2021 Big Ten Men’s Swimming Championships Day 4 Heats: McHugh Throws Down 50.1 100 Breast

max mchugh-big-ten
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

2021 Big Ten Men’s Swimming Championships

Day Four Heats, Columbus, Ohio

The 2021 Big Ten men’s swimming championships continued from the campus of The Ohio State University with the 100 back, 100 breast and 200 fly as this is the last of the five major power five conferences to hold their championship meet with 20 days until the NCAAs in Greensboro. Swimming World will be scoring the diving events that happened last week as if they are happening in real time.

With platform diving included, Ohio State had the most A-Finalists advance with Indiana and Michigan close behind as it looks like it will come down to those three to determine who will be the Big Ten champion.

Minnesota’s Max McHugh had the swim of the day with a 50.19 in the 100 breaststroke as today’s top eight was quicker than every NCAA final since 2015, which was 0.02 quicker on eighth place.

There is also a heated battle for fourth between Purdue, Northwestern, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Team Scores (through 3m diving)

  1. Michigan 733.5
  2. Indiana 711.5
  3. Ohio State 634
  4. Purdue 424.5
  5. Wisconsin 406
  6. Northwestern 384
  7. Penn State 336
  8. Iowa 314.5
  9. Minnesota 287
  10. Michigan State 107

Ups, Mids, Downs (through platform diving)

  1. Ohio State 7, 8, 2
  2. Michigan 6, 5, 2
  3. Indiana 6, 5, 2
  4. Purdue 4, 1, 5
  5. Northwestern 3, 4, 2
  6. Penn State 2, 3, 6
  7. Wisconsin 2, 2, 5
  8. Iowa 1, 3, 4
  9. Minnesota 1, 1, 2
  10. Michigan State 0, 0, 1

100 Back

Indiana got the day started with the top two seeds in the 100 backstroke, led by Jacob Steele (45.39) and Gabriel Fantoni (45.57). The Hoosiers are in the thick of the team race currently with Michigan and Ohio State as Indiana last won three straight from 2017 – 2019 before Michigan won last year. The Wolverines put three in the A-Final as freshman Wyatt Davis is third at 46.17.

Michigan’s Eric Storms (46.37) and Nadav Aaronson (46.52) also put themselves in the A-Final to get the day started as the Wolverines have been impressive all week with their depth in the pool.

Ohio State has one finalist for tonight in West Virginia transfer Hunter Armstrong (46.24) who had a strong heat swim out of lane 1. Penn State’s Michael Daly, who won last night’s 400 IM, is seeded sixth at 46.47 while Wisconsin’s Wesley Jekel (46.57) is eighth.

 Event 11  Men 100 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 44.65  2/24/2017 Shane P Ryan, Penn State
                 44.95  A NCAA QUALIFYING
                 47.77  B NCAA PROVISIONAL
    Name            Age School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Steele, Jacob A  22 Ind-IN              47.38      45.39 qB     
    r:+0.50  10.63        21.96 (11.33)
          33.62 (11.66)       45.39 (11.77)
  2 Fantoni, Gabrie  22 Ind-IN              46.44      45.57 qB     
    r:+0.67  10.61        22.18 (11.57)
          33.97 (11.79)       45.57 (11.60)
  3 Davis, Wyatt M   19 MICH-MI             46.78      46.17 qB     
    r:+0.53  10.83        22.42 (11.59)
          34.41 (11.99)       46.17 (11.76)
  4 Armstrong, Jose  20 OSU-OH              47.06      46.24 qB     
    r:+0.68  10.81        22.09 (11.28)
          34.21 (12.12)       46.24 (12.03)
  5 Storms, Eric M   21 MICH-MI             47.79      46.37 qB     
    r:+0.54  10.79        22.65 (11.86)
          34.68 (12.03)       46.37 (11.69)
  6 Daly, Michael C  20 PSU-MA              47.24      46.47 qB     
    r:+0.69  11.16        22.73 (11.57)
          34.70 (11.97)       46.47 (11.77)
  7 Aaronson, Nadav  22 MICH-MI             50.57      46.52 qB     
    r:+0.57  10.77        22.31 (11.54)
          34.35 (12.04)       46.52 (12.17)
  8 Jekel, Wesley B  20 WISC-WI             47.11      46.57 qB     
    r:+0.58  10.76        22.05 (11.29)
          34.23 (12.18)       46.57 (12.34)

100 Breast

Minnesota’s Max McHugh threw down the nation’s top time in the 100 breaststroke on Friday at the Big Ten Men’s Swimming Championships in Columbus with a 50.19. After putting up some impressive splits in the medley relay, McHugh had to wait around all week to get his hands on the individual event and he did so with relative ease as he improved on his season best of 50.5 that was already number one in the nation. McHugh is inching closer and closer to the American record of 49.69 set by Indiana’s Ian Finnerty from 2018.

