Team Standings After Day 1
1. Michigan, 68
2. Wisconsin, 66
3. Minnesota, 62
4. Indiana, 58
5. Purdue, 56
5. Penn State, 56
7. Iowa, 46
8. Ohio State, 42
8. Northwestern, 42
10. Illinois, 36
11. Rutgers, 24
11. Nebraska, 24
13. Michigan State, 16
Illinois
In the opening session of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships, the Illinois swimming and diving team showed that its preparation over the course of the season was worth it. The Illini set three school records in the competition's first two events.
Things began Wednesday with the 200 medley relay. The team of Alison Meng, Isabella Schamber, Lori Lynn andGabrielle Bethke swam 1:39.81, breaking the Illinois school record in the event. In addition to the relay record, Alison Meng broke her own school in the 50 back, swimming 24.91 in the relay's opening leg.
The 800 free relay followed the lead of the 200 medley relay, setting another school record. The team of Gabbie Stecker,Amelia Schilling, Samantha Stratford and Megan Marchuk swam 7:13.98, finishing in eighth place.
"We had a fantastic start to the meet," stated head coach Sue Novitsky. "The 200 medley relay crushed our previous school record by over two seconds. In addition, Alison Meng broke her own school record leading off the relay. The team followed that with a terrific swim in the 800 free relay, breaking the school record by almost five seconds."
The Illini sit in 10th place after the first session of the championships.
"We talked about staying focused and connected as a team, racing tough and bringing contagious positive energy," continued Novitsky. " We need to keep getting ourselves ready to go tomorrow and have a strong prelims session."
Indiana
It was a record-setting night for the Indiana women’s swimming and diving team as they got off to a strong start at the 2015 Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.
The Big Ten record in the 800 free relay went down as Haley Lips, Kennedy Goss, Grace Vertigans and Brooklynn Snodgrass set a new standard with a time of 6:59.10. That bests the old mark of 6:59.48 set by Lindsay Vrooman, Cynthia Pammett, Lips and Snodgrass at the 2013 Big Ten meet.
Lips led off with a split of 1:44.16, giving her the second-fastest 200-yard freestyle time in school history. Goss went a blistering 1:43.18 on the second leg, followed by a 1:45.22 from Vertigans and 1:46.54 for Snodgrass.
Marie Chamberlain, Claudia Di Capua, Gia Dalesandro and Ali Rockett kicked things off, placing ninth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:39.23.
Iowa
The University of Iowa women's swimming team broke a school record Wednesday night on the opening day of the Big Ten Championships at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio. Iowa currently sits in seventh place with 46 points, while Michigan (68) and Wisconsin (66) hold the top two spots.
Wednesday night's competition only saw two races take place -- the 200-medley relay and the 800-freestyle relay.
In the opening 200-medley relay, the Hawkeyes' record-setting performance came from the quartet of Allison Orvis, Emma Sougstad, Carly Obrien, and Olivia Kabacinski. The foursome swam to an eighth-place finish touching out with a time of 1:39.18, besting the previous mark (1:40.12) set at the 2014 Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis. Sougstad was also credited with the fastest breaststroke split among the field (26.82).
In the 800-freestyle relay, the Hawkeyes swam to the second-fastest time in school history behind the team of Becky Stoughton, Kabacinski, Serena Wanasek, and Nikol Lagodzinska. The seventh-place finishers posted a time of 7:12.86, nearly matching the school's all-time record (7:12.49).
Minnesota
The 2015 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships began tonight at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Tonight’s events included the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. After night one, Minnesota sits in third place with 62 points behind Michigan and Wisconsin.
Four teams posted a NCAA A cut in the 200 medley relay to begin the Championships, including the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Tori Simenec, Kierra Smith, Danielle Nack and Rebecca Weiland finished with a time of 1:37.77 to finish in fourth place in the event.
Wisconsin topped the competition with a 1:36.82, led by senior Ivy Martin. Michigan and Ohio State followed for second and third place.
