Hunter Armstrong the New Big Ten 100 BK Favorite, But IU Repeats in 400 Medley

2021 BIG TEN MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

TEAM SCORES (THROUGH DAY 2)

  1. Ohio State – 628
  2. Indiana – 547.5
  3. Michigan – 526
  4. Purdue – 414.5
  5. Wisconsin – 345
  6. Northwestern – 296
  7. Penn State – 267
  8. Minnesota – 259
  9. Iowa – 250
  10. Michigan State – 102

Ohio State has opened up a lead of over 80 points on Indiana after the first day of individual events, with Michigan pulling right up behind Indiana in the title hunt.

One of the big swims for Ohio State tonight, aside from their wins in the 200 IM and 50 free, came in the 400 medley relay. West Virginia University transfer Hunter Armstrong led off in 44.92, which is an enormous best for the sophomore. Armstrong was 46.22 previously, a time he swam at the 2020 Big 12 Championships when he was with the Mountaineers.

Though OSU didn’t win the relay, settling for third, Armstrong has emerged as the surprise favorite for the 100 back title Friday night. Last year in the 100 back final, a 46.22 would’ve taken fifth, as Indiana’s Gabriel Fantoni won easily with a 44.92– that’s the exact time Armstrong went tonight.

Fantoni was 45.26 leading off Indiana’s medley tonight, and while the senior has experience on his side, Armstrong might have the momentum.

Meanwhile, the Hoosiers defended their 400 medley relay title from 2020, hitting nearly the same time as last year. In terms of the field’s top splits, Armstrong was the only sub-45 on back, while Max McHugh was 50.09 to lead five swimmers under 51 on respective breast legs. Eight teams had breaststrokers split sub-52.

Indiana’s Brendan Burns and Michigan’s River Wright were both 44.8s on their respective fly legs, while Purdue’s Nikola Acin led the anchor legs with a 41.44.

RELAY SPLITS

100 BACK

SCHOOL SWIMMER SPLIT
Ohio State Hunter Armstrong 44.92
Indiana Gabriel Fantoni 45.26
Michigan Wyatt Davis 45.68
Penn State Michael Daly 46.07
Wisconsin Wes Jekel 46.27
Purdue Michael Juengel 46.97
Iowa Anze Fers Erzen 46.98
Northwestern Manu Bacarizo 47.00
Minnesota Gavin Olson 47.31
Michigan State Evan Stanislaw 49.16

100 BREAST

SCHOOL SWIMMER SPLIT
Minnesota Max McHugh 50.09
Michigan Will Chan 50.65
Ohio State Hudson McDaniel 50.85
Indiana Zane Backes 50.85
Northwestern Kevin Houseman 50.93
Purdue Trent Pellini 51.01
Iowa Will Myhre 51.50
Wisconsin Andrew Benson 51.67
Penn State Daniel Raisanen 53.13
Michigan State Jonathan Lee 54.84

100 FLY

SCHOOL SWIMMER SPLIT
Indiana Brendan Burns 44.79
Michigan River Wright 44.85
Wisconsin Erik Gessner 45.40
Ohio State Sem Andreis 45.47
Iowa Sergey Kuznetsov 46.37
Purdue Nicholas Sherman 46.50
Penn State Jake Houck 46.62
Minnesota Kaiser Neverman 46.75
Michigan State Bradley Sanford 46.91
Northwestern Connor LaMastra 46.92

100 FREE

SCHOOL SWIMMER SPLIT
Purdue Nikola Acin 41.44
Indiana Jack Franzman 41.67
Ohio State Paul Delakis 41.93
Michigan Gus Borges 41.98
Penn State Will Roberson 42.56
Iowa Aleksey Tarasenko 42.67
Minnesota Lucas Farrar 42.81
Northwestern Andrew Zhang 42.95
Wisconsin Jake Newmark 43.05
Michigan State Stephen Freitag 44.74

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SwimCoach
3 years ago

Fun note about Hunter Armstrong, he’s a pretty damn good magician.

yes
3 years ago

Big ten breastroke looking to prove they’re still the breastroke conference after the fast swims from the other power 5 conferences.

Jackman
3 years ago

Damn those breastrokers be eating!

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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