Michigan Wins Third Big Ten Title In A Row; IU’s Miller Blasts Breaststroke

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, March 2. MICHIGAN finished off its third straight Big Ten men's team title by winning 12 of the 18 total events available in a runaway victory on the campus of Indiana University. The host Hoosiers finished a distant second, although putting up some special swims. Michigan also swept all the freestyle events, the first time for the Wolverines to do so since 1993.

Michigan dominated the 1650-yard freestyle with a top-four sweep led by a sterling time of 14:34.87 by Olympian Connor Jaeger. Jaeger crushed a decades old pool record set by former Wolverine Chris Thompson. Thompson previously set the facility mark with a 14:43.95 back in 1997. Michigan's Sean Ryan placed second in 14:50.75, while Ryan Feeley touched third in 14:51.59. Anders Nielsen rounded out the top-four sweep with a 14:53.33.

Wisconsin's Andrew Teduits charged to victory, and a pool record, in the 200-yard back. The Badger put up a time of 1:39.98, just missing Matt Grevers' meet record of 1:39.53 set back in 2007. Meanwhile, IU's Eric Ress held off Penn State's Nathaniel Savoy, 1:40.22 to 1:40.69, for second place. All three top finishers eclipsed the NCAA A cut to punch their tickets to Indy in the distance dorsal event.

Michigan's Bruno Ortiz kept on rolling to his Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships with his fifth title of the meet. Ortiz blazed to a time of 42.76, beating the pool record of 43.05 set by Penn State's Eugene Botes back in2002. Purdue's Daniel Tucker led at the 75-yard mark, but Ortiz powered past with an 11.06 final split as Tucker wound up second in 42.84. Minnesota's Derek Toomey raced to third in 43.10.

IU's Cody Miller continued his special meet in the breaststroke, sweeping the events with sizzling times. He clocked a 1:51.03. That swim demolished the previous Big Ten record of 1:52.93 set by Northwestern's Mike Alexander in this pool in 2007. Entering today, Miller's previous lifetime best had been a 1:54.07 from the 2012 Big Ten Championships. In prelims, he cruised to a 1:53.50 before skyrocketing to second all time in the event's history. He now only trails Arizona's Kevin Cordes, who owns the NCAA and American records with a 1:50.73 from the 2012 Winter Nationals. Miller jumped ahead of Clark Burckle, who turned in a 1:51.20 behind Cordes in November. Michigan's Richard Funk placed second in 1:53.32 for an NCAA A cut, while Miller's training partner Tanner Kurz finished third in 1:55.24.

Another sizzler came in the 200-yard fly with Michigan's Dylan Bosch ripping off a 1:41.18. That swim beat the Big Ten record of 1:41.70 set by Wolverine Dan Madwed in 2011. It also obliterated the 2006 pool record of Davis Tarwater (1:43.97). Bosch now stands eight all time in the event's history. Indiana's Stephen Schmuhl touched second in 1:43.55, while Michigan's John Wojciechowski placed third in 1:43.71. Michigan's Kyle Whitaker wound up fourth in 1:43.80 as the Wolverines kept rolling to the team title.

Indiana had another strong diving competition with a 1-2-8 finish. Conor Murphy put up 495.55 points to win the platform event, while teammates Casey Johnson (441.50) and George Andrews (342.05) took second and eighth. Purdue's Jamie Bissett wound up third with 423.80 points.

Michigan concluded its run to a third-straight conference team title with Bruno Ortiz (43.26), Zach Turk (42.82), Sean Fletcher (42.72) and Miguel Ortiz (42.45) posting a 2:51.25 to win the 400-yard free relay. That time clipped the meet record of 2:51.24 set by Minnesota back in 2005. Ohio State's Jason Schnur, Zach Holmes, Tim Phillips and Zach Birnbrich took second in 2:53.07, while Minnesota's Derek Toomey, Ben Griggs, Felix Samuels and Hrvoje Capan placed third in 2:53.56 as the top three teams all beat the NCAA A cut.

Team Scores
Michigan 899
Indiana 664
Ohio State 470
Minnesota 378
Purdue 328
Wisconsin 277
Iowa 245
Penn State 212
Northwestern 161
Michigan State 126

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