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

2026 WOMEN’S BIG TEN SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Wednesday, February 18–Saturday, February 21
• Location: Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Defending champions: Ohio State women (1x)
• Live Results (also available on Meet Mobile: “2026 B1G Women’s Swim & Dive Championships”)
• Live Video ($): B1G+
• Championship Central
• SwimSwam’s Meet Preview
• Teams: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
• SwimSwam Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 Relays | Day 2

Friday Prelims Heat Sheet

We’re officially at the halfway point of the 2026 Women’s Big Ten Championships. Action continues this morning with preliminary heats in the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, and 100 breaststroke, with timed finals of the 400 medley relay also on tonight’s schedule.

Stay tuned for live updates below.

WOMEN’S 100-YARD BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 48.10 — Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (2024)
• Big Ten Record: 49.18 — Beata Nelson, Wisconsin (2019)
• Big Ten Meet Record: 49.70 — Beata Nelson, Wisconsin (2020)
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 51.68

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Bella Sims (Michigan) – 49.67
2. Maggie Wanezek (Wisconsin) – 49.71
3. Lexi Greenhawt (Michigan) – 50.81
4. Alex Shackell (Indiana) – 51.03
5. Claudia Yovanovich (UCLA) – 51.36
6. Miranda Grana (Indiana) – 51.44
7. Mya Dewitt (Indiana) – 51.56
8. Fay Lustria (UCLA) – 51.78

Michigan junior Bella Sims took the top qualifying spot in the 100 backstroke, touching in 49.67 to edge out Wisconsin sophomore Maggie Wanezek by just four one-hundredths. Sims’ time was half a second off her season-best 49.13 that ranks second nationally, while Wanezek, who won the ‘B’ final last season, clocked 49.71 to slice 0.24 off her own best time from the Texas Invite in November.

Sims’ best time is the 48.97 she produced leading off the Florida Gators’ 400 medley relay to win the 2025 SEC title, which currently ranks her fourth all-time in the event.

Michigan junior Lexi Greenhawt was the only other swimmer to break 51 seconds this morning, posting a lifetime best of 50.81 to qualify third, dropping 0.58 from the 51.39 she posted at the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge in November. It’s her first time making the ‘A’ final in this event, as she touched 16th as a freshman and 13th a year ago.

Notably, Indiana freshman Alex Shackell, more known for her butterfly and freestyle and the winner of last night’s 100 fly, swam a lifetime-best 51.03 to advance fourth, eclipsing the 51.63 she logged at the 2024 IHSAA Girls State Championships.

UCLA sophomore Claudia Yovanovich qualified fifth, slicing 0.31 off her own school record from earlier in the season with a 51.36.

Last year’s runner-up Miranda Grana sits sixth with a 51.44, 1.55 seconds off her season-best 49.89 from the Ohio State Invite, with her PB remaining the 49.62 she threw down to win bronze at last season’s NCAAs.

Breaking 52 did not guarantee a spot in the ‘A’ final, with 51.78 being the cutoff and a 51.93 being relegated to lane four in the ‘B’ final.

WOMEN’S 200-YARD BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 2:01.29 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
• Big Ten Record: 2:02.60 — Lilly King, Indiana (2018)
• Big Ten Meet Record: 2:04.03 — Lilly King, Indiana (2017)
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time:

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Brooke Corrigan (Wisconsin) – 2:07.98
2. Letitia Sim (Michigan) – 2:09.03
3. Ashley McMillan (USC) – 2:09.43
4. Sarah Bennetts (UCLA) – 2:09.86
5. Bella Brito (USC) – 2:10.09
6. Devon Kitchel (Michigan) – 2:10.49
7. Hazal Ozkan (Wisconsin) – 2:10.56
8. Catherine Hughes (Wisconsin) – 2:10.87

Wisconsin freshman Brooke Corrigan posted the fastest time of the morning in the 200 breaststroke, 2:07.98, to lead the field by over a full second.

The Badger has been on a tear this season, having already lowered her best time from 1:00.35 to 59.71 in the 100 pre-conference before hitting 59.01 and finishing fourth last night. In this 200, arguably her better event of the two, she’s dropped from 2:11.62 to 2:07.97 so far in her freshman campaign, with her current PB set just two weeks ago at the Badgers’ First Chance Meet.

