Michigan captured the 2014 Big Ten Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship Saturday night at the Donald B. Canham Natatorium on the campus of the University of Michigan. The title marks the Wolverines’ fourth consecutive crown and 38th overall.
Michigan compiled 889 points throughout the four-day event. Indiana finished second after collecting 564 points and Ohio State was third with 515 points. Minnesota finished fourth with 378 points, while Penn State recorded 349.5 points to finish fifth.
The Wolverines took home Big Ten titles in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle relay and 800-yard freestyle relay.
Penn State’s Shane Ryan was named the Swimmer of the Championships, while Indiana’s Darian Schmidt was tabbed the Diver of the Championships. Minnesota’s Jakub Maly was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Michigan head coach Mike Bottom was tabbed the Swimming Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, while Indiana diving coach Drew Johansen was named the Diving Coach of the Year.
The complete 2014 All-Big Ten Teams and Sportsmanship Award honorees are listed below.
2014 Big Ten Individual Honors
Swimmer of the Championships: Shane Ryan, Penn State
Diver of the Championships: Darian Schmidt, Indiana
Freshman of the Year: Jakub Maly, Minnesota
Swimming Coach of the Year: Mike Bottom, Michigan
Diving Coach of the Year: Drew Johansen, Indiana
2014 All-Big Ten Teams
First Team
Cody Miller, Indiana
Conor Murphy, Indiana
Eric Ress, Indiana
Darian Schmidt, Indiana
Dylan Bosch, Michigan
Peter Brumm, Michigan
Jason Chen, Michigan
Richard Funk, Michigan
Justin Glanda, Michigan
Connor Jaeger, Michigan
Anders Nielsen, Michigan
Bruno Ortiz, Michigan
Kyle Whitaker, Michigan
John Wojciechowski, Michigan
Michael Wynalda, Michigan
Derek Toomey, Minnesota
Michael DiSalle, Ohio State
Joshua Fleagle, Ohio State
Matt McHugh, Ohio State
Tim Phillips, Ohio State
Shane Austin, Penn State
John Hauser, Penn State
Shane Ryan, Penn State
Nate Savoy, Penn State
Second Team
Kyler Van Swol, Minnesota
Jordan Wilimovsky, Northwestern
DJ MacDonald, Ohio State
Connor McDonald, Ohio State
James Wilson, Penn State
Jamie Bissett, Purdue
Nathan Cox, Purdue
Lyam Dias, Purdue
Cannon Clifton, Wisconsin
Nicholas Caldwell, Wisconsin
Tyler Hines, Wisconsin
Matthew Hutchins, Wisconsin
Andrew teDuits, Wisconsin
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Kyle Johnson, Indiana
Andrew Marciniak, Iowa
David Moore, Michigan
Drew Goins, Michigan State
Brandon Hatanaka, Minnesota
Brien Gerber, Northwestern
Mike Gallagher, Ohio State
Shane Austin, Penn State
Jacob McGough, Purdue
Tyler Hines, Wisconsin
The Indiana men’s swimming and diving team closed out the 2014 Big Ten Championships on a high note with conference titles from Eric Ress, Cody Miller and Conor Murphy en route to a second-place finish at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The host Wolverines took the championships with a total of 889 points. Next were the Hoosiers with 564 points, with Ohio State (515), Minnesota (378) and Penn State (349.5) rounding out the top five.
Ress, Miller Murphy and Darian Schmidt were first-team All-Big Ten honorees, while Drew Johansen was named Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year in his first season at IU. Schmidt also took home Big Ten Diver of the Championship honors for the second-straight year.
The Hoosiers will now look to the NCAA Championships, March 27-29 in Austin, Texas.
Ress capped his Big Ten backstroke career in record-setting fashion, posting a new school and Big Ten meet record with a time of 1:38.89. That tops his previous mark of 1:38.96 set at the 2011 NCAA Championships where he finished second. James Wells took seventh in the race at 1:43.53, but put up a prelim swim of 1:41.33, which is an NCAA A cut and tied his career best.
