Ohio State’s Sem Andreis Has Breakthrough Swim on Day 1 of B1G Championships

2020 B1G MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 26th to Saturday, February 29th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
• Where: Indiana University (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Indiana Hoosiers (3x) (results)
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While the absence of Cameron Craig from the Ohio State lineup at the Big Ten Championships definitely hit their relay depth on day 1, the Buckeyes still had some exciting swims from their young nucleus to open the 2020 Big Ten Championships.

On the 200 medley relay, Noah Lense occupied the butterfly leg where Craig might have been and split 21.21, which was the slowest split of the entire field. The Buckeyes, however, were still able to place 4th overall thanks to a 23.02 breaststroke leg from Hudson McDaniel, which was the second-fastest split of the field, and an 18.48 anchor leg from Sem Andreis that was the fastest in the field. Both swimmers are sophomores.

Andreis’ split is especially big for the Buckeyes after he missed the Big Ten Championships last year. His fastest flat-start 50 free as a freshman was 19.97. His best time as a sophomore coming into this meet was only 19.99.

On the 800 free relay, the Buckeyes finished 2nd, with Andrew Loy having the fastest leadoff leg in the field (1:32.37) and Paul Delakis having the fastest rolling-start swim of the field (1:31.44). They finished that relay with a pair of 1:35s. Craig, who was a two-time Pac-12 Champion in the 200 free while at Arizona State, has been as fast as 1:31.71, so while Michigan’s margin in that relay of almost 4 seconds was substantial, an Ohio State relay with Craig would have competed for the title.

Another big result on day 1 of the Big Ten Championships was the performance of Indiana freshman Brendan Burns. After big graduations for the Hoosiers last year, they were counting on Burns to come in and fill a lot of holes immediately, and he did just that on Wednesday, splitting 20.20 on the butterfly leg of Indiana’s 200 medley relay and then splitting 1:34.59 as a member of their 800 free relay. That butterfly split was the fastest of the field.

That 200 medley relay won in 1:23.07 and in the process broke a Pool Record, and very nearly a Meet Record.

While Burns is capable of better on a 200 free relay split than that (he flat-start 1:34.15 in high school), he ate up key spots for Indiana as one of only three freshmen to swim on a top 5 relay in either the 200 medley or 800 free relays, let alone both.

Top Splits, Men’s 200 Medley Relay, 2020 Big Ten Championships

Backstroke:

1. Gabriel Fantoni, Indiana, Jr. – 21.17
2. Ryan Gridley, Northwestern, So. – 21.53
3. (TIE) Matthew Novinski, Wisconsin, Jr./Michael Juengel, Purdue, Fr. – 21.61
5. Eric Storms, Michigan, So. – 21.66

Breaststroke:

1. Max McHugh, Minnesota, So. – 22.99
2. Hudson McDaniel, Ohio State, So. – 23.02
3. Zane Backes, Indiana, So. – 23.08
4. Trent Pellini, Purdue, Jr. – 23.20
5. Will Chan, Michigan, So. – 23.46

Butterfly:

1. Brendan Burns, Indiana, Fr. – 20.20
2. Miles Smachlo, Michigan, Sr. – 20.22
3. Jian Mao, Wisconsin, Jr. – 20.27
4. Sergey Kuznetsov, Iowa, Fr. – 20.40
5. Federico Burdisso, Northwestern, Fr. – 20.54

Freestyle:

1. Sem Andreis, Ohio State, So. – 18.48
2. Bruno Blaskovic, Indiana, Jr. – 18.62
3. Gabriel Castano, Penn State, Jr. – 18.80
4. Gustavo Borges, Michigan, Jr. – 18.82
5. Nikola Acin, Purdue, So. – 18.99

Top Splits, 800 Free Relay

Leadoffs:

1.  Andrew Loy, Ohio State, Sr. – 1:32.37
2. Mohamed Samy, Indiana, Sr. – 1:32.63
3. Kevin Callan, Michigan, So. – 1:32.90
4. Cam Tysoe, Wisconsin, Sr. – 1:34.09
5. Michael Daly, Penn State, So. – 1:34.73

Rolling Starts:

1. Paul Delakis, Ohio State, Jr. – 1:31.44
2. Felix Auboeck, Michigan, Sr. – 1:31.85
3. Charlie Swanson, Michigan, Sr. – 1:33.08
4. Tommy Cope, Michigan, Sr. – 1:33.63
5. Van Mathias, Indiana, So. – 1:33.88