2021 BIG TEN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Tuesday, February 23rd to Saturday, February 27th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm (5pm Tuesday) CT
- Where: Minneapolis, MN (Central Time Zone) / Diving @ Purdue University
- Defending Champion: Ohio State (1x) (results)
- Live Results
- Streaming: Big Ten Network
- Championship Central
Sometimes, it feels like momentum can win swim meets. While plenty of things need to be in order before you can chalk it up to momentum (like talent, preparation, training, taper, and so on and so forth), it’s always clear when a team is feeling synergy at a championship meet.
Without a doubt after two days of competition at the 2021 Big Ten Championships, that team is Ohio State.
The OSU women, who won the 2020 Big Ten title, the Buckeyes’ first in over three decades, were all over it on Wednesday night. Further, their two individual event wins in the pool, senior Kristen Romano in the 200 IM and junior Sally Tafuto in the 500 free, really felt like momentum wins.
Romano entered the meet with a lifetime best of 1:56.76, but she looked extremely powerful in the pool, going right by Wisconsin freshman Phoebe Bacon on the breast leg and churning home in 1:54.19. Tafuto, meanwhile, held strong in the 500 free against Michigan sophomore Kaitlynn Sims, as the OSU junior flipped a switch on the last 100 and making it happen with a 4:39.58, her first time under 4:40.
In both cases, the Buckeye swimmers swam huge lifetime bests, keying on their overall team’s energy so far this week. After qualifying for NCAAs with seeds in the 30s in this event last year, they both will head into the NCAA meet as scoring threats.
Maggie MacNeil of Michigan was the best 400 medley relay lead-off by over a second, while OSU’s Hannah Bach and NU’s Sophie Angus both broke 58 on breast legs. Michigan’s Olivia Carter led the fly splits at 51.36, while Maddie Smith of Northwestern dropped a 47.00 (splitting 21.91 to the feet on the first 50) to anchor the Wildcats.
400 MEDLEY RELAY SPLIT BREAKDOWN
BACKSTROKE
| SCHOOL | SWIMMER | SPLIT |
| Michigan | Maggie MacNeil | 50.08 |
| Wisconsin | Phoebe Bacon | 51.49 |
| Ohio State | Emily Crane | 51.85 |
| Northwestern | Emma Lepisova | 52.87 |
| Indiana | Bailey Kovac | 53.53 |
| Minnesota | Emily Cook | 53.90 |
| Nebraska | Madesyn Ronquillio | 54.3 |
| Iowa | Julia Koluch | 54.73 |
| Illinois | Athena Salafatinos | 55.26 |
| Michigan State | Samantha Villani | 55.56 |
| Purdue | Tessa Wrightson | 56.02 |
BREASTSTROKE
| SCHOOL | SWIMMER | SPLIT |
| Ohio State | Hannah Bach | 57.49 |
| Northwestern | Sophie Angus | 57.77 |
| Indiana | Noelle Peplowski | 59.91 |
| Michigan State | Erin Szara | 59.94 |
| Minnesota | Emma Lezer | 1:00.48 |
| Wisconsin | Jenna Silvestri | 1:00.75 |
| Michigan | Mariella Venter | 1:00.88 |
| Iowa | Aleksandra Olesiak | 1:01.07 |
| Purdue | Riley Kishman | 1:01.09 |
| Nebraska | Ella Stein | 1:01.46 |
| Illinois | Divya Kale | 1:04.67 |
BUTTERFLY
| SCHOOL | SWIMMER | SPLIT |
| Michigan | Olivia Carter | 51.36 |
| Northwestern | Miriam Guevara | 51.94 |
| Ohio State | Katherine Trace | 52.52 |
| Wisconsin | Lillie Hosack | 52.62 |
| Iowa | Mallory Jump | 52.62 |
| Indiana | Elizabeth Broshears | 52.78 |
| Minnesota | Emma Linscott | 53.90 |
| Nebraska | Isabelle Murray | 54.08 |
| Purdue | Lindsay Turner | 54.11 |
| Illinois | Lillian Olson | 54.63 |
| Michigan State | Marie Dickson | 56.61 |
FREESTYLE
| SCHOOL | SWIMMER | SPLIT |
| Northwestern | Maddie Smith | 47.00 |
| Michigan | Daria Pyshnenko | 47.52 |
| Ohio State | Taylor Petrak | 47.53 |
| Indiana | Ashley Turak | 48.46 |
| Wisconsin | Alana Palmer | 49.10 |
| Minnesota | Pyper Doo | 49.23 |
| Iowa | Kelsey Drake | 49.56 |
| Nebraska | Lexi Kucera | 49.74 |
| Purdue | Claire Abbasse | 50.38 |
| Michigan State | Olivia Chick | 51.44 |
| Illinois | Lauren Bludgen | 51.48 |
Can’t wait to see how the men follow their performance!
Over before it even started! Go Bucks🌰!
Sorry Guerra,
looks like Ray won’t be the goat this season. The proof is in the pudding. -riding the coat tails of his pros
I know. I’ve always been a big, big fan of Billy D. I told him one time many moons ago that when he has passion, it’s hard to find anyone better in coaching. Ironically, we almost got him as Head Women’s Coach years ago when Dorsey left after doing a great job of building our program. Bill always did a great job with kids I coached when they were club/hs swimmers and he took care of them as people. I love that he got Dorsey in her position. Let her coach and keep her away from BS stuff that isn’t in her skill set and she’ll be an incredible asset to the program. Don’t diss the GOAT Coach though…he and… Read more »