Oakland Men’s 44-Year Conference Title Streak in Danger (Horizon League Day 2 Up/Downs)

2023 HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
• IU Natatorium (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Oakland (9x)
  • Men: Oakland (9x)
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Things are heating up at the IUPUI Natatorium. It wasn’t necessarily expected, but as we sit between the prelims and finals session on Thursday, it looks like we have a real battle on our hands at the top of the men’s standings.

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies have dominated the Horizon League since joining the conference a decade ago, having swept the men’s and women’s swimming and diving titles all nine years they’ve competed in the conference. Both teams are looking for the tenth consecutive conference title, but suddenly it looks like IUPUI is going to test Oakland to their limit.

The Jaguars are leading in men’s team scoring heading into tonight’s finals, thanks in large part to a great performance in men’s diving last night. It was easy to label the Jaguars’ lead as a product of their diving advantage, until they put themselves in position to outscore Oakland tonight in the men’s events.

There’s a very good chance that IUPUI actually expands their lead over Oakland through tonight’s events, which would put the Golden Grizzlies in an unfamiliar position of having to chase down the leader.

Here is the “up/down” data for tonight’s finals at the Horizon League Championships. If you’re unfamiliar with SwimSwam’s “up/down” posts, it’s a way to examine how prelims performances will results in finals scoring. “Up,” the first number, indicates the number of ‘A’ finalists, while “down,” the second number, denotes the number of ‘B’ finalists.

Men’s Up/Downs

As the data shows, IUPUI earned one more ‘A’ finalist than Oakland this morning, with both teams having four ‘B’ finalists. That gives the Jaguars a very good opportunity to outscore the Golden Grizzlies tonight, which would be huge for the team momentum.

Here is what the final standings would look like after tonight’s finals if the placing from this morning stayed the same.

MEN’S SCORED PRELIMS + ACTUAL SCORE

Of course, there will also be a relay tonight, which isn’t factored into this data and will have an effect on the standings. However, based on the results from prelims of the 50 free this morning, we have to consider the most likely outcome is that Oakland and IUPUI go 1-2 in the 200 free relay tonight, so regardless of who ends up winning it, the relay probably won’t have a massive effect on how the battle between these two teams looks at the end of tonight. On the other hand, if this meet does end up being highly-contested, as it looks to be now, the six-point difference between winning and coming in second in a relay could turn out to be critical.

Not only has Oakland won nine straight Horizon League men’s team titles, the Oakland men’s program has won 44-straight conference titles, which is a streak that suddenly looks to be in jeopardy. This also just so happens to be taking place in Oakland head coach Pete Hovland‘s final year with the program. Hovland, who is in his 43rd year as the head coach of the program, announced a while back that he would be retiring following the conclusion of this season.

For their part, IUPUI has been steadily improving since joining the conference a few years ago. With Hovland’s looming retirement, the door could truly be open in the Horizon League for the first time in a decade, and it looks like the Jaguars might be primed to walk right through it.

All that being said, it’s very much business as usual for Oakland over on the women’s side of things. The Golden Grizzlies hold the lead after last night’s relays, and they are poised to open up a massive lead over the rest of the teams after tonight’s events.

Here are the up/downs for the Horizon League women’s teams on Thursday:

Women’s Up/Downs

As the chart shows, Oakland managed to earn six more ‘A’ finalists than any other team, picking up three ‘B’ finalists as well. On top of that, the Golden Grizzlies are the favorites in the women’s 200 free relay tonight.

Here is what the final standings would look like after tonight’s finals if the placing from this morning stayed the same.

WOMEN’S SCORED PRELIMS + ACTUAL SCORE