Indiana Sweeps On First Night of Men’s Big Ten’s

Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold / Aringo Photos

The first night of Men’s Big Ten’s provided some very fast racing as Indiana broke a legendary pool record in the 800 free relay to sweep the two relays on opening night. Indiana got off to a good start in the meet as they are looking to defend their Big Ten title they won a year ago, while Ohio State and Michigan will look to break the tie they had last year for second.

   Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 2                       
 
  1. Indiana University                128   2. Ohio State University             108
  2. Michigan, University of           108   4. University of Minnesota           106
  5. Iowa, University of                96   5. Wisconsin, University of, Madi     96
  5. Pennsylvania State University      96   8. Purdue University                  90
  9. Northwestern University            80  10. Michigan State University          68

200 Medley Relay

The Indiana Hoosiers got their Big Ten meet started with a 200 medley relay victory at 1:23.95 to just hold off Minnesota (1:24.25) and Ohio State (1:24.52). The Hoosiers had Gabriel Fantoni (20.95), Ian Finnerty (23.50), Vini Lanza (19.98) and Ali Khalafalla (19.52) swimming on their relay.

Khalafalla had a slow split but it appeared he had a bad start and breakout as he dove in well ahead of Ohio State in the lane next to them. Minnesota was second thanks to a stellar freestyle leg by Bowen Becker (18.24). He and Michigan’s James Peek (18.94) were the only swimmers anchoring under 19 seconds.

Minnesota’s Conner McHugh had the fastest breaststroke split with a 23.40 while Lanza had the fastest fly leg.

This is Indiana’s second straight Big Ten title in the 200 medley relay and their sixth overall title in the event.

Michigan (1:24.79), Iowa (1:25.77), Penn State (1:26.16), Purdue (1:26.19) and Wisconsin (1:26.40) also placed in the top eight.

Full look at the top heat of the 200 Medley Relay at Big Tens. #Purdue posted its program record time of 1:26.19 in lane 7. #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/QVD2znbAgo

— Purdue Men's Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) February 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/IndianaSwimDive/status/966478473098420224

 Event 1  Men 200 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
  Meet Record: ! 1:23.25  2013      Michigan, Michigan
                          M. Ortiz, B. Ortiz, Fletcher, Turk
         Pool: # 1:23.12  3/25/2011 California, CAL
                          G. Barnea, D. Dugonjic, G. Morre, N. Adrian
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Indiana-IN  'A'               1:25.09    1:23.95         64  
     1) Fantoni, Gabriel A FR         2) r:0.34 Finnerty, Ian JR      
     3) r:0.30 Lanza, Vinicius JR     4) r:0.38 Khalafalla, Ali SR    
             10.42        20.95 (20.95)
          31.77 (10.82)       44.45 (23.50)
           53.44 (8.99)     1:04.43 (19.98)
         1:14.08 (9.65)     1:23.95 (19.52)
  2 Minnesota-MN  'A'             1:26.76    1:24.25         56  
     1) Thomas, Matthew A SO          2) r:0.28 McHugh, Conner SR     
     3) r:0.22 Pokkinen, Tuomas SO    4) r:0.14 Becker, Bowen JR      
             10.98        22.05 (22.05)
          32.51 (10.46)       45.45 (23.40)
           54.72 (9.27)     1:06.01 (20.56)
         1:14.68 (8.67)     1:24.25 (18.24)
  3 Ohio St-OH  'A'               1:26.03    1:24.52         54  
     1) Belanger, Mark R SR           2) r:0.31 Barone, Jack SR       
     3) r:0.33 Salazar, Michael JR    4) r:0.15 Chavez, Mossimo JR    
             10.73        21.68 (21.68)
          32.35 (10.67)       45.34 (23.66)
           54.47 (9.13)     1:05.50 (20.16)
         1:14.29 (8.79)     1:24.52 (19.02)
  4 Michigan-MI  'A'              1:25.12    1:24.79         52  
     1) Powers, Paul Q SR             2) r:0.42 Montague, Jacob SO    
     3) r:0.33 White, Evan SR         4) r:0.41 Peek, James SR        
             10.62        21.60 (21.60)
          32.20 (10.60)       45.23 (23.63)
           54.68 (9.45)     1:05.85 (20.62)
         1:14.79 (8.94)     1:24.79 (18.94)
  5 Iowa-IA  'A'                  1:27.53    1:25.77         50  
     1) Mende, Kenneth JR             2) r:0.23 Swanepoel, Daniel FR  
     3) r:0.34 Twarowski, Jerzy SR    4) r:0.26 Smith, Jack JR        
             10.91        21.75 (21.75)
          32.59 (10.84)       46.25 (24.50)
           55.29 (9.04)     1:06.58 (20.33)
         1:15.48 (8.90)     1:25.77 (19.19)
  6 Penn St-MA  'A'               1:28.48    1:26.16         48  
     1) Veregin, Liam J SO            2) r:0.20 Freund, Kaelan SO     
     3) r:0.26 Zamir, Tomer JR        4) r:0.30 Castano, Gabriel FR   
             10.89        21.81 (21.81)
          32.58 (10.77)       45.74 (23.93)
           55.08 (9.34)     1:06.75 (21.01)
         1:16.13 (9.38)     1:26.16 (19.41)
  7 Purdue-IN  'A'                1:27.88    1:26.19         46  
     1) Young, Joseph A JR            2) r:0.23 Pellini, Trent FR     
     3) r:0.32 Juliusson, Erik JR     4) r:0.23 Bjelajac, Nikola FR   
             10.86        21.66 (21.66)
          32.07 (10.41)       45.29 (23.63)
           54.81 (9.52)     1:06.41 (21.12)
         1:15.90 (9.49)     1:26.19 (19.78)
  8 Wisconsin-WI  'A'             1:28.33    1:26.40         44  
     1) Novinski, Matt FR             2) r:0.29 Wills, Chris JR       
     3) r:0.09 Mao, Jian FR           4) r:0.18 Zelen, Tyler FR       
             10.49        21.68 (21.68)
          32.63 (10.95)       46.50 (24.82)
           55.85 (9.35)     1:07.30 (20.80)
         1:16.25 (8.95)     1:26.40 (19.10)