Bob Glover took second in the C final and 18th overall with a new career best of 1:46.53. Curtis Goss was 22nd with a time of 1:48.17 after going a career best 1:46.69 in prelims.
Miller joined Michigan’s Mike Barrowman (1988-91) as the only swimmers in Big Ten history to win four-straight conference titles in the 200 breaststroke with his winning time of 1:52.58 tonight. That is the second-fastest time in IU history, just behind his school record of 1:51.03 set at last year’s Big Ten meet. Mike Hurley finished seventh in 1:56.19.
Tanner Kurz took fourth in the consolation final and 12th overall with a time of 1:57.24 in his evening swim. Marijn Van Zundert’s career best of 2:02.32 was good for 29th, while Blaine Nichols was right behind with his personal best of 2:02.34, placing 30th.
The first swimming event of the final night was the 1,650 free, where in the earlier heats Bradley Stamper went a career best 15:21.92 to finish 14th overall. Grayson Smith also recorded a career best, touching the wall in 15:28.69 for a 16th-place finish.
Anze Tavcar picked up important points for the Hoosiers by winning the consolation final of the 100 free in a career best 43.54. Yianni Thermos took 22nd with a time of 45.08 in the C final after posting a career best 44.65 in prelims.
Sam Lorentz took third in his prelim with his career best of 45.30, placing him 44th. Jackson Miller put up a career mark of 45.01, taking the 35th spot. Kyle Johnson opened with a win in heat one, posting a career best of 45.78, a finish of 50th in the field.
Steve Schmuhl finished third in the 200 butterfly, bettering his own school record in the event by 2/10ths of a second with a 1:43.33. His time of 1:43.55 from prelims is the third fastest in school history. Max Irwin was seventh in the consolation final with a time of 1:46.80, just off his career best of 1:46.13 from prelims.
Joe Powell finished 21st overall, going 1:49.07 in the bonus final. Michael Mohler took nearly four seconds off his career best to win his prelim heat and finish 25th with a time of 1:48.95.
Murphy added to IU’s gold medal haul on Saturday with a score of 434.85 to win the platform diving competition. Murphy had moved up to second after four rounds. He tallied 81.60 points on his fifth dive, but still trailed the leader heading into the final round. A solid sixth-round dive gave Murphy his second-straight platform title and a sweep of the diving events for Indiana.
Andrew Hull took third in the consolation final with a score of 351.50, good for 11th overall. Danton Rogers finished 13th in the standings after scoring 319.60 points in consols, while George Andrews was 17th (310.00). Joshua Arndt finished 23rd with a score of 191.25.
An outstanding day of action for IU was capped off by a school record in the 400 freestyle relay as Tavcar, Ress, Wells and Miller went 2:54.07, chopping more than a second off the old mark.
Iowa
Senior Dustin Rhoads capped off the University of Iowa’s men’s swimming and diving team’s 2014 Big Ten Championships with a school record in the 200 backstroke.
After four days of intense competition, the Hawkeyes tallied 188 points and an eighth place finish. This year’s host, and defending national champion Michigan, took home the team title with 899 points.
Rhoads opened up the evening session Saturday with an eighth-place showing in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 1:44.93. His school record came during the morning prelims, touching out in 1:42.94. The time bests former Hawkeye Byron Butler’s school record of 1:43.59, set in 2013. Sophomore Andrew Parker took 17th, finishing in 1:45.21, with both athletes recording NCAA ‘B’ cut times.
Iowa received a pair of scoring efforts from senior Andrew Marciniak and sophomore Roman Trussov in the 200 breaststroke. During the finals, Marciniak finished eighth (1:55.89), while Trussov took home 15th (1:58.14). Marciniak’s time improves upon his previous personal best of 1:56.54, and currently ranks second all-time. Both individuals qualify for NCAA ‘B’ cut consideration. Marciniak recorded the other Hawkeye school record this week on Thursday in the 100 breaststroke.
