2025 Big Ten Championships (Women)- Day 1 Finals Live Recap

BIG TEN CONFERENCE – WOMEN

• Dates: Wednesday, February 19 – Saturday, February 22
• Location: McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH
• Teams: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
• Defending champions: Indiana (1x)
• Championship Central
• Live Results
• Live Video: B1G+

The Big Ten Women start their conference championship meet tonight with two relays, the 200 medley and the 800 free. Indiana will be looking to cement themselves as the front runners to secure the title for the 2nd year in a row.

Michigan and Ohio State will be hot on their heels, as Ohio State only lost by half a point last season and Michigan has a very strong roster of women who are capable of an upset.

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 1:31.51, Virginia – 2023 NCAA Championships
• Big Ten Championship Record: 1:33.47, Ohio State – 2024
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:36.24
• 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 1:36.86

Final Results:

1. Michigan- 1:34.42 (NCAA A Standard)
2. Indiana- 1:34.52 (NCAA A Standard)
3. Wisconsin- 1:35.07 (NCAA A Standard)
4. USC- 1:35.13 (NCAA A Standard)
5. Ohio State- 1:35.28 (NCAA A Standard)
6. UCLA- 1:35.80 (NCAA A Standard)
7. Minnesota- 1:37.33
8. Northwestern- 1:37.51
9. Illinois- 1:37.96
10. Purdue- 1:38.13
11. Nebraska- 1:38.50
12. Penn State- 1:39.38
13. Iowa- 1:40.15
14. Rutgers- 1:41.06

Michigan came out hot tonight, starting their conference meet off with an NCAA A cut and an event win in the women’s 200 medley relay. Michigan and Indiana were locked in a tight battle, but Michigan was able to pull it out by a tenth of a second, swimming 1:34.42 to Indiana’s 1:34.52.

Casey Chung led off for Wolverine’s medley relay in 24.03, four tenths back from the Indiana lead off Kacey McKenna‘s 23.63.

The Hoosiers stayed in the lead after the breaststroke leg, with Breanna Crawford splitting 26.86 to Letitia Sim‘s 26.58, even though Sim swam the fastest split of the meet on this leg. At this point, Indiana had the lead by just over a tenth of a second, coming in at 5o.49 to Michigan’s 50.61.

Indiana actually extended their lead a little to a full two tenths on the fly leg thanks to Miranda Grana‘s 22.70 which was eight-one-hundredths faster than Brady Kendall‘s 22.78 for Michigan.

Senior Lyndsay Flynn had best leg of all the relays on the freestyle, splitting 21.03 to touch first for Michigan, earning them their first gold medal of this conference meet. Kristina Paegle from Indiana had a strong split as well, swimming 21.33 on the freestyle leg.

Ohio State’s Nyah Funderburke ha the fastest backstroke split at 23.43. The fastest fly leg went to Wisconsin 5th year Phoebe Bacon, who split 22.23.

The top five teams all earned NCAA ‘A’ cuts for their swims tonight.

WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 6:44.13, Virginia– 2025 ACC Championships
• Big Ten Championship Record: 6:54.58, Michigan –  2019
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 7:00.86
• 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 7:05.56

Final Results:

1. Michigan- 6:52.04 **New Championship Record**
2. Ohio State- 6:54.53 (NCAA A Standard)
3. USC- 6:55.11 (NCAA A Standard)
4. Indiana- 6:55.53 (NCAA A Standard)
5. Wisconsin- 7:01.20
6. Northwestern- 7:03.96
7. Minnesota- 7:05.28
8. Nebraska- 7:07.35
9. Purdue- 7:09.44
10. Penn State- 7:12.09
11. Illinois- 7:13.32
12. Rutgers- 7:17.98
13. Iowa- 7:18.40
14. UCLA- DQ

Michigan continued their blistering start with a new meet record in the women’s 800 freestyle relay. They swam the event in 6:52.04 to come two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Ohio State’s 6:54.53 in 2nd and two-and-a-half seconds ahead of the former record, 6:54.58 set in 2019 by the University of Michigan. Ohio State’s relay, which consisted entirely of freshman, also broke the old record, coming in five one-hundredths ahead.

Stephanie Balduccini led off the Wolverines in 1:42.10. This time was just over two tenths off her best of 1:41.85 from November. Hannah Bellard went 2nd, splitting 1:43.42. Malia Amuan went 1:43.54 in 3rd and Christey Liang went 1:42.98. Overall, the relay was incredibly consistent, and even Balduccini’s split was not significantly ahead of the rest of the field. This relay was also made up entirely of athletes who could return next year. Balduccini and Bellard are sophomores and Amuan and Liang are both juniors.

They did not have the youngest relay in the field, however, as Ohio State, who got 2nd, comprised their relay entirely of freshman swimmers. Sienna Angove led them off in 1:43.92, just around half a second off her best of 1:43.54 from November. She was followed by Erin Little (1:43.42), Mila Nikanorov (1:44.88), and Rachel Bockrath (1:42.99). These four women combined to go 6:54.43, just half-a-second ahead of USC. This difference came entirely Bockrath’s anchor leg, as she dove in a second-and-a-half behind USC.

The fastest relay split of the meet didn’t come from any of these teams, however. Instead, it came in the form of Indiana senior Anna Peplowski, who went 1:40.69 on the leadoff leg. This time is a two-tenth drop from the 1:40.97 she went at last year’s NCAA championships. It also breaks Siobhan Haughey‘s meet record in the event, which had stood at 1:41.57 since 2019.

Team Scores After Day 1:

1. Michigan- 128
2. Indiana- 108
3. Ohio State/USC- 106
4. —
5. Wisconsin- 104
6. Minnesota/Northwestern- 92
7. —
8. Nebraska- 72
9. Purdue- 74
10. Illinois- 72
11. Penn State- 64
12. Iowa/Rutgers- 56
13. —
14. UCLA- 48