2025 MEN’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Dates: Wednesday, February 26–Saturday, March 1
- Location: Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, Minneapolis, MN
- Defending champions: Indiana men (3x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide
- Teams: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, USC*, Wisconsin
- Day 1 Recaps: Finals
The Indiana Hoosiers broke their own Big Ten Championship and overall conference record in the 200 medley relay to open their Big Ten fourpeat attempt on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
A veteran relay of senior Luke Barr, 5th year transfer Brian Benzing, senior Finn Brooks, and 23-year-old junior transfer Matt King combined for a 1:21.39.
That broke their own Meet Record of 1:22.17 set last year (with only one out of four legs returning) and the overall Big Ten Record of 1:21.52 set at the 2023 NCAA Championships (with four new legs).
The Michigan men finished 2nd in 1:22.08, also going under the Championship Record and the Michigan School Record. That relay included Jack Wilkening, Ozan Kalafat, Tyler Ray, and Bence Szabados.
Splits Comparison:
| Indiana | Michigan | Indiana | |
| New Big Ten Record | 2nd Place |
Former Big Ten Record
|
|
| Back | Barr – 20.64 | Wilkening – 20.88 | Burns – 20.60 |
| Breast | Benzing – 22.93 | Kalafat – 23.24 | Mathias – 22.53 |
| Fly | Brooks – 19.43 | Ray – 19.33 | Frankel – 19.56 |
| Free | King – 18.39 | Szabados – 18.63 | Wight 18.83 |
| Total Time | 1:21.39 | 1:22.08 | 1:21.52 |
Interestingly enough, the two swimmers on that Indiana relay who really did work are the two lower profile names. Luke Barr went a new best time and was almost as fast as the NCAA Champion Burns, while Brooks was the breaststroker on the prior record-setting relay.
While the Big Ten title is crucial, maybe more important for Indiana is that the swim now ranks them 5th in the NCAA this season – only behind the paradigm-shifting trio of 1:20s from Tennessee, Florida, and Texas at the SEC Championships last week, and an Arizona State 1:21.16 from Tuesday at Big 12s.
Indiana could get even better at NCAAs in this relay. The most obvious spot for that to happen is breaststroke, where Benzing’s 22.93, a good split by most standards, is short of his best. He split 22.55 at last year’s CAA Championships while swimming for Towson. Indiana also has transfer Caspar Corbeau as an option, though they used him on the 800 free relay on Wednesday. He, ironically, also split 22.55 in 2022, the last time he swam the breaststroke leg of the medley relay for Texas at NCAAs.
The Hoosiers last won an NCAA team title in men’s swimming in 1973, and this year have maybe their best chance in the last 50 years of breaking that streak – alongside co-favorites Cal and Texas.
Race Video:
Hooosiers! Go Finn!
How did Casper’s Longhorn tattoo look in UI red?
FYI: Live results link is from a prior meet & not updated to Big Tens (same link as on Big Ten network).
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damn 19 on breast 😱😱😱
Though the 800 free relay wasn’t shockingly fast, it was a 4 team race pretty much from start to finish which was very exciting to watch
Looks like Michigan finally broke that legendary school record from 2013