Minnesota, Indiana Tied After Day One of Big Ten Women’s Champs

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, February 20. A pair of flipped 1-2 efforts during the first night of relays produced a tie between Indiana and Minnesota at the Big Ten Women's Championships.

Minnesota took the lead in the 200-yard medley relay with a victorious time of 1:36.89. Tess Behrens (24.75), Haley Spencer (27.10), Rebecca Wieland (23.35) and Erin Caflisch (21.69) made a run at the meet record of 1:36.29 set by Wisconsin in 2009. Weiland and Caflisch definitely turned the tide for the hosting Gophers as Indiana initially led Minnesota by more than a second at the halfway mark. Brooklyn Snodgrass (24.03), Ashley Specht (26.62), Brenna Maclean (24.33) and Sara Delay (22.53) wound up taking second in 1:37.51. Michigan's Alexandra DeLoof, Angela Chokran, Ashley Cohagen and Deirdre Jones powered to third in 1:37.84, just edging what wound up being an incredibly close battle for third. Ohio State (1:37.84), Penn State (1:37.97) and Wisconsin (1:37.98) all clocked 1:37s.

Indiana countered in the 800-yard freestyle with the first sub-7:00 time in conference history. Lindsay Vrooman (1:44.93), Cynthia Pammett (1:44.87), Haley Lips (1:44.33) and Brooklyn Snodgrass (1:45.35) threw down an epic time of 6:9.48. That swim cut more than a second off the conference record of 7:00.65 set by Minnesota last year, and the meet record of 7:00.82 set by Indiana last year as well. That gave Indiana its fourth straight win in the event.

Minnesota's Jessica Plant (1:45.85), Tori Simenec (1:46.23), Lauren Weis (1:44.95) and Kiera Janzen (1:44.24) earned second in the distance relay with a 7:01.27, while Purdue's Carly Mercer, Rhiannon Sheets, Lauren Gustafson and Alexa Davis finished third in 7:08.92.

Team Scores
Indiana 74
Minnesota 74
Penn State 58
Michigan 56
Ohio State 56
Wisconsin 54
Purdue 50
Nebraska 42
Northwestern 36
Iowa 36
Illinois 22
Michigan State 22

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