2015 B1G 10 Championships (W): Day 2 Prelims Real-Time Recaps

With day one of the Women’s 2015 Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships only having the 200 medley and 800 free relays, the first day of individual races is grounds for some fierce competition and fast swimming. This year, Rutgers University will be competing in the Big 10 – becoming the 13th member of the conference. Rutgers, however, isn’t expected to be a major threat to big names like Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Last year, the University of Minnesota hosted – and won – this meet, and although the Golden Gophers hope to take home the 2015 B1G title, Indiana and Michigan both out-rank them.

Several Big 10 schools have made it into the top-25 division-I rankings, including: no. 13 Indiana, no. 15 Michigan, no. 16 Purdue, no. 19 Minnesota, no. 21 Wisconsin, and no. 23 Ohio State. Click Here for the complete D-1 preseason rankings.

Here are the results for last year’s (2014) B1G Championships:

1. Minnesota
2. Indiana
3. Penn State
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. Wisconsin
7. Purdue
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. Northwestern
11. Michigan State
12. Illinois

Last night in the 2-medley and 8-free relays, Wisconsin hit the ground running (well, swimming) with an almost-record-breaking-time of 1:36.82 in the medley relay.

Indiana, however, came back from their 9th place medley relay finish with a killer 4×200 relay – that not only won the event – but also set a new B1G record with a time of 6:59.10.

Here are the scores after the first two relays, going into today’s prelims:

1. Michigan
2. Wisconsin
3. Minnesota
4. Indiana
5. Purdue
6. Penn. State
7. Iowa
8. Ohio State | Northwestern (tie)
9. Illinois
10. Nebraska | Rutgers (tie)
11. Michigan State

500 Free Prelims:

Indiana has won 6 500 free titles – with the most recent coming from B1G record holder Lindsay Vrooman in 2014. Vrooman, however, has graduated, and this year will be anyone’s race –  including Indy sophomore (2014 A-finalist) Stephanie Marchuk.

That being said, the B1G’s freshman class is filling in the shoes of those who have graduated – with Michigan’s Gillian Ryan securing an A-final spot with a time of 4:41.14. In addition to Ryan, Indiana ’18er Kennedy Goss took first in the penultimate heat – and then second overall in prelims.

First place, however, belongs to IU junior Haley Lips – who swam a lifetime best with a time of 4:39.82 – in prelims. Last year Lips finished 8th in the A final.

Iowa got only one swimmer into finals – but that swimmer is senior Rebecca Stoughton – in third place overall. Last year Stoughton finished 5th in the B final – and 13th overall.

Will Indiana take the 500 free again this year? Here are the lineups for finals tonight:

A Final:

1. Haley Lips | Indiana
2. Kennedy Goss | Indiana
3. Rebecca Stoughton | Iowa
4. Samantha Harding | Minnesota
5. Kate Sowinski | Penn State
6. Gillian Ryan | Michigan
7. Kiera Janzen | Minnesota
8. Claudia Goswell | Michigan

B Final:

1.  Brooke Zeiger | Minnesota
2. Kaersten Meitz | Purdue
3. Nika Petric | Purdue
4. Danielle Valley | Wisconsin
5. Hannah Moore | Michigan
6. Staphanie Marchuk | Indiana
7. Abby Jagdfeld | Purdue
8. Alexa Davis | Purdue

C Final:

1. Jessica Plant | Minnesota
2. Megan Siverling | Penn State
3. Lindsey Clary | Ohio State
4. Jenny Holtzen | Wisconsin
5. Kelsey Cummings | Michigan
6. Booke Lorentzen | Minnesota
7. Megan Purdy | Northwestern
8. Madeline Hoch | Minnesota

200 IM Prelims:

Junior Ashley Vance (Ohio State) returns to the pool as last year’s 200 IM champion. Vance dropped nearly two seconds from prelims-finals last year and won with a time of 1:56.91.

Vance goes into the 2-IM seeded second – with a time of 1:57.60.

Michigan freshman Clara Smiddy, however, is already headed into finals tonight with a killer 1:56.97. Prior to prelims, Smiddy was seeded with a 1:58.69 – can she take more time off of her 1:56 tonight?

Last year, Michigan’s Marni Oldershaw took 2nd in this event – by swimming a 1:57.23 in prelims then shaving off a fraction of a second to finish with a 1:57.11. Oldershaw took first in the 10th heat of the 200 IM at prelims this morning, but finished with a time of 1:58.40 – over a second slower than what got her into the A final (and ultimately, a second place finish) last year.

Last year it took under 1:59 to get into the A final whereas this year, the seventh and eighth place seeds come in with times of 1:59.19 and 1:59.31, respectively.

A Final:

1. Clara Smiddy | Michigan
2. Ashley Vance (2014 champion) | Ohio State
3. Marni Oldershaw (2014 runner-up) | Michigan
4. Kierra Smith | Minnesota
5. Emma Sougstad | Iowa
6. Bailey Pressey | Indiana
7. Samantha Lisy | Indiana
8. Tori Simenec | Minnesota

B Final:

1. Aja Van Hout | Wisconsin
2. Haley Sinatro | Penn State
3. Kathryn Rowe | Penn State
4. Gia Dalesandro | Indiana
5. Morgan Pfaff |  Rutgers
6. Brooke Snodgrass | Indiana
7. Anna Meinholz | Wisconsin
8. Hannah Manger | Purdue

C Final:

1. Samantha Hardewig | Nebraska
2. Dorin Szekeres | Indiana
3. Nicole Price | Penn State
4. Marie Georger | Michigan
5. Corolyn McCann | Michigan
6. Meagan Lim | Purdue
7. Madeline Hazle | Wisconsin
8. Francesca Marr | Purdue

50 Free Prelims:

Last year Wisconsin then-junior Ivy Martin went into the 50 free seeded first then won with a time of 21.68.  This year, Martin – now a senior – goes into the 50 free finals seeded with a :21.69.

Her biggest competition comes from Ohio State freshman Zhesi Li – who dropped over half a second from her seed time to go into finals with a :22.03. Seeded in third place, is Rebecca Weiland – who, go figure – finished second in this event last year, with a time of :22.27. The Minnesota senior goes into finals tonight seeded with a lifetime best of :22.07.

A Final:

1. Ivy Martin | Wisconsin
2. Zhesi Li | Ohio State
3. Rebecca Weiland | Minnesota
4. Alex Deloof | Michigan
5. Chase Kinney | Wisconsin
6. Alyson Ackman | Penn State
7. Carolyn Fittin | Penn State
8. Annie Tamblyn | Wisconsin

B Final:

1. Kylie Vogel | Purdue
2. Kaitlin Saloky | Penn State
3. Katelyn Miller | Penn State
4. Madeline Frost | Michigan
5. Lauren Votova | Minnesota
6. Mary Warren | Northwestern
7. Alex Bilunas and Maci McNichols (tie) | Nebraska and Ohio State

C Final:

1. Abigail Raatz | Minnesota
2. Alie Schmidtke | Ohio State
3. Rachel Dzierzak | Ohio State; Grace Vertigans | Indiana; Taryn Collura Nebraska (3 way tie)
4. Carly Marshall | Purdue
5. Ann Jongekrijg | Ohio State
6. Olivia Kabacinski | Iowa

SwimSwam’s got you covered for all things B1G! Check back here tonight for live updates on finals.