2016 Women’s Big Ten Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2016 WOMEN’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 17th to Saturday, February 20th | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
• Where: Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, MI (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Minnesota Gophers (4x) (results)
• Meet Preview
• Live Results
• Streaming: Big Ten Network ($)
• Championship Central: here

The intense team battle between Indiana and Michigan continues on night 3, as each team has several shots at Big Ten titles individually.

The Hoosiers currently trail by 17 points, but Haley Lips is in line for her second Big Ten title of 2016 with the top 200 free seed. Lips and teammate Kennedy Goss are seeded 1 and 2 in that race after Lips won the 500 free title on day 2. Also a top seed: freshman Lilly King, who put up the third-fastest 50 breaststroke split in history on opening night and now chases her first 100 breaststroke title.

Michigan sits 1-2 in the 100 back with Ali DeLoof and Clara Smiddy, and Ohio State impressed this morning with two top seeds: Lindsey Clary in the 400 IM and Zhesi Li in the 100 fly.

• Prelims recap
• Ups/Mids/Downs

Keep refreshing this page for live, event-by-event updates from the Big Ten meet as they happen.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay – Timed Final

1. Indiana – 3:30.17 (Big Ten record)
2. Michigan – 3:31.98
3. Penn State – 3:35.18

Indiana completed a sweep of the medley relays with a blowout victory in the 400 medley on day 3, a swim that broke the conference record and nearly vaults them back into 1st place in the team points.

The biggest split came from breaststroker Lilly King, who beat everyone in the field by a second with her 57.64 leg. King had the 3rd-best 50 breast split of all-time on night 1, and this swim should make her one of the NCAA’s top threats in the 400 medley relay as well.

Gia Dalesandro had the best fly leg of the Big Ten at 51.74*, Marie Chamberlain was the second-best backstroker at 52.53 and Kennedy Goss anchored in 48.26, the third-best freestyle split in the field. Indiana was 3:30.17, breakign their own Big Ten record from 2014.

*Technically, Ohio State’s Zhesi Li was faster at 50.79, but the Buckeyes were disqualified in the race.

Michigan led early, getting a 52.03 from Clara Smiddy on backstroke to take the lead. Emily Kopas (59.62) was one of the better non-King breaststrokers in the field, but the Wolverines still lost two seconds on that leg. Siobhan Haughey continued to provide big relay boosts with a 52.61 on fly, and Ali DeLoof led all anchors with a 47.79 as the Wolverines went 3:31.98.

Penn State got a 48.90 anchor split from Nicole Price to go 3:35.18 for third, and Minnesota was 3:35.48 for fourth, led by a 48.58 from senior anchor Lauren Votava.

The Ohio State DQ was especially costly, as it allowed the Golden Gophers to roll by the Buckeyes into third place. Michigan still leads, though only by 9 over Indiana after the relay.

Women’s 400 IM – Finals

1. Lindsey Clary, Ohio State, 4:03.64
2. Brooke Zeiger, Minnesota, 4:08.18
3. Yirong Bi, Michigan, 4:08.56

After finishing runner-up last year, Ohio State’s Lindsey Clary pulled off a dominant performance in the women’s 400 IM, winning by nearly 5 seconds in a time of 4:03.64. The swim destroyed the previous pool record that was set in 2009 by Jenny Shaughnessy of Minnesota who went 4:06.37.

Minnesota’s Brooke Zeiger, the defending champion, had to settle for silver coming in at 4:08.18, well off where she was at this point last season (4:03.28). Clary and Zeiger separated themselves from the field in the first 200, and then Clary asserted herself on the breaststroke out-splitting Zeiger by about 4 seconds and cruising to victory from there.

Michigan’s Yirong Bi continued her great meet, finishing 3rd in 4:08.56. Bi was able to claim bronze ahead of 4th place finisher Breanne Siwicki (4:10.19) of Minnesota with a fast freestyle leg.

Last year’s 4th place finisher Samantha Lisy of Indiana was 6th in 4:12.22, and Michigan’s Marnia Oldershaw moved up from 6th last year to 5th this year.

The top 6 swimmers were all under the time it took to get invited to NCAAs last season (4:12.31).

Women’s 100 Fly – Finals

1. Zhesi Li, Ohio State, 51.77
2. Gia Dalesandro, Indiana, 52.42
3. Danielle Nack, Minnesota, 52.64

Ohio State’s Zhesi Li defended her top seed from the prelims, winning handily in a time of 51.77, just off the B1G record of 51.56 and meet record of 51.61. Her prelim swim of 51.72 stands as the pool record. Ohio State is off to a good start this session as they are currently chasing down Minnesota for 3rd overall.

Last years runner-up Gia Dalesandro of Indiana finished 2nd again in 52.42, and 3rd went to Danielle Nack of Minnesota in 52.64. Nack was 7th in this race last year.

Dana Grindall of Wisconsin was 4th in 52.66, and Meagan Lim of Purdue and Taryn Collura of Nebraska tied for 5th in 53.21.

