Indiana’s Vini Lanza Wins 3rd-Straight Big Ten Swimmer of the Meet

BIG TEN – MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2
• University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana (2x) (results)
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The Indiana Hoosiers took home 13 out of 21 event titles last week at the 2019 Big Ten Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships to win their 3rd-straight title. While that’s fewer wins than the 14 they had a year prior, the Hoosiers’ improved depth increased their margin over Michigan from 40.5 in 2018 to 241 points in 2019.

For the 3rd-straight year, Indiana’s Vini Lanza was named the Swimmer of the Championships. Last year, he won the honor after sweeping his 3 individual events – the 200 IM, 100 fly, and 200 fly – and this year he won it again after going 2-for-3. He won the 200 IM on day 2 of the meet in a new Meet Record of 1:41.05; and won the 200 fly on day 4 of the meet in a new Meet and Conference Record of 1:39.28.

This year, though, he was 2nd in the 100 fly in 44.90 (which would’ve won easily in 2018). That was courtesy of a breakthrough swim by Michigan junior Miles Smachlo, who won the race in 44.82.

Lanza’s senior classsmate at Indiana James Connor was named Diver of the Championships after a sweep of the springboard events (even though he didn’t dive platform).

Minnesota’s Max McHugh was named the Freshman of the meet. While he didn’t score in his opening event, the 200 IM, he went big in his specialty breaststroke races. In the 100, he swam a 51.08 to place 2nd behind only Ian Finnerty (the defending NCAA Champion and fastest swimmer in the history of the event). In the 200, he again finished as runner-up to Finnerty, touching in 1:52.40.

2019 Big Ten Individual Honors 
Swimmer of the Championships: Vini Lanza, Sr., Indiana
Diver of the Championships: James Connor, Sr., Indiana
Freshman of the Year: Max McHugh, Minnesota

All-Big Ten teams updated 3/4/2019

2019 All-Big Ten Teams
First Team 
Zach Apple, Sr., Indiana
Bruno Blaskovic, So., Indiana
James Connor, Sr., Indiana
Gabriel Fantoni, So., Indiana
Ian Finnerty, Sr., Indiana
Jack Franzman, Fr., Indiana
Brandon Hamblin, Fr., Indiana
Vini Lanza, Sr., Indiana
Mohamed Samy, Jr., Indiana
Felix Auboeck, Jr., Michigan
Luiz Gustavo Borges, So., Michigan
Will Chan, Fr., Michigan
Alex King, So., Michigan
Miles Smachlo, Jr., Michigan
Charles Swanson, Jr., Michigan
Bowen Becker, Sr., Minnesota
Brandon Loschiavo, Jr., Purdue

Second Team 
James Brinegar, Fr., Indiana
Andrew Capobianco, So., Indiana
Kevin Callan, Fr., Michigan
Thomas Cope, Jr., Michigan
Ricardo Vargas Jacobo, So., Michigan
Ross Todd, So., Michigan
Maxwell McHugh, Fr., Minnesota
Matthew Abeysinghe, Jr., Ohio State
Mossimo Chavez, Sr., Ohio State
Paul DeLakis, So., Ohio State
Ruslan Gaziev, Fr., Ohio State
Noah Lense, Jr., Ohio State
Andrew Loy, Jr., Ohio State
Henrique Painhas, Sr., Ohio State
Benjamin Sugar, So., Ohio State
Cameron Tysoe, Jr., Wisconsin

Sportsmanship Award Honorees 
Mory Gould, So., IND
Ben Colin, Sr., IOWA
Mokhtar Al-Yamani, Sr., MICH
Josh Pascua, So., MSU
Nick Plachinski, Sr., MINN
Will Hofstadter, Sr., NU
Nick Hogsed, Sr., OSU
Robbie Dickson, Sr., PSU
Jackson Higgins, Sr., PUR
Chris Wills, Sr., WIS