800 Free Relay

Indiana broke the pool record in the 800 free relay to finish the sweep of the opening night relays. They broke the pool record of 6:14.14 that Arizona did to win the 2007 NCAA’s and set the NCAA record. Indiana smashed that with a 6:11.50 with Mohamed Samy (1:33.19), Blake Pieroni (1:31.51), Vini Lanza (1:33.49) and Ian Finnerty (1:33.31).

Pieroni had the fastest split of anyone in the field with the 1:31 as he actually tied Michigan’s Felix Aubock who also swam a 1:31.51 on the second leg. Michigan was second at 6:16.51 just ahead of Ohio State (6:16.92). Michigan’s PJ Ransford anchored for them with a 1:35.45 to just hold off Ohio State’s Matthew Abeysinghe (1:35.88) as Ransford ran him down on the back half.

This is Indiana’s second straight 800 free relay Big Ten title as they had not won since 1986. Michigan has been dominant in this relay, winning every title from 2001-2016 until Indiana ended the streak last year.

Wisconsin (6:20.75), Minnesota (6:21.95), Penn State (6:27.26), Iowa (6:28.93) and Purdue (6:28.94) also placed in the top eight.

Who says distance swimmers can't sprint? PJ Ransford comes back in the last 50 yards to overtake Ohio State for second! That's also an NCAA A cut! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/JdenguuSCq

— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) February 22, 2018

 Event 2  Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
  Meet Record: ! 6:09.85  2014      Michigan, Michigan
                          Nielsen, Wynalda, Glanda, Jaegar
         Pool: # 6:14.14  3/16/2007 Arizona, ARIZ
                          N. Nilo, J. Basson, D. Townsend, A. Ritter
                 6:20.05  A NCAA A Standard
                 6:23.58  B NCAA B Stanard
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Indiana-IN  'A'               6:17.75    6:11.50#A       64  
     1) Samy, Mohamed SO              2) r:0.41 Pieroni, Blake SR     
     3) r:0.29 Lanza, Vinicius JR     4) r:0.32 Finnerty, Ian JR      
             21.21        44.21 (44.21)
      1:08.45 (1:08.45)   1:33.19 (1:33.19)
        1:54.29 (21.10)     2:17.52 (44.33)
      2:40.95 (1:07.76)   3:04.70 (1:31.51)
        3:25.92 (21.22)     3:50.12 (45.42)
      4:14.31 (1:09.61)   4:38.19 (1:33.49)
        4:59.64 (21.45)     5:23.06 (44.87)
      5:46.87 (1:08.68)   6:11.50 (1:33.31)
  2 Michigan-MI  'A'              6:21.66    6:16.51 A       56  
     1) Al-Yamani, Mokhtar JR         2) r:0.38 Auboeck, Felix SO     
     3) r:0.31 Williams, Kai JR       4) r:0.33 Ransford, Patrick SR  
             21.32        44.76 (44.76)
      1:09.28 (1:09.28)   1:34.42 (1:34.42)
        1:55.68 (21.26)     2:18.97 (44.55)
      2:42.46 (1:08.04)   3:05.93 (1:31.51)
        3:27.88 (21.95)     3:52.11 (46.18)
      4:16.70 (1:10.77)   4:41.06 (1:35.13)
        5:02.60 (21.54)     5:26.46 (45.40)
      5:51.06 (1:10.00)   6:16.51 (1:35.45)
  3 Ohio St-OH  'A'               6:23.74    6:16.92 A       54  
     1) Loy, Andrew D SO              2) r:0.40 Delakis, Paul FR      
     3) r:0.46 Hogsed, Nicholas JR    4) r:0.42 Abeysinghe, Matthew JR
             21.63        45.15 (45.15)
      1:09.24 (1:09.24)   1:33.42 (1:33.42)
        1:54.58 (21.16)     2:17.74 (44.32)
      2:41.71 (1:08.29)   3:06.35 (1:32.93)
        3:28.56 (22.21)     3:52.43 (46.08)
      4:16.69 (1:10.34)   4:41.04 (1:34.69)
        5:02.33 (21.29)     5:26.02 (44.98)
      5:50.71 (1:09.67)   6:16.92 (1:35.88)
  4 Wisconsin-WI  'A'             6:28.96    6:20.75 B       52  
     1) Stack, Ryan M SR              2) r:0.26 Haber, Ido FR         
     3) r:0.25 Goicoechea, Victor SR  4) r:0.26 Back, Griffin SO      
             21.98        45.58 (45.58)
      1:09.62 (1:09.62)   1:34.75 (1:34.75)
        1:56.39 (21.64)     2:20.44 (45.69)
      2:45.21 (1:10.46)   3:10.23 (1:35.48)
        3:32.17 (21.94)     3:56.09 (45.86)
      4:20.86 (1:10.63)   4:45.51 (1:35.28)
        5:07.09 (21.58)     5:30.89 (45.38)
      5:55.19 (1:09.68)   6:20.75 (1:35.24)
  5 Minnesota-MN  'A'             6:30.63    6:21.95 B       50  
     1) Sates, Timothy L FR           2) r:+0.11 Van Niekerk, Kyle FR 
     3) r:+0.22 Saulnier, Nicholas SO 4) r:+0.27 Pokkinen, Tuomas SO  
             21.64        45.62 (45.62)
      1:10.20 (1:10.20)   1:36.93 (1:36.93)
        1:58.16 (21.23)     2:22.20 (45.27)
      2:47.02 (1:10.09)   3:12.56 (1:35.63)
        3:33.54 (20.98)     3:56.87 (44.31)
      4:21.22 (1:08.66)   4:45.96 (1:33.40)
        5:07.14 (21.18)     5:31.40 (45.44)
      5:56.48 (1:10.52)   6:21.95 (1:35.99)
  6 Penn St-MA  'A'               6:45.73    6:27.26         48  
     1) Schiffmann, Nathan FR         2) r:0.17 O'Neill, Ryan SR      
     3) r:0.21 Krigger, Eben FR       4) r:0.48 Dinunzio, Matthew SO  
             22.73        47.47 (47.47)
      1:11.91 (1:11.91)   1:36.26 (1:36.26)
        1:58.24 (21.98)     2:22.59 (46.33)
      2:47.35 (1:11.09)   3:12.15 (1:35.89)
        3:35.04 (22.89)     4:00.01 (47.86)
      4:25.08 (1:12.93)   4:50.04 (1:37.89)
        5:11.98 (21.94)     5:36.74 (46.70)
      6:02.09 (1:12.05)   6:27.26 (1:37.22)
  7 Iowa-IA  'A'                  6:34.26    6:28.93         46  
     1) Myhre, Joseph A SO            2) r:0.55 Mende, Kenneth JR     
     3) r:0.56 Tenney, Michael SO     4) r:0.43 Smith, Jack JR        
             21.27        45.25 (45.25)
      1:12.06 (1:12.06)   1:40.03 (1:40.03)
        2:02.08 (22.05)     2:26.37 (46.34)
      2:51.00 (1:10.97)   3:16.21 (1:36.18)
        3:38.25 (22.04)     4:02.64 (46.43)
      4:27.82 (1:11.61)   4:52.84 (1:36.63)
        5:14.76 (21.92)     5:39.13 (46.29)
      6:03.98 (1:11.14)   6:28.93 (1:36.09)
  8 Purdue-IN  'A'                6:39.08    6:28.94         44  
     1) Hakan, Batuhan FR             2) r:0.31 Noens, Adam SR        
     3) r:0.25 Higgins, Jackson JR    4) r:0.51 Boone, James JR       
             22.46        46.50 (46.50)
      1:11.32 (1:11.32)   1:36.43 (1:36.43)
        1:58.08 (21.65)     2:22.71 (46.28)
      2:47.71 (1:11.28)   3:13.45 (1:37.02)
        3:35.13 (21.68)     3:59.09 (45.64)
      4:24.43 (1:10.98)   4:50.40 (1:36.95)
        5:13.05 (22.65)     5:38.25 (47.85)
      6:03.95 (1:13.55)   6:28.94 (1:38.54)

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Ken Minneman

8 years ago

Go Big Red!