During the afternoon swim of the 1,650 freestyle, freshman Kyle Gannon recorded the ninth-fastest time in program history when he finished 17th in 15:31.19.
In the diving well, sophomore Addison Boschult took home a fifth place showing in the platform event, tallying 371.10 points. The mark falls just shy of Boschult’s school record of 373.85, which he set this past fall at the Hawkeye Invitational.
“I was very proud of Addison’s performance today,” said UI diving coach Todd Waikel. “He has come so far in one year, and to see him in the finals performing at that level was outstanding.”
Freshmen Greg Forster and Brandis Heffner, along with Boschult will return to action next, as they travel to Minneapolis for the NCAA Zone D Diving meet on March 10-12.
Northwestern
Sophomore Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) punched his ticket to his second career invite to the NCAA Championships in as many years at Northwestern.
Wilimovsky broke his own school record in the 1,650 yard freestyle, posting an NCAA “A” Cut qualifying time of 14:42.99.
After becoming the first Northwestern swimmer to post a sub-15:00 mile as a freshman last season, Wilimovsky broke his own school record in the mile with a 14:55.25 time during the TYR Invite in Evanston on November 24, 2013. He was able to trim more than 12 seconds off that time during the Big Ten Championships.
“It was really fun to go out and race at Big Tens. All my coaches prepared me well, [head coach] Jarod [Schroeder], [assistant coach Andrew] Sheaff, [volunteer assistant coach] Terry [Silkaitis],” Wilimovsky said. “I get back in the pool Monday morning, and just normal, hard practices for three weeks, another week of taper and hopefully I’ll be ready to go a little faster."
Wilimovsky’s time of 14:42.99 finished No. 2 Saturday in the final session of the Big Ten Championships at the Canham Natatorium at the University of Michigan. He was also named All-Big Ten Second Team.
Freshman diver Andrew Cramer set a Northwestern record in the platform diving with a score of 403.95 after advancing to the “B” final with a prelim score of 347.20. Cramer finished No. 10 overall in the final session, however his 403.95 score was the platform dives fourth highest overall score.
Cramer became the first NU diver to score more than 400 points, breaking Mike Oxman’s school record of 365.05 set in 2005.
Senior Chase Stephens (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) also tallied points in the championship final for the ‘Cats Saturday. He cut his prelims time in the 100 yard freestyle by 0.02 to post another NCAA “B” Cut time of 43.39 and finish No. 8, earning 11 points for NU.
“We all came here with high goals and to swim fast, we’re all looking forward to improving,” Stephens said of the team. “The last four years have been amazing. When I came here as a tall, skinny, lanky kid from Madison, Wisconsin, I grew a lot, both mentally and physically. Our coaches turned us boys into men.”
In the scoring consolation final of the 200 yard backstroke, sophomore Grant Halsall posted an NCAA “B” Cut time of 1:46.04 to earn a pair of points for Northwestern.
Van Donkersgoed also made the NCAA “B” Cut with a 1:59.48 time in the 200 breast bonus final. He earned a second swim after setting a new season best in the prelims.
As a team, the ‘Cats scored 158 points in the Big Ten Championships to finish No. 9. Senior Brien Gerber won the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
The NCAA Championships take place in Austin, Texas from Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29.
Penn State
Sophomore Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) could not have scripted a better ending to his storybook 2014 Big Ten Championship, winning the 100 freestyle event on Saturday evening on his way to becoming the first Nittany Lion to ever be named the Swimmer of the Big Ten Championships.
The sophomore sensation entered the final with the second-best time in prelims with a mark of 42.46, just .04 seconds behind Minnesota’s Derek Toomey, the winner of the 50 freestyle title on Thursday in which Ryan finished second. On Saturday it was Ryan’s time to shine, as the sophomore posted a ridiculous time of 42.08 seconds, setting the Penn State record, the Big Ten Championship meet record and the overall Big Ten record while hitting the NCAA “A” qualifying standard.