The top four finishers were all under the time needed to be invited to NCAAs last season (52.79).

Women’s 200 Free – Finals

1. Siobhan Haughey, Michigan, 1:43.51
2. Alexa Davis, Purdue, 1:44.21
3. Haley Lips, Indiana, 1:44.30

After Haley Lips and Kennedy Goss of Indiana went 1-2 in the prelims, it looked like they might go 1-2 in the final again like they did last year (Goss won), but it was not to be tonight, as Michigan’s Siobhan Haughey took the win in 1:43.51.

Haughey in lane 3 and Alexa Davis of Purdue in lane 2 got out ahead of the field at the 100, and stayed away as Davis held on for 2nd in 1:44.21. Lips had the fastest final 50 in the field which brought her up into 3rd in 1:44.30, and Alyson Ackman of Penn State was 4th in 1:45.16. Defending champion Goss had to settle for 5th in 1:45.61.

Haughey’s win was a big one for Michigan, as they continue to chip away at Indiana’s lead. Haughey got under the NCAA auto standard of 1:43.82, and the top-5 finishers were all under the time that got invited last year (1:45.95).

Women’s 100 Breast – Finals

1. Lilly King, Indiana, 57.35
2. Miranda Tucker, Indiana, 58.58
3. Emily Fogle, Purdue, 59.07

Indiana freshman Lilly King dominated the 100 breast finals winning in a blazing time of 57.35, obliterating B1G, meet, and pool records. She was also just off of the American and NCAA record of 57.23 held by Breeja Larson of Texas A&M. The previous conference and meet records were held by Minnesota’s Jillian Tyler from 2011 (58.08), and the pool record was her own that she set this morning in the prelims (58.38).

Miranda Tucker made it a 1-2 finish for Indiana freshman, as she finished 2nd in 58.58. Both swims are well under the NCAA A cut of 59.04. These are key swims from first year swimmers for Indiana as they seek to end Minnesota’s reign as Big Ten champions.

Emily Fogle of Purdue improved upon her 8th place finish from last year in a big way, grabbing 3rd place in 59.07, just off the A cut. Last years 4th place finisher Emma Sougstad of Iowa finished 4th once again, as she also broke a minute in 59.22.

The top 6 women got under the time that was invited to NCAAs last season (1:00.74). Joining King, Tucker, Fogle, and Sougstad under that time was Taylor Vargo (1:00.13) of Ohio State and Emily Kopas (1:00.56) of Michigan, who were 5th and 6th respectively.

Women’s 100 Back – Finals

1. Clara Smiddy, Michigan, 51.80
2. Ali DeLoof, Michigan, 52.14
3. Marie Chamberlain, Indiana, 52.73

Michigan makes a 1-2 punch in this Wolverine-dominated race, with sophomore Clara Smiddy swimming away with the Big Ten title. Rather surprisingly, Smiddy was the only sub-52-second swimmer of the field, clocking a winning time of 51.80. Smiddy was the only swimmer to drop significant time between prelims and finals (.44), whereas most of the field fell within hundredths of their morning swims. She was last year’s conference runner-up with a time of 51.83, so she shaved just a few hundredths off her 2015 performance at this same meet.

Ali DeLoof raced to a 2nd place finish with her time of 52.14, off her morning top seeded time of 51.56, but enough to hold off the rest of the field and add some much-needed points to the Wolverine kitty.  The other 2 Michigan swimmers in the final – yes, there were 4 total – finished in 4th and 6th, in the form of Zoe Mattingly and Gabby DeLoof, respectively.

3rd place tonight brought more points to Indiana, as Hoosier Marie Chamberlain slid into wall in a time of 52.73. With a morning swim of 52.54 Chamberlin actually added time between her 2 swims, but proved still swift enough to be top 3.

As with the morning heats, no 100 backstroke nabbed an NCAA A cut, but last year’s NCAA invite time sat at 52.97, so only tonight’s top 3 finishers fell beneath that threshold.

All told, Michigan picked up a huge 124.5 points to take back over the lead headed into the women’s 3 meter: Michigan 832 to Indiana 809.5.

Women’s 3-meter Diving – Final

1. Yu Zhou, Minnesota, 407.05
2. Hanna Thek, Ohio State, 366.00
3. Lexi Tenenbaum, Minnesota, 354.80

Michigan and Indiana made it through the diving competition maintaining their respective 1st and 2nd team standing positions. But, with two Minnesota women scoring big-time points on 3-meter, they traded places with Ohio State and now sit in 3rd place as a team.

1. Michigan, 891
2. Indiana, 845.5
3. Minnesota, 612.5
4. Ohio State, 577
5. Purdue, 498.5
6. Penn State, 474.5
7. Wisconsin, 462
8. Nebraska, 326.5
9. Northwestern, 309
10. Rutgers, 260
11. Iowa, 248.5
12. Michigan State, 175
13. Illinois, 168