Ohio State Leads Prelims But Indiana Isn’t Going Quietly: Women’s Big Ten Day 4 Up/Downs

2023 WOMEN’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, MI
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Ohio State (3x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
• Fan Guide

The final prelims session of the 2023 Women’s Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships has come and gone. That means it’s time for our final round of up/downs.

Ohio State enters the day with an 85.5-point lead over Indiana, with Michigan seemingly having fallen out of the race for the title.

TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY 3

1. Ohio State – 934
2. Indiana – 848.5
3. Michigan – 773
4. Wisconsin – 649
5. Minnesota – 529.5
6. Northwestern – 464.5
7. Penn State – 375
8. Rutgers – 318.5
9. Purdue – 311
10. Nebraska – 299
11. Iowa – 163
12. Illinois – 155

The Buckeyes had a very good morning, though not nearly as great as yesterday’s was. They earned one more ‘A’ finalist, ‘B’ finalist, and ‘C’ finalist than Indiana in the pool. Here is a look at the up/mid/downs for day four of the Big Ten Championships. If you’re new to our “up/downs,” it’s a simple format. It’s a way of evaluating team performances in prelims sessions based on how many swimmers qualified for finals. The format is “X/Y/Z,” where “X” is the number of ‘A’ finalists, “Y” the number of ‘B’ finalists, and “Z” the number of ‘C’ finalists.

Without further ado:

Day Four Up/Mid/Downs

Keep in mind that today’s up/downs actually tell us the least of any day of the meet. That’s because right now we still have platform diving, which is going on right now. But on top of that, there is also timed finals of the 1650 free, which will take place leading into the finals session and conclude during the finals session.

Nonetheless, Ohio State had a positive morning in the pool, setting themselves up to outscore Indiana tonight. That means that for the Buckeyes to protect their lead, they just need to hope the Hoosiers don’t do too much damage in diving or the mile. Ohio State isn’t going to outscore Indiana in diving, but if they manage to get the better of them in mile, that would probably be enough to seal the deal.

Here is a look at the actual scores plus scored prelims heading into tonight. As you’ll see it shows Ohio State projected to boost their lead well over 100 points. Again, that doesn’t mean that’s going to happen, and in fact it’s unlikely that it will because of diving, but it’s just a projection to show us how things are looking.

Actual Scores + Scored Prelims

Truthfully, if this data shows us anything it’s that this team battle between Ohio State and Indiana is going to end up being a close one, certainly significantly closer than last year’s final standings. Based on how things look right now with the outstanding events, I’d actually be fairly surprised if Ohio State ends up expanding their lead today. That’s all the better for us swimming fans, though, since it will only add to the excitement of finals tonight.