Michigan vs Indiana
- January 9, 2026
- Ann Arbor, Michigan — Canham Natatorium
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Meet Results
- Team Scores
- Women: #4 Michigan 154 — #5 Indiana 146
- Men: #3 Indiana 187 — #13 Michigan 113
On Friday morning, the #4/#13 Michigan Wolverines hosted the #5/#3 Indiana Hoosiers in Ann Arbor, and there were some massive swims en route to the victories by the Michigan women and the Indiana men.
Women’s Meet Recap
Michigan’s Hannah Bellard had the highlight swim of the meet on the women’s side, setting a new Big Ten Record in the women’s 200 butterfly of 1:50.72 and spoiling Alex Shackell‘s NCAA debut.
Shackell, who is swimming her 1st meet for Indiana, finished 2nd in the event at 1:52.98, a new Indiana school record, and she will slot in at 5th in the current season rankings.
Bellard also won the 500 freestyle in 4:41.54, coming in nearly five seconds ahead of teammates Marian Ploeger (4:46.47) and Rebecca Diaconescu (4:46.94) for 2nd and 3rd.
Shackell picked up her 1st win of her college career in the women’s 100 fly, swimming 50.98 to beat Michigan’s Brady Kendall by nearly two seconds. This time will sit in a tie for 7th in the country this season with Kendall and Texas’ Campbell Stoll.
First Hoosier victory!@Alex1shackell (50.98) becomes the third Hoosier under 51 seconds in the 100 fly. pic.twitter.com/kezYkgaHGl
— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) January 9, 2026
Outside of Bellard and Shackell, Michigan and Indiana traded off event wins throughout the whole meet, which led to the teams being separated by just eight points at the end. Ultimately, Michigan came out on top 154 to 146.
Michigan opened the meet with a win in the women’s 200 medley relay, touching in 1:34.57, nearly a second-and-a-half ahead of Indiana’s 1:35.93. Bella Sims led off in 23.51. Letitia Sim split 26.67 on the breaststroke, and Brady Kendall was 22.59 on the fly. Stephanie Balduccini brought the team home in 21.80 to pick up the 1st win of the meet, beating the Indiana relay of Mya DeWitt (24.17), Alessandra Gusperti (27.97), Alex Shackell (22.31), and Kristina Paegle (21.48).
The Wolverines followed that performance up with the top four finishers in the women’s 1000 freestyle with Rebecca Diaconescu swimming 9:42.96 for the win. Marian Ploeger swam 9:45.48 for 2nd place, and Madison Smith (9:55.95) and Monste Spielmann (9:56.61) rounded out the top four for Michigan.
Indiana bounced back with their 1st win of the meet in the women’s 200 freestyle courtesy of freshman Liberty Clark, who swam 1:42.10 for the win ahead of Michigan’s Stephanie Balduccini who was 1:43.78 for 2nd.
The freshman wins big! 🥇
Liberty Clark captures the 200 free in 1:42.10. pic.twitter.com/vDlBt4HLId
— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) January 9, 2026
Clark won two more individual events during the meet, taking the top time in the 50 free with her 21.83 bringing her in a tenth ahead of Michigan’s Brady Kendall, who swam 21.93. In the 100 free, she swam 47.26 to win by more than a second ahead of teammate Kristina Paegle (48.40).
Liberty Clark gets her third win of the day in the 100 free!
🥇 Liberty Clark (47.26)
🥈 Kristina Paegle (48.40) pic.twitter.com/yl8xCAwDB7— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) January 9, 2026
Michigan’s Bella Sims picked up her 1st individual event win of the meet with the top time in the 100 backstroke of 50.35. She touched half-a-second ahead of Indiana’s Miranda Grana, who swam 50.85 for 2nd. Indiana also picked up 3rd with Mya DeWitt‘s 51.90.
Grana went on to win the 200 backstroke in dominant fashion. She swam 1:51.80 to win the event by more than two seconds over Sims’ 1:54.17 for 2nd. DeWitt finished 3rd again in 1:54.79.
The 100 breaststroke saw another Wolverine on top with Letitia Sim swimming 59.41 to come in nearly two seconds ahead of Indiana’s Jonette Lagreid, who touched in 1:01.32 for 2nd place.
Sim also won the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.32, again coming in ahead of Lagreid, who finished 2nd in 2:12.41, and she won the 200 IM — the final individual event of the meet — 1:56.40, touching more than a second ahead of teammate Devon Kitchel who swam 1:58.13 for 2nd place.
The final event, the 400 freestyle relay, went to Indiana in 3:09.81, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win for the Hoosiers. Liberty Clark led off in 47.37. Kristina Paegle swam 47.26 in the 2nd leg. Grace Hoeper was 48.20 in 3rd, and Alex Shackell anchored in 46.98. Their time was a new school record in the event. Clark, Shackell, and Hoeper are all freshmen
Three freshman help set the the program record in the 400 freestyle relay!
🥇 3:09.81 ⏱️
⚪️ Clark (47.37)
🔴 Paegle (47.26)
⚪️ Hoeper (48.20)
🔴 Shackell (46.98) pic.twitter.com/X389Y8SjmF— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) January 9, 2026
Michigan took 2nd and 3rd, locking up their dual meet win. The ‘B’ relay team of Bella Sims (47.80), Brady Kendall (47.56), Leila Fack (47.74), and Stephanie Balduccini (47.29) swam 3:10.39.
