Purdue And Ohio State Positioned To Keep Leads Going Into Finals at Ohio State Invitational

A strong Saturday morning for the Purdue women and Buckeye men have those teams in good shape to protect their leads at tonight’s finals of the Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational. Kentucky and Wisconsin, however, put in performances Saturday morning that could threaten Purdue’s and Ohio State’s leads in the standings, when the finals start at 6 p.m. EST at the Bill & Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.

Going into the finals, the host Buckeyes (437.5) have a healthy lead over Wisconsin (249) in the men’s competition, and Purdue (291.5) is leading the women’s competition with Kentucky (266) and Wisconsin (235) in striking distance. See full standings below the prelim recaps.

Live Results (HY-TEK)
Thursday’s Final Results (PDF)

It’s a 2 p.m. Saturday start for the diving prelims, which features the men’s 3-meter and women’s 1-meter events. The diving finals start at 8 p.m.

Kentucky Qualifies First In the Men’s and Women’s 400 IM

Kentucky’s Danielle Galyer is the top qualifier in the women’s 400-yard IM (4:14.83), dropping nearly nine seconds off her seed time to get an NCAA ‘B’ cut. Purdue’s Nika Karlina Petric (4:16.17) also had a nice five second drop off her seed time to qualify second. Kentucky, Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are all putting two women into the A Final to fight for valuable team points.

Brandon Flynn followed Galyer’s example for Kentucky by clocking the fastest qualifying time and knocking nearly nine seconds off his seed time in the men’s 400-yard IM (3:52.52, which is an NCAA ‘B’ cut) to top the second leading qualifier, Wisconsin’s Josh Anderson (3:53.60). Anderson was the only swimmer to qualify for the A Final who did not cut seconds off his seed time. Considering he was the second fastest qualifier and was 3.69 seconds off his seed time, one has to wonder if he shut down his engines early to save gas for Saturday night’s final.

Bechtel’s Two Second Faster And McHugh Gives Buckeyes Hope In The 100-Yard Fly

No surprise here as Kentucky’s Christina Bechtel qualifies first in the 100-yard fly (51.44) with an NCAA ‘A’ cut and by a gap of nearly two seconds over teammate Abby Myers (53.13). Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin (53.32) qualifies third in front of Purdue’s Kylie Vogel (53.77), who put three women into Saturday’s A Final. Rhiannon Sheets (54.44), Alex Todd (54.46) and Meagan Lim (54.59) join Vogel, which will help Purdue with their effort to keep or extend their lead over Kentucky in the women’s standings. Joining Martin in the A Final for the Badgers is Dana Grindall (54.16), who qualified fifth.

Ohio State’s Matt McHugh breaks the run of top qualifiers for the Wildcats with the top time and NCAA ‘B’ cut in the men’s 100-yard fly (47.49). Kentucky’s Kyle Higgins qualified second (48.12, also an NCAA ‘B’ cut) with a 1.61 second drop from his seed time. Wisconsin puts four into the A Final Saturday night with Drew Teduits and Austin Byrd, who both clocked 49.40 for the third fastest qualifying times, plus Harrison Tran (49.56) and Ryan O’Donnell (49.94). Peter Lyon (49.47) and Steven Zimmerman (49.69) join McHugh for a trio of Buckeyes in the A Final.

Buckeye Men And Purdue Women Power The 200-Yard Free Prelims

Purdue’s women took the top four qualifying spots in the women’s 200-yard free Saturday morning with Abby Jagdfeld (1:46.86), Rhiannon Sheets (1:47.10), Allie Davis (1:49.10), and Nika Karlina Petric (1:49.69). Teammate Kaersten Meitz (1:50.43) qualified seventh for the A Finals, ensuring the five Purdue women will take the majority of points Saturday Night. Jagdfeld and Sheets achieved NCAA ‘B’ cuts. Kentucky puts two (Kendal Casey and Kristen Wilson) and Wisconsin one (Caroline Palm) into the A Final.

Michael Disalle (1:37.06) and Steffen Hillmer (1:37.22) have the two fastest times in the men’s 200-yard free for the Buckeyes, posting NCAA ‘B’ cuts in the process. They were closely followed by seven men who all clocked times under 1:40.00.

Disalle and Hillmer are not the only Buckeyes in the A Final. Josh Fleagle (1:37.33, also an NCAA ‘B’ cut), Rowan Williams (1:38.30), and Brayden Seal (1:38.77) make Ohio States’ presence in the A Final five strong. They will be contested by the Badger’s Cannon Clifton (1:37.25), Mathew Hutchins (1:38.73), and Nicholas Caldwell (1:39.50), who all qualified above their seed times and could turn it on in the finals to break up the Buckeye squad.

Purdue’s Fogle and Badger’s Schafer Qualify First in 100-Yard Breast

Emily Fogle continues Purdue’s run of top qualifying women with the best mark in the 100-yard breast (1:01.79), which is 1.36 drop off her seed time and an NCAA ‘B’ cut.  Wisconsin’s Anna Meinholz (1:02.77) and Kentucky’s Kendra Crew (1:02.88) have the second and third fastest qualifying times.

Going into the A Final, Purdue is represented by three, the Wildcats and Wisconsin with two, and Ohio State with one, which could impact the overall standings between the meet’s top four women’s teams.

Wisconsin’s Nick Schafer will have the unattached Keanu Stevenson to keep him company in the Men’s 100-yard breast A Final Saturday night, which features six Buckeyes, led by DJ Macdonald, who qualified second (54.33).

Schafer’s 54.30 qualifying time is 1.42 seconds off his seed time. He is the only one of the top six qualifiers who did not drop his seed time. Look for Schafer to turn it on Saturday night with a convincing win.

Galyer Qualifies Tops Again And Zimmerman Does It For OSU in 100-Yard Back

Danielle Galyer’s qualifying time in the women’s 100-yard back (52.75, an NCAA ‘B’ cut) was more than a second faster than Purdue’s Hannah Manger (53.99, also an NCAA ‘B’ cut). The A Final features three Wildcats (Galyer, Bridgette Alexander, and Alyssa Ruffing), two Buckeyes (Camey Rabold and Annie Gillig), Purdue’s Manger, Kenyon’s Celia Oberholzer, and Wisconsin’s Annie Tamblyn.

Like the men’s 200-yard free, the Ohio State men go into tonight’s 100-yard back with the two fastest times, as Steven Zimmerman (48.00) and Matt McHugh (48.05) topped Wisconsin’s Drew Teduits (48.44). All three were under the NCAA ‘B’ standard (48.49).

Look for Teduits, who was more than two seconds slower than his seed time, to challenge the Buckeye men in Saturday night’s A Final, which features four Buckeyes, three Badgers and one Wildcat. It’s a good mix that could push any team up or down in the team standings.

Team Standings

Going into tonight’s finals, which start at 6:30 p.m. EST, the full team standings (after Friday night’s results) are:

Women
:

1. Purdue – 291.5
2. Kentucky – 266
3. Wisconsin – 235
4. Ohio State – 194.5
5. Kenyon – 78
6. Virginia – 51
7. Miami — 42

Men:

1. Ohio State – 437.5
2. Wisconsin — 249
3. Kenyon — 142
4. Kentucky – 128
5. Purdue – 41.5
6. Miami – 37
7. Virginia – 35