2015 Women’s Big Ten Championships
- When: Wednesday, February 18th to Saturday, February 21st | Prelims 11am | Finals 6:30pm
- Where: McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Minnesota Gophers (3x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central: here
Ivy Martin lit up the pool on night two of the women’s 2015 Big Ten Championships, but she wasn’t the only highlight of the session. Here’s “5 Big Things” from tonight:
1. Ivy Martin puts on a show:
2. Distance youth abound
Three of the top four times in the 500 free tonight came from freshmen, including Minnesota’s Brooke Zeiger in the B final. Between her, Michigan’s Gillian Ryan, and champion Kennedy Goss from Indiana, we could be looking at some great distance battles in the evolving Big Ten team race for years to come (more on that below).
3. Can someone find Indiana a sprinter?
The Hoosiers have some great individual talent across the longer events (this is a program headed by Ray Looze, after all), but without a single swimmer under 22.9 individually in the 50 free or any semblance of a breaststroke group, they’re at risk being left out of the top two at this meet since 2008.
4. Wolverines making things interesting
When the University of Michigan elected to combine their men’s and women’s programs a few years ago, we knew the Wolverine women were bound for improvement. We didn’t know it would be this fast, however. Anchored by a stellar freshman class, Michigan is leading the team standings after the conclusion of the day two swimming events, ahead of defending champion Minnesota (a team that is built perfectly for this meet). The Wolverines may lose a step on the Golden Gophers tomorrow, but it’s nice to see another team in the mix besides Minnesota and Indiana.
5. B1G on the upswing?
Did you know that no Big Ten team has finished in the top 8 at NCAA’s since 1999? Despite being arguably the most powerful athletic conference in the country, Big Ten women’s swim teams haven’t truly competed on a national level in over 15 years. That streak may not happen for another couple years (Michigan probably has the best shot at breaking it), but the conference as a whole is continuing to get faster and deeper. For example, five teams broke 1:30 in the 200 free relay tonight, while just one did in 2012.
Day 2 Finals Recap is here. We’ll be covering day three prelims tomorrow morning when things kick off at 11 AM Eastern Time.
Also of Note: Wisconsin has won the 50fr for the last 9 years straight, and with Chase Kinney’s continued development will be going for a decade of dominance next year.
Indiana does have a sub 1:00 breaststroker coming in next year with Lilly King. She’s also been under 2 in the 200 IM.
Megan Romano and Margo Geer have both been sub-21 before
No Big Ten team has finished in the top 8 at NCAA’s since 1999. Wow. I think Mike Bottom breaks that streak in 2017. I understand they have some high hopes for the Class of 2016.