The relay team of Lauren Votava, Tori Simenec, Jessica Plant and Kiera Janzen tacked on a third-place finish in the 800 free relay. Minnesota finished with a time of 7:01.93, another NCAA A cut, to take the bronze.
The Indiana Hoosiers broke the B1G record in the event, finishing with a time of 6:59.10 for first place. Minnesota and Indiana have accounted for first place in the last ten Big Ten 800 free relay championships.
Nebraska
The Nebraska swimming and diving team notched two Nebraska all-time top-three times during session one of the 2015 Big Ten Championships. Competition began at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio, with the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay races taking place Wednesday evening.
Nebraska began competition with the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jacqueline Juffer, Jordan Ehly, Erin Oeltjen and Taryn Collura earned a 12th-place finish, posting a time of 1:40.54. That mark is the third-fastest time in school history, finishing behind the 2013 and 2014 Husker performances at the Big Ten Championships.
In the final event of session one, Nebraska earned another top-three time in school history. The team of Katt Sickle, Cassie Brassard, Kelly Dunn and Natalie Morris posted a 10th-place time of 7:14.87 in the 800-yard freestyle relay. That time was the third fastest in school history and fastest time since 2000 in the event for the Huskers.
Ohio State
The Big Ten women’s swimming and diving championships kicked off Wednesday at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion with Ohio State swimmers setting a school record in the opening event of the meet, the 200 medley relay.
Michigan earned runner-up honors in both relay events contested to take an overall lead with 68 points. Wisconsin (66), Minnesota (62), Indiana (58) and Purdue (56) rounded out the Top 5 in the team standings. Ohio State ranks eighth with 42 points tallied following the first two events.
Earning an automatic qualification to the NCAA championships, the Buckeye 200 medley relay contingent of freshman Zhesi Li, senior Ashley Vance, sophomore Annelise Sprau and junior Annie Jongekrijg highlighted the evening with a top-three finish. Placing third in an Ohio State record time of 1:37.55, the squad topped a mark last set by the Buckeyes in 2012.
“Well first, being able to host this meet at home makes all of this quite a big deal,” Ohio State head women’s swimming coach Bill Dorenkott said. “In terms of our performance in the 200 medley relay, I don’t think we could have asked for much more than setting a school record in the opening night of finals.”
In the 800 freestyle relay, Ohio State’s quartet of junior Annie Gillig, freshman Kathleen Cook, junior Katy Luchansky and senior Aliena Schmidtke posted a season-best time of 7:16.16 for 12th.
“The girls are excited and ready to race because they love to swim at home,” Dorenkott continued. “However, the challenge is that you can’t practice the emotion of the meet. You get on a high during a session, after a great performance and you need to remember to ground yourself again and get ready for the next day and session.”
Penn State
Penn State’s 800-yard freestyle relay record fell on the opening night of competition at the 2015 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships Wednesday evening in the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. After two events in the four-day meet, the Nittany Lions rank in a tie for fifth with 56 points.
In the 800 free relay, the team of Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.), Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec), Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) and Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.) swam a school-record and NCAA ‘A’ cut time of 7:05.42 to place fifth, barely breaking the standard of 7:05.44 set last season.
Opening the night, the team of Allie Pennetti (Wexford, Pa.), Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.), Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) and Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) placed fifth in the 200 medley relay in a season-best, NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:38.11.
Purdue
No. 21 Purdue women’s swimming and diving kicked off the Big Ten Championships in record-setting fashion by setting three new program benchmarks Wednesday evening at the opening-night relays.
The Boilermakers established new records in both the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. Individually, Rhiannon Sheets eclipsed the Purdue record in the 200 free with her split of 1:45.16 leading off the 800 free relay.
The Boilermakers had not set new records in both a freestyle and medley relay in the same year since 2011 when new benchmarks were established in all five relay events. Additionally, Purdue has already set new records in more events than it had in each of the last two Big Ten Championships.