All-Time Rankings:

  1. 49.69, Ian Finnerty, Indiana, 2018
  2. 50.03, Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 2018
  3. 50.04, Kevin Cordes, Arizona, 2014
  4. 50.19, Max McHugh, Minnesota, 2021
  5. 50.30, Carsten Vissering, USC, 2019

McHugh will not have a cake walk in tonight’s final though as all eight swimmers broke 52 seconds, including ninth place finisher Mason Hunter (51.93) of Michigan. Ohio State was the only school with more than one A-Finalist as Jason Mathews (51.30) and Hudson McDaniel (51.68) will be next to each other tonight in their home pool.

Michigan’s William Chan (51.03) and Indiana’s Zane Backes (51.38) will also be next to each other as those two schools are vying for the team title.

Northwestern’s Kevin Houseman (51.75), Iowa’s William Myhre (51.81) and Purdue’s Trent Pellini (51.85) will also swim in tonight’s A-Final in what could be considered an NCAA preview. For reference, 51.85 is quicker than the eighth place prelims time at the last three NCAA meets, as it took a 51.93 to make the 2019 NCAA A-Final in the 100 breaststroke. The fastest field ever assembled was at the 2015 NCAAs when it took a 51.83 to make the A-Final.

Michigan’s AJ Bornstein won a pivotal swim-off for 16th place over Indiana’s Gary Kostbade at 53.21 to Kostbade’s 53.22. Both guys were 53.41 in prelims.

 Event 12  Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 50.60  3/1/2019  Ian J Finnerty, Indiana
                 51.67  A NCAA QUALIFYING
                 54.27  B NCAA PROVISIONAL
    Name            Age School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 McHugh, Maxwell  21 MINN-MN             50.55      50.19!qA     
    r:+0.76  10.73        23.61 (12.88)
          36.84 (13.23)       50.19 (13.35)
  2 Chan, William E  21 MICH-MI             53.99      51.03 qA     
    r:+0.74  10.71        23.82 (13.11)
          37.18 (13.36)       51.03 (13.85)
  3 Mathews, Jason   22 OSU-OH              53.19      51.30 qA     
    r:+0.69  11.09        24.08 (12.99)
          37.52 (13.44)       51.30 (13.78)
  4 Backes, Zane V   22 Ind-IN              54.37      51.38 qA     
    r:+0.69  10.93        23.99 (13.06)
          37.54 (13.55)       51.38 (13.84)
  5 McDaniel, Hudso  21 OSU-OH              54.23      51.68 qB     
    r:+0.72  10.96        23.79 (12.83)
          37.38 (13.59)       51.68 (14.30)
  6 Houseman, Kevin  19 NU-IL               51.79      51.75 qB     
    r:+0.65  11.23        24.31 (13.08)
          38.05 (13.74)       51.75 (13.70)
  7 Myhre, William   20 IOWA-IA             52.97      51.81 qB     
    r:+0.67  11.06        24.40 (13.34)
          38.05 (13.65)       51.81 (13.76)
  8 Pellini, Trent   22 PUR-IN              52.43      51.85 qB     
    r:+0.74  11.12        24.41 (13.29)
          38.02 (13.61)       51.85 (13.83)

200 Fly

Indiana’s Brendan Burns was long and strong in his 200 butterfly heat as he will lead tonight’s finals with a 1:40.36 as the Hoosiers have the top three seeds. Van Mathias (1:42.88) and Cory Gambardella (1:43.63) will be surrounding the middle lanes tonight as the Hoosiers vie for the Big Ten title with Michigan, who qualified Spencer Carl (1:44.87) in sixth.

