1:41.72) and Northwestern sophomore Joshua Staples (1:41.83) were the final two under 1:42. Geer was just over a second outside his career-best 1:40.55 from last season’s NCAAs, while Staples chopped 0.62 off his previous best time set at the Texas Invite.

MEN’S 100-YARD FREESTYLE – Finals

• NCAA Record: 39.90, Jordan Crooks (Tennessee) – 2025
• Big Ten Record: 40.83, Bowe Becker (Minnesota) – 2019
• Big Ten Meet Record: 41.38, Ruslan Gaziev (Ohio State) – 2023
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 42.55
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 41.95

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Mikkel Lee (Indiana) – 42.11
2. Caden Duncan (Northwestern) – 42.12
3. Dylan Smiley (Indiana) – 42.15
4. Stuart Seymour (Northwestern) – 42.18
5. Ole Eidam (Michigan) – 42.23
6. Tomas Navikonis (Ohio State) – 42.44
7. Antoine Sauve (Michigan) – 42.68
8. Ben Wiegand (Wisconsin) – 42.80

In one of the more subdued events of the meet so far, Mikkel Lee of Indiana led a tightly bunched field heading into the 100 free final with only seven one-hundredths separating the top four, and under seven tenths separating the entire field.

The Indiana junior stopped the clock at 42.11 to edge out Northwestern junior Caden Duncan (42.12) and junior teammate Dylan Smiley (42.18) to earn himself lane four.

Lee, who won the 50 free last night in a bit of an upset over the two fastest 50 freestylers in Big Ten history, touched just outside his lifetime best of 41.96 from the Ohio State Invite. Duncan clipped his previous best of 42.31 from a dual meet late last month.

Smiley is the one who may have the most left in the tank. He logged his current PB of 41.59 at the Ohio State Invite and split 40.60 on Indiana’s runner-up 400 medley relay last night, making him a strong contender for gold after taking bronze in 2025.

Defending champion Tomas Navikonis, having already won the 200 free earlier in the week, is lurking in fifth at 42.44. He set his current best of 41.55 en route to his title a year ago and can’t be counted out.

MEN’S 200-YARD BUTTERFLY – Finals

• NCAA Record: 1:36.41, Luca Urlando (Georgia) – 2025
• Big Ten Record: 1:38.71, Brendan Burns (Indiana) – 2022
• Big Ten Meet Record: 1:39.22, Brendan Burns (Indiana) – 2022
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 1:43.79
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 1:41.45

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Raekwon Noel (Indiana) – 1:39.97
2. Colin Geer (Michigan) – 1:40.09
3. Michal Chmielewski (USC) – 1:40.84
4. Dominik Mark Torok (Wisconsin) – 1:40.97
5. Tyler Ray (Michigan) – 1:41.26
6. Enzo Solitario (Wisconsin) – 1:41.33
7. Jacob Johnson (Minnesots) – 1:41.42
8. Aaron Shackell (Indiana) – 1:42.49

Indiana sophomore Raekwon Noel broke the 1:40-second barrier for the first time in his career to claim the top seed in the 200 fly, touching in 1:39.97 after entering the session with a best of 1:41.14 from a dual meet late last month.

Defending champion Colin Geer (1:40.09) of Michigan was right on his heels with a near sub-1:40 swim of his own to advance second, with the two well clear of the rest of the field. Geer’s 1:39.58 personal best came when he won last season. He’ll have a tough double tonight as he also qualified fourth into the 200 IM championship final.

USC junior Michal Chmielewski and Wisconsin senior Dominik Mark Torok also cracked 1:41, clocking 1:40.84 and 1:40.97 to qualify fourth and fifth. Chmielewski edged his previous best of 1:40.91 from the Texas Invite, while Torok’s 1:40.07 current best also comes from that meet.

Not to be overlooked is Michigan senior Tyler Ray in sixth at 1:41.26. The winner of the 100 fly and Big Ten record holder in both that event and the 50 free, Ray owns a best of 1:39.60 from the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge back in November, making him a serious threat to upgrade his 2025 bronze to gold.

MEN’S 200-YARD BACKSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA Record: 1:34.24, Hubert Kos (Texas) – 2025
• Big Ten Record: 1:37.15, Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 2025
• Big Ten Meet Record: 1:37.15, Owen McDonald (Indiana) – 2025
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time: 1:42.14
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 1:40.13

‘A’ Final Qualifiers:

1. Kai Van Westering (Indiana) – 1:39.21
2. Miroslav Knedla (Indiana) – 1:39.28
3. David Gerchik (Northwestern) – 1:39.47
4. Cornelius Jahn (Ohio State) – 1:40.04
5. Oliver Kos (Northwestern) – 1:40.16
6. Blake Rowe (Purdue) – 1:40.45
7. Cooper Morley (Penn State) – 1:40.91
8. Nathan Welker (Wisconsin) – 1:40.94

Breaking 1:41 was an automatic ticket to the 200 backstroke championship final, with Indiana teammates Kai Van Westering (1:39.21) and Miroslav Knedla (1:39.28) leading the way and Northwestern’s David Gerchik also cracking 1:40 with a 1:39.47.

Van Westering’s best of 1:38.47 came at last season’s NCAA meet, while Knedla just missed his by two hundredths. Knedla’s personal best was set a year ago when he took runner-up honors behind McDonald at this meet.

Gerchik crushed his previous best of 1:40.53 from the Texas Invite by over a second. The Wildcats were well-represented as Oliver Kos dropped nearly two seconds from his best time, going 1:40.16 to advance fifth, just behind Ohio State’s Cornelius Jahn, who came a half second shy of his 1:39.50 best set at this meet a year ago.