Big Ten Men’s Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Indiana Men Get 10 A-Finalists, Set to Secure Title

josh-matheny
Josh Matheny -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Big Ten Men’s Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Indiana Men Get 10 A-Finalists, Set to Secure Title

Indiana should pull away to win the team title at the Big Ten Men’s Championships Saturday evening after 10 Hoosiers swimmers recorded top-eight finishes in prelims. Among the results were a 1-2 finish from Owen McDonald and Miroslaw Knedla in the 200 backstroke, a 1-3 finish from Dylan Smiley and Matt King in the 100 freestyle and a 1-2-3 from Jassen Yep, Josh Matheny and Toby Barnett in the 200 breaststroke.

Qualifying in the 200 butterfly was also held, with the 1650 free, platform diving and the 400 free relay to come in the evening session. Indiana currently holds a 282.5-point lead over Michigan.

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                      
 
  1. Indiana University               1067   2. Michigan, University of         784.5
  3. Ohio State University             731   4. University of Southern Califor    588
  5. University of Minnesota         512.5   6. Wisconsin, University of, Madi    498
  7. Northwestern University           473   8. Purdue University               406.5
  9. Pennsylvania State University   372.5

200 Backstroke

The Hoosiers began the morning with the only two sub-1:40 efforts in the 200 backstroke. Owen McDonald swam a time of 1:39.06, a second off his season-best mark that ranks No. 5 in the country. McDonald placed second in the event at last year’s NCAA Championships while representing Arizona State. McDonald has already won the 200 IM and 100 back in Minneapolis.

Saturday evening, McDonald will be joined in the middle of the pool in the final by Miroslav Knedla, who came in at 1:39.59 for second place. Ohio State’s Cornelius Jahn was the best non-Indiana swimmer, clocking 1:40.32, and Michigan’s Jack Wilkening took fourth (1:40.96). It took a 1:42.46 to make it back to the A-final, and the Wolverines will be well represented with three swimmers qualifying.

Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:38.22  2/25/2023 Brendan A Burns, Indiana
         POOL: $ 1:35.87  3/25/2023 Lasco, Destin, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 McDonald, Owen         JR Ind               1:38.07    1:39.06  
    r:+0.49  23.12        48.02 (24.90)
        1:13.77 (25.75)     1:39.06 (25.29)
  2 Knedla, Miroslav       FR Ind               1:39.88    1:39.59  
    r:+0.55  22.88        47.51 (24.63)
        1:13.32 (25.81)     1:39.59 (26.27)
  3 Jahn, Cornelius        FR OSU               1:40.66    1:40.32  
    r:+0.64  23.43        48.71 (25.28)
        1:14.37 (25.66)     1:40.32 (25.95)
  4 Wilkening, Jack        JR MICH              1:41.67    1:40.96  
    r:+0.57  23.42        48.35 (24.93)
        1:14.12 (25.77)     1:40.96 (26.84)
  5 Gerchik, David         SO NU                1:41.82    1:41.50  
    r:+0.58  23.78        49.25 (25.47)
        1:15.46 (26.21)     1:41.50 (26.04)
  6 Ben-Shitrit, Eitan     JR MICH              1:44.16    1:41.65  
    r:+0.59  23.66        49.00 (25.34)
        1:15.08 (26.08)     1:41.65 (26.57)
  7 Danziger, Inbar        FR MICH              1:44.41    1:42.16  
    r:+0.55  23.74        49.41 (25.67)
        1:15.64 (26.23)     1:42.16 (26.52)
  8 Rowe, Blake            FR PUR               1:42.38    1:42.46  
    r:+0.58  23.80        49.40 (25.60)
        1:15.63 (26.23)     1:42.46 (26.83

100 Freestyle

There was a tie atop the men’s 100 free as Michigan’s Gal Groumi and Indiana’s Dylan Smiley each recorded marks of 42.09, but the field will be an extremely tight one after 16 swimmers broke 43 in prelims and 12 were under 42.5. Just three hundredths back of the top-ranked duo was Indiana’s Matt King (42.12), with 200 free winner Tomas Navikonis of Ohio State finishing a further hundredth behind (42.13).

The other swimmers to earn spots racing for the title were Indiana’s Mikkel Lee (42.20), Wisconsin’s Taiko Torepe-Ormsby (42.22), Purdue’s Brady Samuels (42.34) and Michigan’s Bence Szabados (42.38). Just missing out were Indiana’s Luke Barr (42.41) and Ohio State’s Daniel Baltes (42.42), with the Buckeyes’ 50 free winner Matt Klinge ending up 13th (42.56).

Event 17  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 41.38  2/25/2023 Ruslan Gaziev, Ohio St
         POOL: $ 39.90  3/24/2018 Dressel, Caeleb, Florida
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Groumi, Gal            SR MICH                41.75      42.09  
     r:+0.62  9.66        20.21 (10.55)
          31.29 (11.08)       42.09 (10.80)
  1 Smiley, Dylan          SO Ind                 42.54      42.09  
     r:+0.63  9.65        20.26 (10.61)
          31.25 (10.99)       42.09 (10.84)
  3 King, Matthew          JR Ind                 42.04      42.12  
     r:+0.66  9.59        20.00 (10.41)
          31.13 (11.13)       42.12 (10.99)
  4 Navikonis, Tomas       JR OSU                 41.76      42.13  
     r:+0.74  9.90        20.39 (10.49)
          31.44 (11.05)       42.13 (10.69)
  5 Lee, Mikkel Jun Jie    SO Ind                 42.64      42.20  
     r:+0.63  9.57        20.04 (10.47)
          31.15 (11.11)       42.20 (11.05)
  6 Torepe-Ormsby, Taiko   JR WISC                42.82      42.22  
     r:+0.64  9.45        20.08 (10.63)
          31.08 (11.00)       42.22 (11.14)
  7 Samuels, Braden        SR PUR                 42.27      42.34  
     r:+0.65  9.36        19.84 (10.48)
          31.13 (11.29)       42.34 (11.21)
  8 Szabados, Bence        5Y MICH                43.13      42.38  
     r:+0.64  9.36        20.08 (10.72)
          31.08 (11.00)       42.38 (11.30)