Northwestern continued to have a strong morning with Connor Lamastra (1:43.91) and Ben Miller (1:44.35) both advancing to the A-Final as the battle for fourth place heats up between the Wildcats, Wisconsin, Purdue and Penn State.

Penn State’s Zachary Zwijacz (1:45.12) and Purdue’s Elliott Cooper (1:45.68) also advanced to the final to give their schools a boost in the battle for fourth place.

 Event 13  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:39.28  3/2/2019  Vinicius M Lanza, Indiana
                 1:40.76  A NCAA QUALIFYING
                 1:46.69  B NCAA PROVISIONAL
    Name            Age School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Burns, Brendan   19 Ind-IN            1:44.30    1:40.36 qA     
    r:+0.80  22.24        47.20 (24.96)
        1:13.11 (25.91)     1:40.36 (27.25)
  2 Mathias, Van L   20 Ind-IN            1:47.93    1:42.88 qB     
    r:+0.80  22.73        48.59 (25.86)
        1:15.35 (26.76)     1:42.88 (27.53)
  3 Gambardella, Co  22 Ind-IN            1:46.19    1:43.63 qB     
    r:+0.74  23.79        50.36 (26.57)
        1:16.34 (25.98)     1:43.63 (27.29)
  4 Lamastra, Conno  22 NU-IL             1:44.35    1:43.91 qB     
    r:+0.73  23.60        49.47 (25.87)
        1:16.26 (26.79)     1:43.91 (27.65)
  5 Miller, Benjami  20 NU-IL             1:45.17    1:44.35 qB     
    r:+0.63  23.69        50.04 (26.35)
        1:16.72 (26.68)     1:44.35 (27.63)
  6 Carl, Spencer A  22 MICH-MI           1:48.30    1:44.87 qB     
    r:+0.71  23.54        49.96 (26.42)
        1:17.06 (27.10)     1:44.87 (27.81)
  7 Zwijacz, Zachar  21 PSU-MA            1:47.42    1:45.12 qB     
    r:+0.76  22.88        48.84 (25.96)
        1:16.60 (27.76)     1:45.12 (28.52)
  8 Cooper, Elliot   20 PUR-IN            1:48.46    1:45.68 qB     
    r:+0.66  24.26        51.21 (26.95)
        1:17.99 (26.78)     1:45.68 (27.69)

Platform Diving

Diving was completed last week but we will calculate the diving points during the swim meet as if it was happening in real time.

 Event 1C  Men Platform Diving
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 557.90  2011      David Boudia, Purdue
                 300.00  A NCAA QUALIFYING
    Name            Age School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Loschaivo, Bran     Purdue-IN              NP     459.30 qA     
  2 Bramley, Benjam     Purdue-IN              NP     387.90 qA     
  3 Siler, Jacob        Ohio St-OH             NP     385.30 qA     
  4 Fielding, Jacob     Ohio St-OH             NP     372.45 qA     
  5 Canova, Joseph      Ohio St-OH             NP     359.05 qA     
  6 Abramowicz, Taz     Wisconsin-WI           NP     345.20 qA     
  7 Todd, Ross          Michigan-MI            NP     337.70 qA     
  8 Yost, Lyle          Ohio St-OH             NP     314.35 qA     

  9 Gould, Mory         Indiana-IN             NP     313.50 qA     
 10 VanDevender, Co     Indiana-IN             NP     306.40 qA     
 11 Capobianco, And     Indiana-IN             NP     301.70 qA     
 12 Posligua, Jonat     Iowa-IA                NP     289.50 q      
 13 Schirmer, Wm He     Northwestern-IL        NP     288.20 q      
 14 Grannum, Hunter     Ohio St-OH             NP     286.85 q      
 15 Labuda, Evan        Northwestern-IL        NP     269.60 q      
 16 Cey, Jonah          Penn St-MA             NP     266.20 q      

 17 Canning, Christ     Michigan-MI            NP     265.05        
 18 Muller, Daniel      Wisconsin-WI           NP     231.60        
 19 Krabbe, Logan       Penn St-MA             NP     228.45        
 20 Rumpit, Braden      Wisconsin-WI           NP     227.90        
 21 Eskrick, Yohan      Northwestern-IL        NP     223.20        
 22 Hoch, Bryce         Penn St-MA             NP     198.45        
 23 Sullivan, Kevin     Penn St-MA             NP     190.90
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