Big Ten Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Brendan Burns in Double Position

Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

Big Ten Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Brendan Burns in Double Position

It is a sacred holiday at the Big Ten Men’s Championships: Brendan Burns 200 double Saturday.

The grad student has made it a fixture of his path to 21 Big Ten championships, tackling the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly in the same day. He’s done the double each of the last three years at the Big Ten Championships, and he’s chasing his fifth straight 200 fly title, an event he’s won a pair of NCAA titles in.

Through prelims, he’s in position to bounce in both. And he’s got Indiana poised to claim another team championships.

All the morning action from McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in the morning sets up a night session that will include the 1,650 freestyle, platform diving and the concluding 400 free relay.

Team Standings

                      Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                      
  1. Indiana University                996   2. Ohio State University             820
  3. Michigan, University of         770.5   4. Wisconsin, University of        734.5
  5. University of Minnesota         560.5   6. Pennsylvania State University     498
  7. Northwestern University           469   8. Purdue University               427.5

200 backstroke

Brendan Burns is the top seed over Indiana teammate Kai Van Westering by .03 seconds. Burns went 1:40.88. He owns the meet record in 1:38.22, and he had the top in-season time in the conference at 1:40.04. Van Westering entered as the third seed. The second seed, David Gerchik of Northwestern, scraped into the final in eighth.

Third in the final is 100 back runner-up Cooper Morley in 1:41.16. Jacques Wenger is fourth in 1:41.20, while Jake Newmark and Purdue’s Dylan Burau are also in the 1:41-mid range.

Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:38.22  2/25/2023 Brendan A Burns, IU
                 1:39.13  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:44.60  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Burns, Brendan   SR Indiana-B1        1:40.04    1:40.88 qB     
                 23.94        49.28 (25.34)
        1:14.96 (25.68)     1:40.88 (25.92)
  2 Van Westering,   JR Indiana-B1        1:42.07    1:40.91 qB     
                 24.16        49.41 (25.25)
        1:15.15 (25.74)     1:40.91 (25.76)
  3 Morley, Cooper   SO Penn State-B1     1:45.14    1:41.16 qB     
                 23.35        49.19 (25.84)
        1:15.27 (26.08)     1:41.16 (25.89)
  4 Wenger, Jacque   JR Michigan-B1       1:45.79    1:41.20 qB     
                 24.16        49.81 (25.65)
        1:15.48 (25.67)     1:41.20 (25.72)
  5 Newmark, Jacob   SR Wisconsin-B1      1:45.20    1:41.43 qB     
                 24.39        49.72 (25.33)
        1:15.18 (25.46)     1:41.43 (26.25)
  6 Burau, Dylan     SO Purdue-B1         1:43.22    1:41.53 qB     
                 24.15        49.78 (25.63)
        1:15.41 (25.63)     1:41.53 (26.12)
  7 Ben-Shitrit, Ei  SO Michigan-B1       1:43.08    1:42.16 qB     
                 23.49        48.92 (25.43)
        1:15.19 (26.27)     1:42.16 (26.97)
  8 Gerchik, David   FR Northwestern-B1   1:41.92    1:42.27 qB     
                 24.10        50.01 (25.91)
        1:16.18 (26.17)     1:42.27 (26.09)

100 freestyle

Bence Szabados has had an outstanding meet and is after individual gold after silver in the 50 free. He had the edge in prelims with a time of 42.31 seconds, but only two tenths separated the first five finishers. Behind him are the 50 free winner (Taiko Torepe-Ormsby, third in 42.48) and the 200 free winner (Tomas Navikonis of Ohio State, tied for sixth in 42.89).

The second seed went to Purdue’s Brady Samuels, who went 42.46. Third is Penn State’s Victor Baganha in 42.48. Indiana has two A finalists in Mikkel Lee and Gavin Wight, though Rafael Miroslaw fell ninth.

Event 17  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 41.38  2/25/2023 Ruslan Gaziev, Ohio St
                 41.50  A NCAA Qualifying
                 43.46  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Szabados, Bence  SR Michigan-B1         42.57      42.31 qB     
                 20.10        42.31 (22.21)
  2 Samuels, Braden  JR Purdue-B1           42.40      42.46 qB     
                 20.09        42.46 (22.37)
  3 Baganha, Victor  JR Penn State-B1       42.75      42.48 qB     
                 20.27        42.48 (22.21)
  4 Torepe-Ormsby,   SO Wisconsin-B1        43.61      42.49 qB     
                 20.13        42.49 (22.36)
  5 Lee, Mikkel      FR Indiana-B1          42.67      42.53 qB     
                 20.27        42.53 (22.26)
  6 Navikonis, Toma  SO Ohio State-B1       43.31      42.89 qB     
                 20.81        42.89 (22.08)
  6 Wight, Gavin     SR Indiana-B1          42.96      42.89 qB     
                 20.40        42.89 (22.49)
  8 Harabagiu, Davi  FR Minnesota-B1        43.57      42.96 qB     
                 20.38        42.96 (22.58)

200 breaststroke

Any doubt about the team title vanished after the 200 breast, with Indiana taking the top four seeds in finals. Josh Matheny leads the way in 1:52.06. The top seed entering the meet, Jassen Yep, was second in 1:52.09, followed by 400 IM runner-up Toby Barnett and Max Reich. Coleman Modglin of Purdue was the first non-Indiana swimmer, in fifth in 1:55.17.

