Big Ten Championships, Day 3 Prelims: Indiana Secures Four Top Seeds

Jassen Yep; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Big Ten Championships, Day 3 Prelims: Indiana Secures Four Top Seeds

It’s moving day at the Big Ten Championships. Indiana got the message.

The Hoosiers have the top seed in four of the five events after prelims Friday morning at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion at Ohio State University, and they have the pre-race favorite in the other event.

Indiana entered the day with a 27-point edge in the team standings, the lead in which volleyed back and forth Thursday evening.

All the action from Friday morning:

Team Standings

 Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 7                       
 
  1. Indiana University                466   2. Michigan, University of         437.5
  3. Ohio State University             428   4. Wisconsin, University of        388.5
  5. University of Minnesota         271.5   6. Purdue University               254.5
  7. Pennsylvania State University     229   8. Northwestern University           215

100 butterfly

The first event gave the clearest distillation of the team battle. Tomer Frankel of Indiana is the top seed with a time of 44.70 seconds, just .07 ahead of Michigan’s Tyler Ray. The Wolverines also have Gal Groumi, the 200 IM champ, in third in 44.80. He set the meet record in 44.50 last year. Colin Geer is seventh for Michigan, while Indiana has another A finalist in fourth-place Finlay Brooks.

It’s a half-second back from Brooks’ time of 44.84 to Minnesota’s David Harabagiu in fifth.

Event 8  Men 100 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 44.50  2/24/2023 Gal Cohen Groumi, Michigan
                 44.64  A NCAA Qualifying
                 47.08  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Frankel, Tomer   SR Indiana-B1          45.26      44.70 qB     
                 20.66        44.70 (24.04)
  2 Ray, Tyler       SO Michigan-B1         45.84      44.77 qB     
                 20.80        44.77 (23.97)
  3 Cohen Groumi, G  JR Michigan-B1         44.83      44.80 qB     
                 20.98        44.80 (23.82)
  4 Brooks, Finlay   JR Indiana-B1          45.67      44.84 qB     
                 20.69        44.84 (24.15)
  5 Harabagiu, Davi  FR Minnesota-B1        45.94      45.35 qB     
                 21.06        45.35 (24.29)
  6 Baganha, Victor  JR Penn State-B1       45.37      45.75 qB     
                 21.32        45.75 (24.43)
  7 Geer, Colin      FR Michigan-B1         46.83      46.02 qB     
                 21.37        46.02 (24.65)
  8 Gustafson, Char  GR Ohio State-B1       46.99      46.05 qB     
                 21.67        46.05 (24.38)

400 individual medley

Toby Barnett secured the top seed for Indiana, in an event that is a traditional stronghold for Michigan. Barnett went 3:41.37 to get the middle lane, more than two seconds ahead of Northwestern’s Diego Nosack.

Indiana placed a second swimmer in the A final, with Andrew Reiter seventh. Eitan Ben-Shitrit, the 200 IM runner-up, represents Michigan with the fourth seed. He’s behind Tristan Jankovics of Ohio State, the pre-meet top seed.

 Event 9  Men 400 Yard IM
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 3:38.03  2009      Tyler Clary, Michigan
                 3:38.90  A NCAA Qualifying
                 3:50.68  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Barnett, Toby    FR Indiana-B1        3:42.54    3:41.37 qB     
                 23.91        51.25 (27.34)
        1:18.92 (27.67)     1:46.12 (27.20)
        2:16.55 (30.43)     2:47.77 (31.22)
        3:14.83 (27.06)     3:41.37 (26.54)
  2 Nosack, Diego    FR Northwestern-B1   3:44.52    3:43.46 qB     
                 24.58        52.00 (27.42)
        1:20.12 (28.12)     1:48.35 (28.23)
        2:19.80 (31.45)     2:51.24 (31.44)
        3:17.59 (26.35)     3:43.46 (25.87)
  3 Jankovics, Tris  SO Ohio State-B1     3:40.89    3:43.65 qB     
                 23.85        51.20 (27.35)
        1:19.58 (28.38)     1:47.39 (27.81)
        2:18.89 (31.50)     2:51.20 (32.31)
        3:18.02 (26.82)     3:43.65 (25.63)
  4 Ben-Shitrit, Ei  SO Michigan-B1       3:45.16    3:43.95 qB     
                 23.62        50.84 (27.22)
        1:19.19 (28.35)     1:46.65 (27.46)
        2:17.83 (31.18)     2:50.34 (32.51)
        3:17.95 (27.61)     3:43.95 (26.00)
  5 Mark Torok, Dom  SO Wisconsin-B1      3:44.35    3:44.47 qB     
                 23.93        50.88 (26.95)
        1:19.59 (28.71)     1:48.82 (29.23)
        2:20.04 (31.22)     2:52.39 (32.35)
        3:44.47 (52.08)                    
  6 Christenson, Wi  SR Minnesota-B1      3:47.20    3:44.75 qB     
                 24.20        51.94 (27.74)
        1:20.13 (28.19)     1:48.15 (28.02)
        2:20.68 (32.53)     2:52.90 (32.22)
        3:19.12 (26.22)     3:44.75 (25.63)
  7 Reiter, Andrew   SO Indiana-B1        3:47.22    3:44.83 qB     
                 24.04        51.52 (27.48)
        1:20.32 (28.80)     1:48.45 (28.13)
        2:19.77 (31.32)     2:51.79 (32.02)
        3:18.43 (26.64)     3:44.83 (26.40)
  8 Campbell, Samue  SO Ohio State-B1     3:50.55    3:45.72 qB     
                 24.23        52.01 (27.78)
        1:20.82 (28.81)     1:48.96 (28.14)
        2:22.03 (33.07)     2:54.84 (32.81)
        3:21.19 (26.35)     3:45.72 (24.53)

200 freestyle

Michigan is locked out of the A final, but Indiana has two in the top three. Rafael Miroslaw was first in prelims in 1:32.56, .02 ahead of Ohio State’s Tomas Navikonis. Tomer Frankel authored the first of several Indiana doubles this week with the third seed in in 1:33.23. He’s less than two tenths ahead of Minnesota’s Bar Soloveychik, who was just .04 off his school record from Wednesday.

