2023 Big Ten Championships, Day 4: Brendan Burns Tackling 200 Double

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

2023 Big Ten Championships, Day 4: Brendan Burns Tackling 200 Double

Brendan Burns enters the final day of the 2023 Big Ten Men’s Swimming Championships with 15 career conference titles. He’s aiming to end it with 18, and a second team crown.

Saturday is the big day for Burns and his Hoosiers, who enter the final day of competition at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium with a 106-point lead over Ohio State. Burns is looking for his third straight title in the 200 backstroke, his fourth straight in the 200 butterfly and his third consecutive Big Ten Swimmer of the Meet honor. He should put himself in position for that in the morning.

The recap:

2023 Big Ten Men’s Championships Links

2023 Big Ten Men’s Championships Team Scores

(through the end of Night 3)

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                      
 
  1. Indiana University             1030.5   2. Ohio State University           924.5
  3. University of Michigan            806   4. Wisconsin, University of, Madi  665.5
  5. University of Minnesota           516   6. Purdue University                 483
  7. Pennsylvania State University   407.5   8. Northwestern University           392

200 backstroke

Brendan Burns is the second seed out of prelims, going 1:41.17. It’s .06 behind pace-setter Dez Sachtjen of Minnesota. Thomas Watkins of Ohio State in third in 1:41.28.

Lurking in the final are 200 free/500 free champ Jake Newmark of Wisconsin in fourth in 1:41.42 and Michigan’s Wyatt Davis, the runner-up to Burns in the 100 back, in fifth in 1:41.86.

 Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: # 1:38.89  2014      Eric Ress, Indiana
         Pool: ! 1:38.89  2014      Eric Ress, Indiana
                 1:39.13  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:44.82  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Sachtjen, Dez J  SR Minnesota-MN      1:43.01    1:41.11 qB     
                 24.24        49.84 (25.60)
        1:15.55 (25.71)     1:41.11 (25.56)
  2 Burns, Brendan   SR IU-IN             1:40.66    1:41.17 qB     
                 24.10        49.67 (25.57)
        1:15.50 (25.83)     1:41.17 (25.67)
  3 Watkins, Thomas  SR Ohio St-OH        1:42.23    1:41.28 qB     
                 23.62        49.14 (25.52)
        1:15.15 (26.01)     1:41.28 (26.13)
  4 Newmark, Jake Q  JR Wisconsin-WI      1:41.59    1:41.42 qB     
                 24.16        49.77 (25.61)
        1:15.60 (25.83)     1:41.42 (25.82)
  5 Davis, Wyatt M   JR Michigan-MI       1:44.80    1:41.86 qB     
                 24.17        50.23 (26.06)
        1:16.07 (25.84)     1:41.86 (25.79)
  6 Jekel, Wes B     SR Wisconsin-WI      1:43.73    1:42.40 qB     
                 24.11        49.99 (25.88)
        1:15.81 (25.82)     1:42.40 (26.59)
  7 Van Westering,   FR IU-IN             1:42.87    1:42.54 qB     
                 24.49        50.31 (25.82)
        1:16.65 (26.34)     1:42.54 (25.89)
  8 Lu, Tyler Y      SO Northwestern-IL   1:42.86    1:42.83 qB     
                 24.28        49.92 (25.64)
        1:16.00 (26.08)     1:42.83 (26.83)

100 freestyle

Van Mathias adds another pool record to his bundle this week, the Indiana post-grad clocking a 41.74 to lead the field through prelims. It downs a pool mark set in 2014 by Penn State’s Shane Ryan at 42.08. Mathias also won the 50 free.

Indiana has a chance in this event to put down the last resistance by Ohio State. Rafael Miroslaw is fourth and Gavin Wright is tied for sixth for the Hoosiers. That counters the Buckeyes’ Ruslan Gaziev in second (42.44) and James Ward third.

 Event 17  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: # 41.43  2/24/2018 Blake J Pieroni, Indiana
         Pool: ! 42.08  2014      Shane Ryan, Penn State
                 41.64  A NCAA Qualifying
                 43.59  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Mathias, Van L   PG IU-IN               42.15      41.74!qB     
                 20.27        41.74 (21.47)
  2 Gaziev, Ruslan   JR Ohio St-OH          42.45      42.44 qB     
                 20.65        42.44 (21.79)
  3 Ward, James P    SR Ohio St-OH          42.97      42.65 qB     
                 20.51        42.65 (22.14)
  4 Miroslaw, Rafae  SO IU-IN               42.78      42.68 qB     
                 20.53        42.68 (22.15)
  5 Samuels, Brady   SO PUR                 42.69      42.73 qB     
                 20.17        42.73 (22.56)
  6 Baganha, Victor  SO Penn State-MA       42.71      42.75 qB     
                 20.42        42.75 (22.33)
  6 Wight, Gavin R   JR IU-IN               42.83      42.75 qB     
                 20.61        42.75 (22.14)
  8 Szabados, Bence  JR Michigan-MI         43.16      42.87 qB     
                 20.65        42.87 (22.22)

200 breaststroke

A night after completing the 100 breast quartet, Max McHugh is chasing the 200 breast troika. He came through prelims in third place, his time of 1:53.28 just .16 off the pace. He was the third seed overall entering the meet, with two Indiana swimmers having posted quicker times this year.

