2023 Women’s Big Ten Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2023 WOMENS BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, MI
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Ohio State (3x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide

WEDNESDAY FINALS HEAT SHEET

The 2023 Women’s Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships kick off tonight at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, MI. As usual, the first night’s action will feature the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. There will also be an exhibition team diving event, but that won’t count towards the official team scores.

Ohio State enters Michigan’s house having won the last three women’s Big Ten titles. SwimSwam picked Ohio State to make it four in a row in our fan guide, however, Indiana isn’t going to make that an easy task.

The Buckeyes enter tonight as the top seed in both relays by considerable margins. Of course, with only two relays, the first night of the meet doesn’t mean too much in terms of the overall team standings, unless there’s a disqualification. Last year, Ohio State set the meet record in the 200 medley relay on opening night. The 800 free relay meet record has stood since 2019 and is held by the Wolverines.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• Meet Record – 1:33.64, Ohio State (2022)
• Pool Record – 1:35.73, Indiana (2016)
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 1:36.24

Top 8:

1. Ohio State – 1:33.95
2. Michigan – 1:35.96
3. Indiana – 1:35.98
4. Northwestern – 1:36.96
5. Penn State – 1:37.51
6. Wisconsin – 1:38.09
7. Rutgers – 1:38.25
8. Minnesota – 1:39.37

The Buckeyes started the meet in dominant fashion, crushing the field by two seconds to break the pool record. Nyah Funderburke led off in 23.58, the fastest split in the field. Funderburke’s field-leading split is most notable because of the fact that she wasn’t even on Ohio State’s scoring team for Big Ten’s last year. Hannah Bach had the fastest breaststroke split by nearly half a second with a 25.22. Katherine Zenick kept that streak going with a 22.60 fly split, then Teresa Ivan anchored in 21.55 (although live results show a -0.25s RT). All told, OSU touched in 1:33.95.

There was a fierce battle for second behind the Buckeyes between Michigan and Indiana, coming down to the anchor leg. Indiana led for most of the race. Kacey McKenna led off in 24.56, followed by Noelle Peplowski with a 26.64 breast split. After a 23.45 fly split from Elizabeth Broshears, the Hoosiers still led by 0.06s. Ashley Turak anchored in a quick 21.33, but that wasn’t quite enough.

Michigan, meanwhile got a 24.78 lead off from Casey Chung, then 26.96 breast split from Letitia Sim. Natalie Kan split 22.97 on fly, and Lindsay Flynn anchored in 21.25, just 0.08s faster than Turk, to get the touch, 1:35.96 to 1:35.98.

Those were the only schools under the NCAA ‘A’ cut. Penn State knocked off half a second from seed to take 5th in 1:37.51, while Wisconsin added half a second to finish 6th in 1:38.09.

800 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• Meet Record – 6:54.58, Michigan (2019)
• Pool Record – 6:58.54, Michigan (2016)
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 7:00.86

In the second and final race of the night, the Indiana women pulled off the win by hitting a  6:58.44. Anna Peplowski started off with a 1:43.50 for Indiana, which was the second-fastest split in the field behind Amy Fulmer‘s 1:42.94 for Ohio State. Gan Ching Hwee and Mackenzie Looze both hit 1:45s (1:45.08 and 1:45.34, respectively) before freshman Kristina Paegle delivered a 1:44.52 anchor leg.

Indiana’s time of 6:58.44 was not only event-winning, but it was also a new pool record. They improved upon Michigan’s pool record of 6:58.54 from back in 2016 and trailed the 2019 meet record of 6:54.58, also by Michigan. Indiana hit the NCAA A cut here, which is a 7:00.86.

The other team to hit that A cut was Michigan here, hitting a 7:00.78. Megan Glass started with a 1:46.52 and was followed by Katie Crom‘s 1:45.20, Riley Francis‘ 1:44.79, and Christey Liang‘s 1:44.27. They got to the wall roughly half a second faster than Wisconsin’s squad, which touched in a 7:01.39 for bronze.

Amy Fulmer‘s fastest-in-the-field split of 1:42.94 contributed to her team’s 4th-place finish overall as Ohio State clocked a 7:02.48. Northwestern hit a 7:04.80 and Penn State a 7:08.67 for 5th and 6th, respectively.

Team Scores After Day 1

1. Indiana University – 118
2. Ohio State University – 116
3. University of Michigan – 112
4. Wisconsin / Northwestern University – 102
6. Pennsylvania State University – 98
7. Rutgers University Swimming / University of Minnesota – 90
9. University of Nebraska – 80
10. University of Illinois – 66
11. Purdue University – 64
12. University of Iowa – 62