Ohio State
Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships **
Ohio State Builds 199-Point Lead on Penultimate Night
2/27/2021 12:07:20 AM | Women's Swim & Dive
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving team has been the best team at the 2021 Big Ten championships through four days and 15 events. Now the team is one sleep, one preliminaries and one finals, featuring six more events, from … well, from a really good thing.
But Michigan lurks. Always Michigan, with a record 17 Big Ten team titles, lurks. Ohio State and Michigan are the top two teams heading into Saturday, the Buckeyes increasing their 121-point lead entering Friday to 199 points at the end of the evening with 1,139.5 points. Michigan is second with 940.5 with Indiana and Northwestern third and fourth with 705 and 694.5 points, respectively.
Ohio State won two of the four races Friday, including a session-closing win in the 200 freestyle relay with Taylor Petrak, Emily Crane, Katherine Zenick and Amy Fulmer winning in an NCAA A qualifying time of 1:27.53. It was the Buckeyes third relay win of this championships, after wins previously in the 400 free and 400 medley relays. This is the third time in Ohio State’s rich history to win three relays at the Big Ten championships, but the first in 37 years. Ohio State last won three relays in 1983 after first accomplishing the feat in 1982.
Sophomore Hannah Bach, who has been on two of those relay wins already, swam to her first individual Big Ten title by setting a school record in the preliminaries in the 100 breaststroke and then breaking it in the finals with an NCAA A cut of 58.29.
It was a good night in Minnesota. Here’s how the rest of Friday night unfolded:
100 backstroke
Ohio State qualified four individuals in the A or B final with Emily Crane taking runner-up honors with a school-record swim of 51.38. Morgan Kraus (53.41), Brynna Wolfe (53.60) and Freya Rayner (53.79) also scored big points by finishing 9th, 11th and 12th, respectively.
100 breaststroke
Hanna Gresser and Leah Baker joined Bach in the finals, finishing 6th (57.91) and 7th (1:00.55). Freshman Janessa Matthews (10th in 1:00.52) and sophomore Josephine Panitz (12th in 1:00.57) also scored in the B final giving Ohio State four freshman or sophomore underclassmen in that 100 breaststroke event.
200 butterfly
Katie Trace swam a 1:56.13 race in the A final to take third in the 200 fly with Aislinn Walsh (13th in 1:59.57) and Sarah Turchanik (14th in 1:59.65) also scoring for the Buckeyes.
Platform
The divers continue to perform well in West Lafayette, Ind. Ciara McGing was third on the platform with 307.6 points and Lexie Barker was sixth with 273.00. Both totals were NCAA A qualifying marks. Mackenzie Crawford and Jackie Brenn also scored points in the event with 17th and 24th-place finishes.
The Big Ten championship will come down to these six events on Saturday: the 100 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 400 freestyle relay and 1-meter diving. Finals begin at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Big Ten Conference Championships
Women’s Swimming & Diving
February 23-27
Minneapolis, Minn. – Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center
West Lafayette, Ind. – Morgan Burke Aquatic Center
Thursday Results – Day 4
All Ohio State point scorers listed
100 backstroke – 1. Phoebe Bacon (UW), 51.32 B. MacNeil (UM), 49.68; 2. Emily Crane, 51.38 B; 9. Morgan Kraus, 53.41 B; 11. Brynna Wolfe, 53.60 B; 12. Freya Rayner, 53.79 B.
100 breaststroke – 1. Hannah Bach, 58.29 A; 6. Hanna Gresser, 59.91 B; 7. Leah Baker 1:00.55 B; 109. Janessa Mathews, 1:00.52 B; 12. Josephine Panitz, 1:00.57 B.
200 butterfly – 1. Olivia Carter (UM), 1:52.17 A; 3. Katie Trace, 1:56.13 B; 13. Aislinn Walsh, 1:59.57; 14. Sarah Turchanik, 1:59.65.
10-meter platform – 3. Ciara McGing, 307.60 A; 6. Lexie Barker, 273.00 A; 17. Mackenzie Crawford, 204.8; 24. Jackie Brenn, 183.60.
Team Scores
- Ohio State – 1,139.5
- Michigan – 940.5
- Indiana – 705
- Northwestern – 694.5
- Wisconsin – 511
- Minnesota – 427
- Nebraska – 382
- Iowa – 354.5
- Penn State – 309
- Purdue – 309
- Michigan State – 181
- Illinois – 145
- Rutgers – 60