Not among those is Jassen Yep, who tied his season-best to grab the top seed in prelims at 1:53.12. Teammate Max Reich is second in 1:53.23. Josh Matheny is third for the Hoosiers in 1:53.85. (He’s been 1:51.68 this year.) Luke Barr slipped into that A final to aid the Indiana onslaught.

 Event 18  Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: # 1:49.45  2/25/2022 Maxwell J McHugh, Minnesota
         Pool: ! 1:50.79  2021      Thomas Cope, Michigan
                 1:51.54  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:57.95  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Yep, Jassen J    JR IU-IN             1:53.12    1:53.12 qB     
                 25.76        54.66 (28.90)
        1:24.11 (29.45)     1:53.12 (29.01)
  2 Reich, Max A     JR IU-IN             1:52.35    1:53.23 qB     
                 25.63        54.54 (28.91)
        1:23.93 (29.39)     1:53.23 (29.30)
  3 McHugh, Max J    SR Minnesota-MN      1:52.77    1:53.28 qB     
                 25.48        54.27 (28.79)
        1:23.62 (29.35)     1:53.28 (29.66)
  4 Matheny, Josh M  SO IU-IN             1:51.68    1:53.85 qB     
                 25.56        54.43 (28.87)
        1:24.33 (29.90)     1:53.85 (29.52)
  5 Sherman, Nick S  SR PUR               1:54.32    1:54.01 qB     
                 25.44        54.24 (28.80)
        1:23.73 (29.49)     1:54.01 (30.28)
  6 Mok, Marcus M    SR Northwestern-IL   1:55.76    1:54.13 qB     
                 25.89        54.47 (28.58)
        1:23.95 (29.48)     1:54.13 (30.18)
  7 Barr, Luke D     SO IU-IN             1:59.58    1:55.18 qB     
                 25.83        55.23 (29.40)
        1:24.93 (29.70)     1:55.18 (30.25)
  8 Froass, Ansel J  JR Michigan-MI       1:56.82    1:55.20 qB     
                 26.01        54.94 (28.93)
        1:24.93 (29.99)     1:55.20 (30.27)

200 butterfly

It’s job done on both ends for Brendan Burns, who clocked in at 1:42.22 to lead the field in the 200 fly. He’s aiming for the meet mark he set in 2021 at 1:39.22.

Teammate Tomer Frankel is second. Ben Miller of Northwestern is third. Beware 400 IM champ Dominik Torok, who had a massive drop in that event. He cut three seconds to 1:43.12, which was fourth. Gal Groumi also qualified seventh in 1:43.66; he has a 1:41.40 to his name.

Event 19  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: # 1:39.22  3/5/2021  Brendan A Burns, Indiana
         Pool: ! 1:40.37  2014      Dylan Bosch, Michigan
                 1:40.20  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:46.31  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Burns, Brendan   SR IU-IN             1:42.11    1:42.22 qB     
                 23.26        48.93 (25.67)
        1:15.36 (26.43)     1:42.22 (26.86)
  2 Frankel, Tomer   JR IU-IN             1:42.72    1:42.73 qB     
                 22.23        47.77 (25.54)
        1:14.59 (26.82)     1:42.73 (28.14)
  3 Miller, Ben J    SR Northwestern-IL   1:43.27    1:43.02 qB     
                 23.27        49.55 (26.28)
        1:16.18 (26.63)     1:43.02 (26.84)
  4 Torok, Dominik   FR Wisconsin-WI      1:46.06    1:43.12 qB     
                 23.07        49.40 (26.33)
        1:16.30 (26.90)     1:43.12 (26.82)
  5 Gustafson, Chac  SR Ohio St-OH        1:43.35    1:43.54 qB     
                 23.27        49.39 (26.12)
        1:16.15 (26.76)     1:43.54 (27.39)
  6 Neverman, Kaise  JR Minnesota-MN      1:42.96    1:43.56 qB     
                 23.45        49.72 (26.27)
        1:16.30 (26.58)     1:43.56 (27.26)
  7 Cohen Groumi, G  SO Michigan-MI       1:41.40    1:43.66 qB     
                 22.88        49.51 (26.63)
        1:16.67 (27.16)     1:43.66 (26.99)
  8 Bensch, Constan  SR Wisconsin-WI      1:47.05    1:44.32 qB     
                 23.36        49.71 (26.35)
        1:16.80 (27.09)     1:44.32 (27.52)

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