Buckeye Freshmen are Accounting for 39% of Ohio State’s Individual Swimming Points at Big Tens

2025 BIG TEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• 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+
• Results: Day 1 | Day 2
• Recaps:
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3
• Ups/Mids/Downs: Day 2

Team Scores After Day 2

1. Ohio State- 480
2. Michigan- 431
3. Indiana- 378
4. Wisconsin- 301
5. USC- 292
6. Minnesota- 239
7. Purdue- 199
8. Northwestern- 182
9. Nebraska- 154
10. UCLA- 140
11. Rutgers- 139
12. Penn State- 110
13. Illinois- 105
14. Iowa- 84

Ohio State found themselves leading the team standings after day 2 of the 2025 Women’s Big Ten Championships. There weren’t many people who picked Ohio State as the favorites for this meet, primarily because they lost so many swimmers from last year’s team, which left them very young. That being said, this Ohio State freshmen class is performing incredibly well so far at their home pool.

It started on Wednesday night, when the Buckeyes put out an 800 free relay made up entirely of freshmen, which went on to finish 2nd, under the previous Big Ten championship record. That relay of Sienna Angove (1:43.92), Erin Little (1:42.72), Mila Nikanorov (1:44.88), and Rachel Bockrath (1:42.99) swam a 6:54.53, which puts the rest of the conference on notice, since they’re all in their first year.

Angove has been the strongest contender for Freshman of the Year through this point in the meet. She finished 3rd in the 200 IM last night with a 1:55.06 after clocking a career best of 1:54.81 in prelims. In this morning’s prelims, she swam a 4:05.99 in prelims of the 400 IM, which was the fastest time in the field and a career best for her.

Nikanorov was huge for the Buckeyes yesterday as well, taking 4th in the 500 free with a career best of 4:37.43. Primarily a distance swimmer, Nikanorov wasn’t quite as strong in the 200 free this morning, but managed to make it back for finals after finishing 18th.

Bockrath was another freshman ‘A’ finalist for Ohio State yesterday, finishing 8th in the 50 free. She’s kept the momentum rolling into today, taking 8th in prelims of the 200 free to qualify for that ‘A’ final as well.

Little took 12th in the 50 free last night, then turned around and qualified for the ‘A’ final of the 200 free this morning with a 6th-place finish in prelims.

Delia Lloyd scored yesterday as well, swimming to a 19th-place finish in the 50 free. She was even better today, taking 9th i prelims of the 100 back to earn the top seed for tonight’s ‘B’ final.

Maria Ramos Najji is another freshman who is set to score today. She didn’t score any points yesterday, but qualified for the ‘B’ final of the 100 breast this morning with a 13th-place finish in prelims.

As far as how that breaks down for Ohio State’s overall team performance, here’s the math: Ohio State finished day 2 with 480 points. 160 of those points came from relays, leaving 320 points scored in individual events. Diving has, so far, accounted for 72 points, bringing the Buckeyes’ total number of points scored in individual swimming races to 248. This group of 5 Ohio State freshman scored 97 points yesterday, which accounts for 39.1% of the Buckeyes’ points from individual races.

It goes deeper than that, however, as the Buckeys have other freshmen swimmers at the meet who could be scoring points, except for that they’re swimming exhibition. Emma Finlin popped a 4;43.44 in the 500 free prelims yesterday, which would have put her 16th, sneaking into the ‘B’ final. Danika Varda clocked a 1:58.78 in prelims of the 200 IM, which would have been 20th had she not been racing exhibition. Margaret Cagle is another freshman who could be scoring tonight. Cagle swam a 1:00.88 in the 100 breast this morning, which could have earned her 22nd and a spot in the ‘C’ final tonight if she weren’t swimming exhibition.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Buckeyes manage to hold on and win this meet, but they have proven one thing either way. Ohio State’s class of 2028 is elite, and that means the future is bright in Columbus.