2022 Big Ten Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2022 MEN’S B1G SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 23-26, 2022
• Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center, West Lafayette, IN
• SCY (25 yards)
• Prelims at 10AM Eastern, Finals at 5:30PM Eastern
• Defending Champions: Michigan (2x)
• Championship Central
• Live Results
• Live Stream: DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4
• B1G Men’s Record Book
• 2021 Men’s B1G Champs Results

The 2022 Men’s Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships kick off Wednesday in West Lafayette, Indiana at Purdue University.

The University of Michigan men will be looking for a third-straight title, but a number of unexplained absences from their roster at different points this season puts that in doubt.

The first night of action will feature just two events: the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay. All eyes are on Indiana freshman Josh Matheny on the breaststroke leg of the Hoosiers’ 200 medley, as he tries to replace the recently-retired Zane Backes, who had been the incumbent on the medley relays.

This meet will be considerably smaller than prior years – after the elimination of the men’s programs at Iowa and Michigan State, there are only 8 remaining men’s programs in the Big Ten Conference. Even with split lanes, that means only two heats per relay event.

200 Medley Relay – Timed Final

• Big Ten Championship Record – Michigan, 1:22.35 (2021)
• Big Ten Record – Michigan, 1:22.27 (2013 NCAA Championships)
• NCAA “A” Standard – 1:24.22
• NCAA “B” Standard – 1:24.83

The Ohio State Buckeyes broke the Big Ten Championship and Big Ten Conference Records in the 200 medley relay to open the meet on Wednesday. After their women won their third-straight team title last week, the Ohio State men took the early lead on the hunt for their first team title since 2010.

The relay of Olympian Hunter Armstrong (20.45), Hudson McDaniel (23.04), Alex Quach (19.92), and Sem Andreis (18.72) combined for a 1:22.13.

Armstrong wasn’t on this relay for Ohio State last year. At the 2021 Big Ten Championships, the fastest split was Michigan’s Wyatt Davis, who hasn’t raced for them since the team’s mid-season invite, and the fastest split at NCAAs last year was 20.55 by then-freshman Adam Chaney of Florida.

That was about four-tenths better than Indiana’s runner-up relay of 1:22.51. Bruno Blaskovic, who missed most of last season with a back injury, had the fastest anchor split of the field in 18.51.

Matheny, the Indiana freshman, split 23.43 on his breaststroke leg. That’s about two-tenths slower than Zane Backes split for Indiana at last year’s Big Ten Championship meet.

Michigan returned only one leg from last year’s winning and meet-record setting relay: breaststroker Will Chan. His 22.76 split was the fastest in the field, but Michigan was just 3rd in 1:22.90.

The top four teams all broke the Pool Record and hit NCAA ‘A’ standards. That includes a school record by Northwestern in 1:23.54 for 4th place.

That broke the school record by 1.14 seconds – improving a record that was set earlier this season. The previous record coming into the year was from the legendary 2007 Northwestern team that included Matt Grevers, Mike Alexandrov, and Kyle Bubolz, and the team has now cleared that by a second-and-a-half.

Minnesota and Wisconsin were both disqualified in this relay. Minnesota had two swimmers, Max McHugh (22.36) on the breaststroke leg and Lucas Farrar (18.89) on the freestyle leg register -.01 reaction times by the relay touch pads. Wisconsin’s anchor Dylan Delaney (19.33) registered a -.09. Those teams touched 5th and 6th before their disqualifications.

McHugh’s split would have been the fastest ever, clearing his 22.40 from last year’s Big Ten Championships, had he not left early.

Ohio State had never won a Big Ten Title in this event before.

800 Free Relay – Timed Final

• Big Ten Championship Record – 6:09.85, Michigan (2014)
• Big Ten Record – 6:06.01, Indiana (2018 NCAA Championships)
• NCAA “A” Standard – 6:16.80
• NCAA “B” Standard – 6:21.32

The Indiana Hoosiers bounced back in the 800 free relay to grab a lead at the end of day 1 of the meet.

The team of Rafael Miroslaw (1:31.89), Tomer Frankel (1:32.74), Van Mathias (1:33.97), and Brendan Burns (1:33.36) combined for a 6:11.96. They won by more than two-and-a-half seconds over the runners-up from Michigan.

Miroslaw’s leadoff leg was the only 1:31 of the field. He turns 21 next month, so he’s older than the traditional freshman, but he is now the second-fastest freshman 200 freestyler in the NCAA this season behind Georgia’s Matt Sates (1:31.16).

Miroslaw’s mid-season time in the 200 free was 1:33.00.

Michigan, the two-time defending champions in this event (and winners of 19 of the last 22 800 free relays) were 2nd in 6:14.59, led by a 1:32.49 second leg by US Olympian Jake Mitchell and a 1:32.47 anchor by freshman and Israeli Olympian Gal Cohen.

Ohio State was 3rd in 6:18.53. That means Indiana takes a 2-point lead into the second day of competition.

Day 1 – Final Points Standings

Mostly what we learned on the first day is that Indiana and Ohio State came prepared to swim fast and should have a dogfight for the title, Northwestern looks in really good shape for 4th place, and Wisconsin and Minnesota relay DQs will shake up the chase for 5th.

We’ll find out a lot more about where each team falls on Thursday at 10AM Eastern, when the first individual events begin.

1. Indiana – 120
2. Ohio State – 118
3. Michigan – 110
4. Northwestern – 100
5. Penn Sate – 96
6. Purdue – 92
7. Wisconsin – 52
8. Minnesota – 50