Indiana swept the women’s diving events with Lily Witte earning the top spot in both, scoring 288.15 on the 1 meter and 346.12 on the 3 meter.
Men’s Meet Recap
The Indiana men came out on top of Michigan, winning most of the individual events and the final relay to score 187 points to Michigan’s 113.
Michigan took the 1st event of the meet, the 200 medley relay in 1:23.63 with their team of Jack Wilkening (21.35), Luka Mladenovic (23.40), Tyler Ray (19.79), and Ole Mats Eidam (19.09).
They came in about four tenths ahead of Indiana’s team of Miroslav Knedla (21.34), Travis Gulledge (23.74), Owen McDonald (20.33), and Mikkel Lee (18.64) who swam 1:24.05.
Indiana went on to pick up three individual event wins in a row, starting with the men’s 1000 freestyle which Zalan Sarkany won in a new pool record time of 8:39.94. The Hoosiers also grabbed 2nd and 3rd in the event with Luke Whitlock (8:52.02), and Luke Ellis (9:01.27).
Sarkany also won the 500 free at the end of the meet with his 4:13.65 coming in more than four seconds ahead of Michigan’s Lorne Wigginton (4:17.83).
The 200 freestyle went to Aaron Shackell in 1:33.99, two tenths ahead of Michigan’s Antoine Sauve, who touched in 1:34.14.
Indiana took the top two finishes in the 100 backstroke with Miroslav Knedla earning the win in 45.79 and Raekwon Noel finishing 2nd in 45.93. The same pair finished 1st and 2nd later in the meet in the men’s 200 backstroke with Knedla swimming 1:40.69 and Noel touching in 1:42.22.
1-2 finish in the 100 back! 🥇🥈
Miroslav Knedla (45.79) & Raekwon Noel (45.93) lead the way. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/j3ZxM1WZfO
— Indiana Swim & Dive (@IndianaSwimDive) January 9, 2026
Michigan’s Luka Mladenovic ended the streak with his win in the men’s 100 breaststroke at 51.69. He touched almost four tenths ahead of Alexei Avakov‘s 52.05 for Indiana. Mladenovic also won the 200 breast with his 1:52.52 coming in just under four tenths ahead of Indiana’s Josh Bey, who swam 1:52.90.
The 200 fly went to Michigan’s Colin Geer in 1:43.37. Lorne Wigginton was 2nd in 1:43.54 for the Wolverines, and Indiana’s Andrew Shackell finished 3rd in 1:44.99.
Indiana’s Mikkel Lee took the top spots in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. In the 50, he swam 19.24 to touch three tenths ahead of Michigan’s Tyler Ray (19.53). The 100 free saw Hoosiers in the top two spots with Lee swimming 42.34 for the win and Vidar Carlbaum touching in 43.06 for 2nd.
Ray went on to win the 100 fly for the Wolverines in 45.54, touching just over a tenth ahead of teammate Ole Mats Eidam.
The final individual event, the men’s 200 IM, went to Indiana’s Owen McDonald with his 1:43.31 beating Mladenovic’s 1:43.94 by about six tenths.
Indiana also picked up the win in the final event of the meet, the men’s 400 freestyle relay where their team of Raekwon Noel (44.01), Mikkel Lee (41.83), Miroslav Knedla (42.58), and Dylan Smiley (42.44) swam 2:50.86.
They came in a little more than a second ahead of Michigan’s team of Ole Mats Eidam (43.23), Logan Zucker (43.66), Jack Wilkening (43.14), and Antoine Sauve (42.15) who swam 2:52.18.
Maxwell Weinrich won both diving events for Indiana, earning 356.78 points on the 1 meter and 400.28 points on the 3 meter.
Up Next
Michigan will race Ohio State on January 17th in Columbus, and Indiana will host Purdue on January 24th.
Clark ceiling keeps getting higher… could she win NCAAs? Bet she’ll have faster LC times this summer than some of the folks at Pan Pacs…
I don’t think she’ll win I think it’ll be one of the 1:40 girls
mebbe, she just beat one of those 1:40 girls by a second and a half.. went 1:41.2 herself in October. Good dark horse. But that’ll be a fun race.
Bella should represent Singapore instead
curious about the Alex Shackell situation
is she now living on campus and taking in person classes
and training with her Indiana teammates
does it matter?
I don’t believe the original plan has changed. She’s training primarily at home in Carmel.
She’s living with her parents and training at Carmel club
how does this jive with the 20 hour a week rule??
She can train as much as she wants anywhere except at the university
I still question how she can be eligible doing this. Also feel sorry for her and her brother, they aren’t good enough to make it as pro swimmers and seem to have no backup plan.
they can graduate from college and get jobs????
wtf 1;50 Hannah Ballard
Yeah…that’s a big dagger to steal the headline from Alex Shackell’s debut.
I’m surprised that the school record for Indiana in the women’s 200 fly was that slow. No disrespect intended. Just comparing it to other large programs.
Yeah I had the same instinct. But also…kinda shows how quickly our perspective has shifted on what a good 200 fly time is. 1:52.98 would’ve been 3rd at NCAAs in 2017.
damn ok Hannah Bellard!!! Fast swim
3:10 low on the women’s 400FR is really strong for an early Jan meet
Bella only swimming 1 event was surprising ngl
200 Medley Relay, 100 Back, 200 back, 400 free relay = 2 individual and 2 relay events.
My bad I meant individual but I didn’t realize that she swam the 200 bk too