Wisconsin, fourth in the team standings, could get a move on with three A finalists, led by Christopher Morris in fifth. Michigan has just one swimmer in the B final, with the dreaded ninth and 17th finishers.

Event 10  Men 200 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:31.14  2/23/2018 Blake J Pieroni, Indiana
                 1:31.74  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:35.79  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Miroslaw, Rafae  JR Indiana-B1        1:32.52    1:32.56 qB     
                 21.38        44.83 (23.45)
        1:08.64 (23.81)     1:32.56 (23.92)
  2 Navikonis, Toma  SO Ohio State-B1     1:33.60    1:32.58 qB     
                 21.93        45.67 (23.74)
        1:09.36 (23.69)     1:32.58 (23.22)
  3 Frankel, Tomer   SR Indiana-B1        1:36.09    1:33.23 qB     
                 21.73        45.10 (23.37)
        1:09.10 (24.00)     1:33.23 (24.13)
  4 Soloveychik, Ba  JR Minnesota-B1      1:35.14    1:33.41 qB     
                 21.86        45.39 (23.53)
        1:09.07 (23.68)     1:33.41 (24.34)
  5 Morris, Christo  JR Wisconsin-B1      1:35.38    1:34.01 qB     
                 21.91        45.86 (23.95)
        1:09.79 (23.93)     1:34.01 (24.22)
  6 Vainio, Luukas   FR Wisconsin-B1      1:34.70    1:34.23 qB     
                 21.90        45.58 (23.68)
        1:09.63 (24.05)     1:34.23 (24.60)
  7 Butera, Nico     JR Wisconsin-B1      1:36.80    1:34.61 qB     
                 21.69        45.39 (23.70)
        1:09.71 (24.32)     1:34.61 (24.90)
  8 Axon, Alex       SO Ohio State-B1     1:35.94    1:34.64 qB     
                 22.24        46.21 (23.97)
        1:10.64 (24.43)     1:34.64 (24.00)

100 breaststroke

Another double is underway, in Indiana’s breaststroking onslaught. Finlay Brooks grabbed the top seed in 51.41, and he leads a cavalcade of four Hoosiers in the A final. Jassen Yep was third in 52.01, followed by Max Reich in fourth and Joshua Matheny in seventh. They constitute four of the five swimmers with sub-52 times this year in the field.

Penn State’s Mariano Lazzerini is second in 51.52, the fifth in the 52s. Michigan’s Brendan Fitzpatrick was fifth.

Event 11  Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 50.19  3/5/2021  Maxwell J McHugh, Minnesota
                 51.10  A NCAA Qualifying
                 53.63  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Brooks, Finlay   JR Indiana-B1          51.34      51.41 qB     
                 23.68        51.41 (27.73)
  2 Lazzerini, Mari  SO Penn State-B1       52.56      51.52 qB     
                 24.35        51.52 (27.17)
  3 Yep, Jassen      SR Indiana-B1          51.49      52.01 qB     
                 24.36        52.01 (27.65)
  4 Reich, Maxwell   SR Indiana-B1          51.87      52.28 qB     
                 24.76        52.28 (27.52)
  5 Fitzpatrick, Br  JR Michigan-B1         53.14      52.71 qB     
                 24.60        52.71 (28.11)
  6 teDuits, Truman  SR Wisconsin-B1        54.82      52.82 qB     
                 24.87        52.82 (27.95)
  7 Matheny, Joshua  JR Indiana-B1          51.81      52.87 qB     
                 25.11        52.87 (27.76)
  8 Rudd, Joseph     JR Minnesota-B1        53.66      52.90 qB     
                 25.04        52.90 (27.86)

100 backstroke

So starts the Brendan Burns Big Ten Championships gauntlet (trademark pending), the 200 fly/200 back double artist warming up for his sizzling Saturday by going 45.34 in the 100 back. He’s the second seed, behind a sterling time of 44.74 by Cooper Morley of Penn State.

Indiana has four A finalists, with Kai Van Westering fourth, Luke Barr sixth and Gavin Wight seventh. Michigan has two in the top eight, led by Jack Wilkening in third.

 Event 12  Men 100 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 44.31  2/25/2022 Brendan A Burns, Indiana
                 44.71  A NCAA Qualifying
                 47.47  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Morley, Cooper   SO Penn State-B1       46.08      44.74 qB     
                 21.55        44.74 (23.19)
  2 Burns, Brendan   SR Indiana-B1          45.13      45.34 qB     
                 22.01        45.34 (23.33)
  3 Wilkening, Jack  SO Michigan-B1         45.86      45.35 qB     
                 21.75        45.35 (23.60)
  4 Van Westering,   JR Indiana-B1          46.72      45.43 qB     
                 21.93        45.43 (23.50)
  5 Samuels, Braden  JR Purdue-B1           45.81      45.67 qB     
                 21.79        45.67 (23.88)
  6 Barr, Luke       JR Indiana-B1          46.04      46.00 qB     
                 22.09        46.00 (23.91)
  7 Wight, Gavin     SR Indiana-B1          46.79      46.04 qB     
                 21.99        46.04 (24.05)
  8 Wenger, Jacque   JR Michigan-B1         48.37      46.37 qB     
                 22.13        46.37 (24.24)

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