“He’s been working a long time,” said head coach Tim Murphy. “His 100 freestyle race was impressive. I asked him to be ahead at the 75-yard mark because I felt if he was there he would beat anybody in the last lap and he decided to lead from start to finish. It was very impressive, an excellent swim.”
Ryan broke the seven-year record in the event previously held by Northwestern’s Matt Grevers, who went on to claim two gold medals and a silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Grevers held the record with a time of 42.33.
The Havertown, Pa. native also accomplished something else no other Nittany Lion has ever done, which is win two individual gold medals in the same Big Ten Championship. The sophomore now sits just one Big Ten title behind Penn State’s most decorated swimmer at the Big Ten Championship, as Bob Molettiere won three events, one in 1999 in the 100 freestyle, one in 2001 in the 50 freestyle and one in 2002 in the 50 freestyle.
After celebrating Ryan’s championship, the team turned its attention to the final event of the four-day competition, the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Ryan, Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), John Hauser (Pottstown, Pa.) and Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) obliterated the program record of 2:53.58 set in 2002 with a remarkable time of 2:51.32 en route to a second place finish and NCAA “A” cut.
The Blue and White finished just .25 seconds shy of first place Michigan, who set a new championship record with its performance.
The 400 freestyle relay capped off an incredible run of success in the five relays over the four day competition. Penn State hit the NCAA “A” qualifying mark in all five relays and recorded a first place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, two second place finishes in the 400 freestyle and 200 medley relays, a fourth place showing in the 400 medley relay and a fifth place spot in the 800 freestyle relay.
Another Nittany Lion to have a strong individual final swim at the championship was Savoy. Fresh off his second place finish in the 100 backstroke to the aforementioned Ryan one night ago, Savoy set a season best mark of 1:41.23 in the final of the 200 backstroke to finish fourth overall. The junior has now finished in the top four in all three years of competing in the event at the Big Tens. Savoy reached the NCAA “A” qualifying standard with the swim.
Other notable finishes were turned in by senior Hauser and junior Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.). Hauser touched the wall third in the “B” final of the 100 freestyle with a time of 43.66 for an 11th place finish in the event. Ankosko also captured an 11th place finish, with his coming in the grueling 1,650 freestyle. The junior posted a time of 15:10.97 in the event, to hit the NCAA “B” standard.
In the end, Penn State finished fifth in the overall championship standings with 349.5 points. The Nittany Lions fifth place finish marks its highest place in the standings in over a decade, as the last time the Blue and White finished that high was in 2003.
After the conclusion of Saturday’s events the Penn State swimming and diving program picked up a number of accolades from the Big Ten. Austin, Savoy, Hauser and Ryan each were named All-Big Ten first team swimmers and James Wilson (Nottingham, Pa.) garnered All-Big Ten second team status.
The four first team selections is impressive considering before this season the last time any Penn State swimmer was announced as an All-Big Ten first team honoree was in 2006 when Mike Alderman received the recognition. The four selections in one season tie the second most the Nittany Lions have received in one year.
Austin was one of 10 swimmers to take home the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
“With the way we swam, the way we scored and the overall team effort over the four days, fifth place is something to be proud of,” said Murphy. “I hope we will get better in the future, but in this given weekend I feel we made our presence felt. In the pool and on the deck there was a lot of Penn State pride across the board and now we need to find a way to get better a month from now at the NCAAs.”
Winning the meet was the host, Michigan, with 889 points, followed by Indiana (564), Ohio State (515), Minnesota (378), Penn State (349.5), Purdue (329.5) Wisconsin (299.5), Iowa (188), Northwestern (158) and Michigan State (107.5).
Penn State is scheduled to send a number of athletes to the Last Chance meet on March 9 before the NCAA Diving Zone Qualifying in Blacksburg, Va. from March 10-12. The NCAA Championships will be held in Austin, Texas from March 27-29.
