Michigan jumped out to an early lead after Wednesday's opening session of the 2014 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines recorded 80 points, followed by Ohio State with 64 points and Penn State with 62 points. Indiana is in fourth place with 60 points, and Wisconsin rounds out the top five in team standings with 58 points.
The Wolverines began the evening with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:24.38). Michigan also placed first in the 800-yard freestyle relay, setting a new NCAA and U.S. Open record with a time of 6:09.85.
Action continues on Thursday with preliminaries set for 11 a.m. ET, followed by the finals at 6:30 p.m.
Indiana
The Indiana men’s swimming and diving team tallied fourth-place finishes in both relays to kick off the four-day Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Hoosiers are currently in fourth place with 60 points. Michigan leads with 80 points, followed by Ohio State (64), Penn State (62), the Hoosiers and Wisconsin (58).
Indiana opened with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay with James Wells, Cody Miller, Max Irwin and Anze Tavcar combining for a time of 1:25.49. That is an NCAA A cut and the third-fastest time in school history.
In the 3-meter synchronized diving exhibition, Conor Murphy and George Andrews were winners with a score of 313.53.
Freshman Irwin pulled off the relay double at his first Big Tens, joining Eric Ress, Steve Schmuhl and Jackson Miller on the 800 free relay team that took fourth in 6:20.17, the second-fastest time in IU history.
Ress led off with a 200 freestyle split of 1:35.29, the third-fastest 200 free in IU history. That gives Ress all three top times in the 200 free, including his school record of 1:34.67 set in 2011.
Iowa
The University of Iowa men’s swimming and Diving team opened the 2014 Big Ten Championships in record-setting fashion, breaking the 200 medley relay record. Iowa currently sits in seventh with 44 points while host, and defending national champion, Michigan leads with 80 points.
Iowa opened the championships behind the quartet of junior Grant Betulius and seniors Andrew Marciniak, Dustin Rhoads, and Gianni Sesto. The foursome finished sixth in the event, touching out 1:26.33. The time marks a new program best, as well as a NCAA ‘B’ cut time.
In the only other event of day one, the Hawkeyes swam to a top-10 time in the 800 freestyle relay. Freshman Peter Grumhaus, sophomore David Ernstsson, along with seniors Sesto and Manuel Belzer finished in 6:31.59 to record the eighth fastest time in program history.
Northwestern
The Northwestern relay teams got the Wildcats off to a fast start in the opening night of the Big Ten Championships.
With the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay starting Wednesday night at the Canham Natatorium, NU posted season best times in each relay race.
In the 800 free relay, Northwestern’s team of Charlie Cole, Andy Jovanovic, Jonathan Lieberman and Chase Stephens swam a 6:30.20, breaking the ‘Cats season best time by more than three seconds. The time also ranks as the No. 4 fastest 800 free relay time in NU history, surpassing the 2010 team’s mark of 6:30.61.
Cole’s opening 200 leg of the 800 free, going 1:37.71 was nearly two full seconds faster than the season’s best time for the freshman.
The ‘Cats also swam a season best time in the 200 medley relay, going 1:27.15 to trim nearly a minute off their previous best time.
NU’s team of Mark Ferguson, Uula Auren, Jovanovic and Stephens cut 0.49 off the ‘Cats previous best time, which was set in Evanston during the TYR Invite in November.
Ferguson began the race to get the ‘Cats off to a solid start with a 22.69 in the first leg of the relay.
The events earned NU 42 points to begin the first day of the Big Ten Championships to put the ‘Cats at No. 8.
Penn State
The No. 24 Penn State men’s swimming and diving program had a sensational evening in day one of the 2014 Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. The team set new Penn State program records in the 200 medley relay, the 800 freestyle relay and the 200 freestyle (the first leg of the 800 freestyle relay) and is in third place with 62 total points.
“I think the women set the tone with their performance at the Big Ten’s last week and I think the men followed up and built on that with their performance tonight,” said head coach Tim Murphy. “We had two relay records, two “A” cuts and an individual record, so I think overall we are off to a solid start. Place wise, I think we did about as well as we could do.”
The Blue and White raced to a second place finish in the 200 medley relay for just the fourth time in school history and recorded a top-five finish in the 800 freestyle relay for the seventh time at the Big Ten Championship.
The Nittany Lions opened the competition in grand fashion, setting a Penn State program record in the 200 medley relay and reaching the NCAA “A” cut in the first event of the four-day competition.
The relay team of Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.), James Wilson (Nottingham, Pa.) and Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) turned in a time of 1:24.89 in the 200 medley, besting the school record set last year at the Big Ten Championship of 1:25.38. The time gave the Nittany Lions a second place finish in the event, improving by two spots from last season’s fourth place finish.
Savoy led off the relay with a split of 21.21 in the backstroke, the fastest of all 10 competitors. Wilson followed with a 23.98 split in the breaststroke and then Ryan clocked in at 20.37 in the butterfly portion. Austin anchored the team with a 19.33 in the freestyle to just hold onto second place, as the team touched the wall .01 seconds before Ohio State.
“A second place finish in the 200 medley relay was a nice way to start the meet,” said Murphy. “I think the guys feel good about tonight and are excited about tomorrow morning.”
In the second and final event of the opening night, Penn State obliterated another school record and reached its second NCAA “A” standard of the evening, this time in the 800 freestyle relay. The team consisting of John Hauser (Pottstown, Pa.), Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.), Bob Bantley (Maple Glen, Pa.) and Scott Heil (New Brunswick, N.J.) finished the race in 6:23.00, improving on the previous record of 6:28.11 by over five seconds.
With the leadoff leg, Hauser managed to break an individual Penn State record in the 200 freestyle with a mark of 1:35.41, .08 seconds faster than Brian Alden’s previous record set in 2010.
“We talked about one session at a time and preparing ourselves and getting ready properly,” said Murphy. “I think now we take a deep breath and get ready for our swims tomorrow. It’s not going to get any easier, it’s an extremely competitive meet but I think we set the tone tonight. I think this is something we can feed off of and we just need to keep the ball rolling now.”