200 Breaststroke

The Hoosiers occupied the top-five spots in the 100 breast final Friday, and the 200-yard final will feature Indiana swimmers in four consecutive lanes. Leading the way was Jassen Yep, who clocked 1:51.20, with teammate and 200-meter breast Olympic finalist Josh Matheny just behind in 1:51.47.

Toby Barnett dropped six tenths from his season-best to take third in 1:52.44 while 200-meter breast Olympic silver medalist Caspar Corbeau, swimming one final college semester with Indiana, took fifth in prelims in 1:52.95. USC’s Ben Dillard placed fourth in 1:52.69, and teammate Chun Ho Chan was sixth, with a mark of 1:53.63 required for qualification.

Event 18  Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:49.45  2/25/2022 Maxwell J McHugh, Minnesota
         POOL: $ 1:46.91  3/25/2023 Marchand, Leon, Arizona State
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Yep, Jassen            5Y Ind               1:50.71    1:51.20  
    r:+0.67  25.33        53.46 (28.13)
        1:21.95 (28.49)     1:51.20 (29.25)
  2 Matheny, Joshua        SR Ind               1:50.31    1:51.47  
    r:+0.69  25.36        53.36 (28.00)
        1:21.75 (28.39)     1:51.47 (29.72)
  3 Barnett, Toby          SO Ind               1:53.02    1:52.44  
    r:+0.66  25.56        54.15 (28.59)
        1:22.75 (28.60)     1:52.44 (29.69)
  4 Dillard, Benjamin      5Y USC               1:52.09    1:52.69  
    r:+0.69  24.69        53.22 (28.53)
        1:22.53 (29.31)     1:52.69 (30.16)
  5 Corbeau, Caspar        5Y Ind               1:51.65    1:52.95  
    r:+0.69  25.05        54.25 (29.20)
        1:23.50 (29.25)     1:52.95 (29.45)
  6 Chan, Chun Ho          FR USC               1:53.99    1:53.20  
    r:+0.66  24.67        53.13 (28.46)
        1:22.88 (29.75)     1:53.20 (30.32)
  7 Polyak, Jozsef         FR MINN              1:57.97    1:53.40  
    r:+0.69  25.63        54.41 (28.78)
        1:23.63 (29.22)     1:53.40 (29.77)
  8 Kalafat, Ozan          JR MICH              1:55.63    1:53.63  
    r:+0.62  25.19        53.67 (28.48)
        1:23.11 (29.44)     1:53.63 (30.52)

200 Butterfly

In the last event of the morning, Indiana did not earn the top seed as a showdown between USC’s Krzysztof Chmielewski and Minnesota freshman Jacob Johnson developed. Chmielewski, a native of Poland who won silver in the 200-meter fly at the 2023 World Championships, came in at 1:40.72 while Johnson was second in 1:40.86, dropping his season-best time by seven tenths.

Michigan’s Colin Geer took third in 1:41.45, followed by USC’s Michal Chmielewski, twin brother of Krzysztof, in 1:41.65. Seven swimmers broke 1:42 in prelims while Wisconsin’s Charlie Jones secured the last spot in the top heat (1:42.50).

Event 19  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
     B1G Meet: ! 1:39.22  3/5/2021  Brendan A Burns, Indiana
         POOL: $ 1:38.60  3/24/2018 Vazaios, Andrea, NC State
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Chmielewski, Krzyszto  SO USC               1:38.99    1:40.72  
    r:+0.65  22.61        48.04 (25.43)
        1:14.45 (26.41)     1:40.72 (26.27)
  2 Johnson, Jacob         FR MINN              1:41.56    1:40.86  
    r:+0.61  22.08        47.98 (25.90)
        1:13.61 (25.63)     1:40.86 (27.25)
  3 Geer, Colin            SO MICH              1:41.43    1:41.45  
    r:+0.63  22.77        48.22 (25.45)
        1:14.22 (26.00)     1:41.45 (27.23)
  4 Chmielewski, Michal    SO USC               1:41.32    1:41.65  
    r:+0.64  22.84        48.38 (25.54)
        1:14.69 (26.31)     1:41.65 (26.96)
  5 Nosack, Diego          SO NU                1:43.35    1:41.66  
    r:+0.67  22.94        48.21 (25.27)
        1:14.32 (26.11)     1:41.66 (27.34)
  6 Frankel, Tomer         5Y Ind               1:42.48    1:41.79  
    r:+0.64  22.32        48.34 (26.02)
        1:14.43 (26.09)     1:41.79 (27.36)
  7 Ray, Tyler             JR MICH              1:42.36    1:41.86  
    r:+0.70  22.38        48.36 (25.98)
        1:14.97 (26.61)     1:41.86 (26.89)
  8 Jones, Charles         JR WISC              1:44.17    1:42.50  
    r:+0.71  22.56        48.21 (25.65)
        1:14.74 (26.53)     1:42.50 (27.76)
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