Michigan senior Letitia Sim, who won the 100 breast (57.90) last night en route to taking down Miranda Tucker’s 2018 school record, safely advanced through in second with a reserved 2:09.03. Her personal best is the 2:06.52 she swam at the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge, nearly a second and a half faster than anyone else in the field, and she’ll start as the favorite on paper having already gone a PB in the 100 last night.

Ashley McMillan, a junior for the USC Trojans, came within 0.32 of her personal best to qualify third in 2:09.43, just off the 2:09.11 she swam against UCLA late last month.

WOMEN’S 500-YARD FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
• Big Ten Record: 4:33.86 — Anna Peplowski, Indiana (2025)
• Big Ten Meet Record: 4:33.86 — Anna Peplowski, Indiana (2025)
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 4:39.47

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Sienna Angove (Ohio State) – 4:38.60
2. Mila Nikanorov (Ohio State) – 4:40.31
3. Hannah Bellard (Michigan) – 4:40.59
4. Gena Jorgenson (Nebraska) – 4:41.06
5. Justina Kozan (USC) – 4:41.16
6. Claire Tuggle (USC) – 4:41.65
7. Blair Stoneburg (Wisconsin) – 4:41.68
8. Emma Finlin (Ohio State) – 4:42.35

The Ohio State sophomore duo of Sienna Angove and Mila Nikanorov lead the way into the women’s 500 free final, with Angove clocking 4:38.60 as the only swimmer to crack 4:40 this morning.

Nikanorov hit the touchpad in 4:40.31, with Michigan junior Hannah Bellard recording the other only sub-4:41 result with a time of 4:40.59.

Angove completely obliterated the 4:45.40 best time she swam at the Ohio State Invite earlier in the season, though she hasn’t focused on the event too much during her collegiate career. As a freshman, she swam both IMs and the 100 free at this meet. She was nearly three seconds off her best time in last night’s 400 IM, where she placed fifth after winning the title a year ago, but she may have shifted to a more middle-distance free focus for this meet or the season as a whole.

As for Nikanorov, she added 3.34 seconds to her season-best 4:36.97, which itself isn’t far away from her 4:36.38 best time from last season’s NCAA meet. She finished fourth in this event last season, less than half a second behind Bellard, who was third.

Bellard has been throwing down PBs left and right in all of her other events this season, but her best time of 4:34.77 dates back to the 2024 Georgia Invite. If she can get within striking distance of that time tonight, she will be the one to beat.

WOMEN’S 50-YARD FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 20.37 — Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (2024 & 2025)
• Big Ten Record: 21.17 — Maggie MacNeil, Michigan (2022)
• Big Ten Meet Record: 21.28 — Zhesi Li, Ohio State (2018)
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 22.01

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Brady Kendall (Michigan) – 21.43
2. Liberty Clark (Indiana) – 21.60
3. Kristina Paegle (Indiana) – 21.70
4. Rachel Bockrath (Ohio State) – 21.84
5. Jada Duncan (UCLA) – 21.91
6. Nicole Maier (USC) & Carrie Furbee (Ohio State) – 21.92
7. N/A
8. Payton Flowers (Iowa) – 21.94

Brady Kendall of Michigan made her presence known in the heats of the 50 free, logging the quickest time of 21.43. Kendall will start as the favorite tonight as she enters with the fastest personal and season bests, courtesy of the 21.34 she produced at the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge.

The senior leads the field by 0.17 heading into the final, but Indiana freshman Liberty Clark may have something to say about it in a few hours’ time.

Clark stopped the clock in 21.60, just over a tenth shy of the 21.48 lifetime best she produced leading off Indiana’s runner-up 200 free relay last night. She swam that PB on the heels of winning the individual 200 free in her first-ever sub-1:41 performance, so a more rested swim could spell a time drop.

Clark’s Hoosier teammate and defending champion, senior Kristina Paegle, swam 21.70 to move through in third, not all that far off the 21.56 lifetime best she swam at last season’s NCAA Championships.