Big Ten Weekly Recap: Michigan Sweeps Ohio State; Indiana Splits With Louisville

Michigan's Yirong Bi. Photo Courtesy: Michigan Photography

By Dan D’Addona.

There is nothing like topping your rival — especial on senior day.

The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan women’s swimming and diving team sent its seven seniors off in style, winning 14 of 16 events in a 212-88 victory over No. 21 Ohio State on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sophomore Siobhán Haughey continued her strong season with three more individual wins, taking top honors in the 100-yard freestyle (48.39), 200-yard freestyle (1:46.76) and 200-yard IM (1:59.32). She also set the tone for the team in the meet’s opening relay, coming from nearly a half-second down on the anchor leg to give her team the win (1:40.31).

Sophomore Yirong Bi also stuck to her winning ways, shattering a pool record in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:35.49). The old record set by Ashley Steenvoorden (Minnesota) was 9:36.87 and did not fall at last year’s Big Ten Championships, standing for eight years until Bi’s performance on Friday. Bi also won the 500-yard freestyle later in the meet (4:44.92).

Freshman Kristen Hayden won both the one-meter (300.90) and three-meter (323.30) springboards.

Juniors Emily Kopas and Clara Smiddy were among the team’s other big winners, each sweeping their stroke disciplines. Kopas (1:01.55) formed a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with Bi (1:02.43) and later won the 200-yard breaststroke by more than two seconds (2:12.36). The Wolverines scored major points in the backstroke events led by Smiddy, who won the 100 (54.47) and 200 (1:56.08). A DeLoof was second in each race — sophomore Catie DeLoof in the 100 (54.79) and junior Gabby DeLoof in the 200 (1:56.80).

Freshman Vanessa Krause won the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.98).

In the men’s meet, the No. 9 Wolverines won 186-114 over No. 17 OSU.

Felix Auböck, a freshman from Austria, provided the highlight of the meet for the men’s side, out-touching Ohio State’s Josh Fleagle by the slimmest of margins (one one-hundredth) to win the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.85). He later won the 500-yard freestyle (4:24.14), combining with junior PJ Ransford (4:25.32) and senior Cameron Stitt (4:27.19) on a 1-2-3 finish. Ransford won the 1,000-yard freestyle by nearly eight seconds earlier in the meet (9:01.10).

Chris Klein won the 200-yard breaststroke in (1:57.20) and the 200-yard IM (1:48.05).

Two of the team’s three divers picked up NCAA Zone Diving qualifying scores: freshman Jake Herremans in a third-place finish on three-meter (335.25), and sophomore Collin DeShaw in a fourth-place finish on one-meter (303.25).

Ohio State two events, both coming from reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Liz Li. She won the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.30 and the 100 butterfly (53.39), both events that she won conference titles in last season.

In the men’s meet, OSU swimmers and divers claimed five events at the meet: three in the pool and two on the diving boards. Colin Zeng and Christo Law had great performances, going 1-2 in both diving events. Zeng’s score on one-meter was 431.70, the best of the bunch, and he won on 3-meter with a mark of 432.75. Law placed second behind his teammate with scores of 389.65 on 1-meter and 408.75 on three-meter.

Fleagle won the 100 freestyle, touching the wall at 44.15 to outpace the field. Matt McHugh won the 100 backstroke with a time of 47.64.

Indiana splits with Louisville

The No. 4-ranked Indiana men finished the dual-meet season 11-0 with a 195-105 victory over No. 7 Louisville. The undefeated year for the Hoosiers is the first for the men’s squad since 1981. The No. 14 Hoosier women finished the dual-meet season with a 7-4 mark, falling to No. 10 Louisville, 171-129.

Marwan Elkamash was terrific in the men’s 1,000 freestyle, winning with a season-best time of 9:01.98 that ranks as the sixth-fastest time in Indiana history.

In the women’s 1,000 freestyle, the Hoosiers finished 1-2, with Stephanie Marchuk taking the win with a time of 10:02.50.

Blake Pieroni took the win with a NCAA B cut time of 1:35.28 He also won the 100 freestyle in a NCAA B cut time of 43.18. Ali Rockett took home first place in the women’s 100 backstroke, touching the wall with a NCAA B cut time of 54.71. Bob Glover took second place in the 100 back with a NCAA B cut mark of 47.75.

Lilly King continued her domination in the women’s 100 breaststroke, as the reigning NCAA and Olympic champion in the event won with a NCAA B cut time of 1:00.39 and won the 200 breaststroke, King earned the victory, touching the wall with a NCAA B cut time of 2:12.09. Kennedy Goss earned the victory for IU in the women’s 200 backstroke, winning with a NCAA B cut time of 1:57.71.

Minnesota edges Purdue, Northwestern

The Minnesota women defeated Purdue 185-167 and Northwestern 231-122 in a triple dual.

Purdue finished off a pair of victories against Northwestern, but were unable to overcome the leads No. 16 Minnesota had built on day one of the meet Friday.

Minnesota’s Breanne Siwicki got an impressive victory in the 400 IM with a time of 4:22.22. Zoe Avestruz clinched another Minnesota win with a time of 50.64 in the 100 free.

Chantal Nack posted another ‘B’ cut with a 1:59.16 in the 200 back. Her 1:59.16 also won her the race.

Tevyn Waddell finished in first place with a 54.69 in the 100 fly. Erin Emery secured a time of 5:00.70 in the 500 free.

Kierra Smith and Lindsey Horejsi both earned ‘B’ cuts in the 200 breast, Smith earning a 2:11.98, and Horejsi earning a 2:44.95. Smith finished in first place, while Horejsi finished in second place.

In the men’s meet, Bowe Becker got yet another ‘B’ cut in the 100 free to finish a sprint sweep in 43.74. Daryl Turner earned another ‘B’ cut for the Gophers, finishing the 100-yard butterfly in 47.58. Conner McHugh won the 200-yard breaststroke, also earning a “B” standard time and a win in 1:58.75.

Northwestern’s Jordan Wilimovsky won the 1,000 free in 8:58.93 and the 500 free in 4:26.70.

Purdue’s Marat Amaltdinov (200 breast), Steele Johnson (platform diving), Kaersten Meitz (500 free), Joe Young (200 back) and the women’s 200 free relay team accounted for the Boilermakers’ event victories Saturday. Johnson completed a weekend sweep of the men’s diving events, improving to 17-for-19 in event wins this season. Meitz also won three individual events this weekend, sweeping the women’s 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyle races.

Wisconsin wins Shamrock Invite

The Wisconsin swimming and diving team closed out its time at the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational with quadruple-win performances Saturday by Beata Nelson and Cannon Clifton.

The women went on to win the invitational with 1,194.5 points, followed by Notre Dame (1,053), Grand Canyon (596), Nebraska (510.5) and Clemson (107).

The men came in second place with 1,007 points behind host Notre Dame, which earned 1,192.5. Grand Canyon (721) and Missouri State (514.5) placed third and fourth, respectively.

Nelson kicked off her day as the butterfly leg of the winning the women’s 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 39.85 seconds, a Rolfs Aquatic Center record, along with Jess Unicomb, Marissa Berg and Chase Kinney.

Nelson then went on to win three individual races; the 100 fly (54.24), 100 backstroke (54.08) and the 200 backstroke in a pool-record time of 1:55.59.

Clifton earned his first win of the day in the men’s 100 fly, touching the wall in 47.51 before going on to dominate the 100 free to grab the win in a pool-record time of 43.05.

The senior was then an integral part of two winning relays, leading off the 800 free relay and the 400 free relay.

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