The 800 free relay team of Sheets, Abby Jagdfeld, Nika Karlina Petric and Allie Davis finished fourth with a time of 7:03.15, besting the team record of 7:06.90 from 2011 by more than 3 ½ seconds. Ariel Martin established the Purdue record in the 200 free (1:45.25) on the leadoff leg of the event at the 2011 Big Ten Championships.
The Boilermakers recorded an NCAA A Cut qualifying time in the 800 free relay for the second year in a row. As long as at least one Purdue athlete qualifies for the national championship meet individually, even a diver, the 800 free relay team will also have an opportunity to race at NCAAs.
Meanwhile, the 200 medley relay record changed hands by the slimmest of margins. Hannah Manger, Emily Fogle, Kylie Vogel and Anji Li placed sixth with a time of 1:39.03, clipping one hundredth of a second off the program record from 2012. Three years ago, Fogle and Vogel teamed with Amy Katz and Lauren Gustafson for the Purdue record.
The Boilermakers are tied with Penn State for fifth place in the team scoring after the opening night relays, only two points behind fourth-place Indiana, which won the 800 free relay Wednesday.
Sheets now owns two individual Purdue records once again, adding the 200 free mark to her 200 butterfly record from 2012. She also held the team’s top standard in the 100 fly until it was eclipsed by three teammates – Alex Todd, Vogel & Meagan Lim – late last season. Sheets was part of the record-setting 400 medley relay team in 2012 as well, which also featured Fogle.
Jagdfeld, Petric, Davis, Manger and Li were all part of their first Purdue records Wednesday.
Lisa Butler, Lauren Roth and Gustafson teamed with Martin for the previous 800 free relay record in 2011.
Rutgers
Opening day one at the 2014-15 Big Ten Championships, the Rutgers swimming and diving team established a new school record in the 200 medley relay at the Mike Peppe Natatorium on Wednesday night.
The quartet of junior Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.), senior Greta Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.), junior Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) and junior Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.) hit the wall at a program-best time of 1:40.05. Former Scarlet Knights Cat Whetstone, Shayna Longacre, Kasey Kesses and Brianne Lindblad had previously set the record at the 2009 BIG EAST Championships with a time of 1:40.43.
Rutgers also competed in the 800 freestyle relay. The group of freshman Emily Erwin (Jenkintown, Pa.), sophomoreChantal Asselin (Winnipeg, MB, Canada), Wu and Pfaff registered a time of 7:15.68.
Following the first session of the Big Ten Championships, RU sits tied at 11th place.
Wisconsin
It took little time for the Wisconsin women's swimming and diving program to set a strong tone at the 2015 Big Ten Women's Championships, as the Badgers opened up the championship meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday night.
Annie Tamblyn, Anna Meinholz, Ivy Martin and Chase Kinney teamed up to win the 200 medley relay, finishing in one minute, 36.82 seconds to not only claim UW's first event title of the championship season, but also punch a ticket to the NCAA championships for the relay squad.
The winning time of 1:36.82 went down as the eighth-fastest time in program history. The time was less than one second off from the meet record, which was set by UW in 2009.
The 2014 Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships, Martin, and sophomore Kinney recorded the fastest split times in the event. Martin clocked in the 50-yard butterfly leg at a head-turning 22.66, while Kinney's 50-yard freestyle split of 21.77 went down as a personal best.
"Anytime you win a Big Ten title, it's a big deal," UW head coach Whitney Hite said. "We're super, super proud of the ladies and they did a great job. The exciting thing is that we can be faster and we have another opportunity now at the NCAA championships, which is great."
With the win, the Badgers earned the program's 22nd Big Ten relay championship.
"A win is a win. It's certainly a super important achievement for our program," Hite said.
Also competing for Wisconsin was its 800-yard freestyle relay squad of Aja Van Hout, Dana Grindall, Danielle Valley and Caroline Palm. The four combined to capture a seventh-place finish, coming in at 7:07.93. That time just missed the school record, but stood as the third-fastest time in program history.
"They did a really good job of racing," Hite said. "It wasn't perfect and it doesn't have to be perfect for us to have success. I thought we did a real nice job and it was a great way to start off the meet."
