Ohio State
Big Ten Championships
Two B1G Titles Propel Ohio State into Second Place on Day Three of Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swim & Dive
Feb. 24, 2017
Friday Results
Saturday Heat Sheet
1650 Freestyle Heat Sheet
Big Ten Championships Meet Central
Live Stream
Live Swimming Results
Live Diving Results
Columbus, Ohio— Ohio State claimed a pair of Big Ten titles on a big day of swimming and diving that saw the Buckeyes move into second place when all was said and done.
Matt McHugh won the 100 butterfly for the third year in a row and he also helped win the 200 freestyle relay along with Mossimo Chavez, Josh Fleagle, and Thomas Trace. It marked the third time in school history the Scarlet and Gray won a conference title in the 200 free relay. McHugh’s win in the 100 fly made him the second swimmer in team history to win a conference championship in that race three years in a row (David Cowell (1982-84). It’s his fourth individual win at Big Tens; he also won a title in the 100 backstroke last year as a junior. Both championship-winning performances were also NCAA A cut times.
WATCH: Ohio State wins its third 200 freestyle relay Big Ten title in team history with a time of 1:16.61! #GoBucks https://t.co/deNfndavY5
— OSU Men’s Swim/Dive (@OhioState_MSwim) February 25, 2017
Those were just the highlights of a huge day for Ohio State that saw it leapfrog Michigan in the team standings. Diving-wise three Buckeyes earned spots in the A finals: Colin Zeng, Christo Law, and Stephen Romanik. Zeng posted the highest score of the three, finishing as the runner-up with a mark of 510.30. Law and Romanik put up scores of 431.75 and 346.15, respectively, to earn valuable points for Ohio State.
The 100 backstroke was another big event for the Scarlet and Gray, where six swimmers finished inside the Top 16 to add 125 points to their team score. McHugh was the highest finisher, his time of 45.52 slotting him in second place. Trace touched the wall in fourth place (46.53) while Andrew Appleby (47.30) and Mark Belanger (47.53) also competed in the A finals. Brad Shannon (47.47) and Henrique Painhas (48.40) had good swims in the B finals for Ohio State.
WATCH: Matt McHugh win his third straight Big Ten title in the 100 fly #GoBuckshttps://t.co/s48qXgDwsN
— OSU Men’s Swim/Dive (@OhioState_MSwim) February 24, 2017
Buckeyes littered finals heats all night long. Joining McHugh in the 100 fly was freshman Noah Lense, who continued his great week with a fifth place and a time of 46.28; the rookie put up an NCAA A cut time in prelims, to boot. Painhas and Michael Salazar had NCAA B cut times and earned points in the B finals. The 200 freestyle saw the same number of Ohio State swimmers advance out of prelims: four. Fleagle was the runner-up in the evening session (1:33.25) while Andrew Loy (1:34.64), Ryan Vander Meulen (1:36.28), and Joey Long (1:36.33) contributed to their team’s point total. Long was also the team’s Sportsmanship Award recipient tonight.
In the 400 IM Ching Lim, who has done well in that event all season long, finished third overall with a time of 3:$6.89. Andrew Lindstrom, who owned a Top 10 conference time in this event coming into the week, touched the wall at 3:49.75. The 100 breaststroke saw similar results for OSU: Jack Barone finished in third place (52.26) and Michael Eaton tied for 11th place with his time of 53.59, a great showing in his first career Big Ten Championships meet.
Saturday will be the last full day of swimming and diving at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Fans will be able to see the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke as well as the 200 freestyle relay and three-meter diving. Prelims will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET and finals at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Standings through Day Three:
- Indiana 999
- Ohio State 939.5
- Michigan 923.5
- Minnesota 551
- Purdue 505.5
