The 4th day finals session is reported by Natalie Schumann and Jessica Campbell
As expected, the Michigan Wolverines won their third-straight B1G Swimming and Diving Championship, scoring 899 total points and winning 12 of the 18 events at the meet. The Wolverines are looking strong heading into NCAA’s, which will be held nearby in Indianapolis March 28-30. Indiana was second with 664 total points, and Ohio State was third with 470.
1650 Freestyle
The Michigan men went 1-4 in the men’s 1650 free, including a 14:34 from Connor Jaeger. (Credit: Natalie Schumann)
2012 Olympian Connor Jaeger led Michigan’s 1-2-3-4 sweep of the mile, clocking in at 14:34.87. His time was three tenths faster than his third place swim at 2012 NCAA’s (14:35.14), hinting at a big performance at the 2013 championship. That improvement is not all that surprising; despite his success both at NCAA’s and the Olympic level, he is still a relative novice to this longest freestyle distance.
Teammates Sean Ryan (14:50.75), Ryan Feeley (14:51.59) and 200 freestyle champion Anders Nielsen (14:53.33 from the early heats) filled out the rest of the top four spots. Minnesota’s CJ Smith took fifth (14:54.21) and teammate Logan Redondo took seventh (14:58.88). Indiana’s senior freestyler James Barbiere was sixth with a 14:56.79 and Northwestern’s Jordan Wilimovsky was eighth (15:03.07).
200 Backstroke
Wisconsin secured its second individual B1G title of the meet with Andrew Teduits’ win (1:39.98), upsetting heavy favorite Eric Ress of Indiana (1:40.22). Penn State’s Nate Savoy (1:40.69) was third, Ohio State’s Connor McDonald fourth (1:41.86), and Michigan State’s Jacob Jarzen fifth (1:42.19). The top three times in this final were all at least a full second faster than last year’s winning time of 1:41.71.
Indiana’s 100 backstroke champion James Wells took sixth (1:42.22), followed by Ohio State’s Steven Zimmerman (1:42.95) and Michigan’s Ryutaro Kamiya (1:44.00).
100 Freestyle
With a first place finish by star sprinter Bruno Ortiz (42.76), Michigan completed their sweep of the individual freestyle events, a feat they last accomplished in 1993. Purdue’s Daniel Tucker was second (42.84) and top seed Derek Toomey of Minnesota took third with a 43.10, nearly half a second slower than his meet record-setting prelim time. The remaining finalists included Michigan’s Miguel Ortiz (43.18, fourth), Indiana’s Daniel Kanorr (43.21, fifth), Michigan’s Zach Turk (43.24, sixth), Northwestern’s Chase Stephens (43.37, seventh) and Michigan’s 100 fly champion Sean Fletcher (43.56). The top three times were all under the 2012 championship time of 43.11.
200 Breaststroke
Cody. Miller. The two time defending B1G champion added a third straight title to his streak, winning by over two seconds and setting new B1G, meet and pool records. His time of 1:51.03 is the second fastest in the NCAA right now, which means the pressure is on for Miller at this year’s NCAA championship meet. That swim would have been an NCAA record coming into this season, had Kevin Cordes not broken it already in December.
Michigan’s Richard Funk was second (1:53.32) and Indiana’s freshman Tanner Kurz secured third place for the Hoosiers (1:55.24). Purdue’s Lyam Dias was fourth (1:55.31), Wisconsin’s Nicholas Schafer fifth (1:55.40), Indiana’s Sam Trahin sixth (1:55.44), Michigan’s Kyle Duckitt seventh (1:56.22), and Iowa’s Andrew Marciniak eighth (1:56.62).
The only other Big Ten swimmer to win both breaststrokes for three straight years was Michigan’s Paul Scheerer from 1965-1967. The only other swimmer to win even one of the breaststrokes four straight years, which Miller could double next season, is the great Mike Barrowman.
200 Butterfly
Michigan’s standout freshman Dylan Bosch claimed yet another B1G title for the Wolverines, breaking the B1G, meet and pool records with a 1:41.18. His time would have placed third at last year’s NCAA meet and was a second and a half faster than the 2012 B1G championship time. Bosch has proven to be a valuable asset to the Wolverines, placing second in the 200 IM and third in the 400 IM earlier in the meet.
That swim by Bosch is the second-fastest ever by a college freshman, behind the 1:40.94 that Cal’s Will Hamilton used to win NCAA’s last season.
Indiana’s Stephen Schmuhl was second (1:43.55), and Michigan’s John Wojciechowski was third (1:43.71), followed by teammate Kyle Whitaker (1:43.80) and Ohio State’s Tamas Gercsak (1:43.93). All top five times would have placed in the top eight at 2012 NCAA’s.
Michigan’s Peter Brumm was sixth (1:45.14), Wisconsin’s Daniel Lester was seventh (1:45.52), and Ohio State’s Luke Stirton was eighth (1:46.36).
Platform Diving
Indiana took the top two spots and again demonstrated their B1G diving dominance. Conor Murphy, who averaged 10’s on his final dive, scored a 495.55 to place first, followed by senior teammate Casey Johnson (441.50). Purdue had a strong showing in the final, with Jamie Bissett in third, Sean Mokhtari in fifth and Nathan Cox in seventh.
400 Freestyle Relay
Michigan’s quartet of 100 freestyle finalists sealed Michigan’s relay sweep with a 2:51.25, just missing Minnesota’s 2005 B1G record of 2:51.24. Ohio State gave the Wolverines a challenge midway through the race, but ultimately finished second (2:53.07), securing a third place overall team finish.
Minnesota’s relay, led by sprinter Derek Toomey, was third (2:53.56), followed by Purdue (2:54.37), Penn State (2:54.50), Northwestern (2:55.75), Iowa (2:56.07), and Michigan State (2:56.96). Indiana suffered their second relay disqualification of the meet, though thanks to the continued pickups from their divers, the disqualifications didn’t cost them any spots in the overall standings.
Complete Saturday finals results available here.
A big thanks to Natalie Schumann and Jessica Campbell for covering the Big Ten Championships this week in Bloomington!
2013 B1G Awards
Freshman of the Year: Dylan Bosch, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Mike Bottom, Michigan (third straight win)
Diving Coach of the Year: Jeff Huber, Indiana
Swimmer of the Championship: Cody Miller, Indiana
Divers of the Championship: Darian Schmidt, Indiana, and Shane Miszkiel, Ohio State
Final Team Rankings:
Michigan 899
Indiana 664
Ohio State 470
Minnesota 378
Purdue 328
Wisconsin 277
Iowa 245
Penn State 212
Northwestern 161
Michigan State 126
Cordes+Miller+A final+1:50 swims= the race of NCAA’s
Excellent coverage!