Mariano Lazzerini, the 100 breast champ, scraped into the A final in eighth.

Event 18  Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:49.45  2/25/2022 Maxwell J McHugh, Minnesota
                 1:51.09  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:57.44  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Matheny, Joshua  JR Indiana-B1        1:51.13    1:52.06 qB     
                 25.68        53.93 (28.25)
        1:22.31 (28.38)     1:52.06 (29.75)
  2 Yep, Jassen      SR Indiana-B1        1:50.71    1:52.70 qB     
                 25.80        54.23 (28.43)
        1:23.01 (28.78)     1:52.70 (29.69)
  3 Barnett, Toby    FR Indiana-B1        1:55.13    1:54.02 qB     
                 26.15        55.04 (28.89)
        1:24.02 (28.98)     1:54.02 (30.00)
  4 Reich, Maxwell   SR Indiana-B1        1:51.89    1:54.17 qB     
                 25.94        55.00 (29.06)
        1:24.60 (29.60)     1:54.17 (29.57)
  5 Modglin, Colema  SR Purdue-B1         1:57.09    1:55.17 qB     
                 25.86        54.64 (28.78)
        1:24.30 (29.66)     1:55.17 (30.87)
  6 Regan, William   GR Ohio State-B1     1:56.83    1:55.22 qB     
                 26.30        55.57 (29.27)
        1:25.08 (29.51)     1:55.22 (30.14)
  7 Rudd, Joseph     JR Minnesota-B1      1:57.32    1:55.29 qB     
                 25.88        54.76 (28.88)
        1:24.65 (29.89)     1:55.29 (30.64)
  8 Lazzerini, Mari  SO Penn State-B1     1:54.84    1:55.32 qB     
                 25.33        54.82 (29.49)
        1:24.68 (29.86)     1:55.32 (30.64)

200 butterfly

Part 2 of the Brendan Burns double has him second in a studded final. Tyler Ray of Michigan led the way, one of three Wolverines in the A final, in 1:41.33. Burns was .22 back. His seed time of 1:40.78 was the fastest of the season.

The 200 fly will be a collision of champions. Gal Groumi, the 200 IM champ, was third in 1:41.81, .06 up on teammate Colin Geer. Fifth was 100 fly champ Tomer Frankel in 1:4240. Dominik Mark Torok, who Friday won the 400 IM, is seventh.

 Event 19  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:39.22  3/5/2021  Brendan A Burns, Indiana
                 1:40.16  A NCAA Qualifying
                 1:45.89  B NCAA Provisional
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Ray, Tyler       SO Michigan-B1       1:43.13    1:41.33 qB     
                 22.51        48.67 (26.16)
        1:15.23 (26.56)     1:41.33 (26.10)
  2 Burns, Brendan   SR Indiana-B1        1:40.78    1:41.57 qB     
                 22.92        48.45 (25.53)
        1:14.64 (26.19)     1:41.57 (26.93)
  3 Cohen Groumi, G  JR Michigan-B1       1:40.54    1:41.81 qB     
                 22.74        48.42 (25.68)
        1:14.93 (26.51)     1:41.81 (26.88)
  4 Geer, Colin      FR Michigan-B1       1:43.56    1:41.87 qB     
                 23.03        49.11 (26.08)
        1:15.42 (26.31)     1:41.87 (26.45)
  5 Frankel, Tomer   SR Indiana-B1        1:41.94    1:42.40 qB     
                 22.62        48.48 (25.86)
        1:14.89 (26.41)     1:42.40 (27.51)
  6 Gustafson, Char  GR Ohio State-B1     1:42.58    1:42.61 qB     
                 22.73        48.80 (26.07)
        1:15.06 (26.26)     1:42.61 (27.55)
  7 Mark Torok, Dom  SO Wisconsin-B1      1:41.76    1:42.82 qB     
                 23.07        49.21 (26.14)
        1:15.59 (26.38)     1:42.82 (27.23)
  8 Nosack, Diego    FR Northwestern-B1   1:44.56    1:42.89 qB     
                 23.09        49.92 (26.83)
        1:15.81 (25.89)     1:42.89 (27.08)

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