Ohio State
Big Ten Championships
Ohio State Extends Lead at Big Ten Championships
2/17/2023 9:32:31 PM | Women's Swim & Dive
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State extended its lead at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday evening behind five swimming victories coupled with outstanding depth as 14 swimmers and divers competed in championship final events. Ohio State has scored 934 points so far at Canham Natatorium with traditional rivals Indiana and Michigan in striking distance with 848.5 and 773 points, respectively.
Katherine Zenick (100 butterfly), Felicia Pasadyn (400 individual medley), Hannah Bach (100 breaststroke) and Nyah Funderburke (100 backstroke) all had individual event race wins and the 200 freestyle relay team of Zenick, Funderburke, Teresa Ivan and Amy Fulmer also won, giving Ohio State nine Big Ten championship wins through three nights of competition.
Fulmer (200 freestyle), Josie Panitz (100 breaststroke) and Lena Hentschel (3-meter springboard) took runner-up honors. Kyra Sommerstad added to Ohio State’s podium finishes with a third-place effort in the 400 individual medley.
The 2023 Big Ten champion will be crowned Saturday evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. Ohio State, under the direction of head coach Bill Dorenkott, has won three consecutive Big Ten championships.
Friday Evening Recap:
100 Butterfly
Ohio State, leading by just 12 and 18 points over Indiana and Michigan, respectively, entering this evening’s competition, charged ahead with five swimmers scoring points in the 100 butterfly led by Katherine Zenick’s first-place swim in 51.48 with Morgan Kraus second in 51.58. Tristan Harrison and Aislinn Walsh joined those two in the A finals and finished sixth and seventh in 52.31 and 52.50 respectively. The 117-point event extended Ohio State’s lead to 76 points over second-place Michigan.
400 Individual Medley
Graduate transfer Felicia Pasadyn, from Harvard and the women’s Elite 90 Award winner as the athlete with the highest GPA at the 2022 NCAA championships, won her first individual event at the Big Ten championships: the 400 individual medley in an NCAA A qualifying time of 4:03.62. Kyra Sommerstad and freshman Jessica Eden joined Pasadyn in the A finals and came through with third- and fourth-place finishes in 4:10.34 and 4:10.85 respectively. The subsequent points increased Ohio State’s lead to 122 points over Michigan with Indiana lurking 127 points back.
200 Freestyle
Amy Fulmer, the 2022 Big Ten champion in the 200 freestyle, took runner-up honors this year in an Ohio State school-record time of 1:43.45. Michigan and Indiana had just one A finalist apiece, but were heavy in the B and C finals and so they cut into the Ohio State lead … but only slightly. Sophomores Gwen Woodbury and Teresa Ivan scored for the Buckeyes in the C final, good for 20th and 23rd place, respectively. Woodbury went 1:47.60 and Ivan swam to a time of 1:48.11. The Ohio State lead was 66 points over Michigan and 89 over Indiana at this point of the evening.
100 Breaststroke
Boom! Boom! Seniors Hannah Bach and Josie Panitz, who’ve been a part of those three previous Big Ten championship teams for Ohio State, slammed the door on any opponent rallys by going 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke. Bach won the event for the third consecutive year in 58.19 and Panitz was just one-tenth behind in 58.29. Their efforts increased Ohio State’s lead to 89.5 points over Indiana and 99 over Michigan.
100 Backstroke
Sophomore Nyah Funderburke, who had already been a part of Big Ten championship wins in the 200 and 400 medley relays, swam to her first individual title with a 51.52 time in the final after swimming to the second-fastest time in school history in the prelims in 51.44. Morgan Kraus, swimming in her second A final of the evening, was fourth in 52.31 with Tristan Harrison eighth in 52.92. Paige Hall qualified for the B final and finished 13th overall in 53.57.
3-Meter Diving
Freshman Lena Hentschel scored 28 huge points by taking runner-up honors on the three-meter springboard competition with 373.05 points.
200 Free Relay
Ohio State has matched its three relay wins from its 2022 championships by taking its third of this championships: the 200 freestyle relay in an Ohio State, Canham Natatorium and Big Ten championships record time of 1:26.70. The splits were not only fast, but got increasingly faster as the race went on: 22.08 for Katherine Zenick, 21.86 for Nyah Funderburke, 21.69 for Teresa Ivan and 21.07 for Amy Fulmer, who came from behind by the turn to garner yet another win for the Buckeyes.
Coming Saturday
Friday’s competition includes finals in the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 10-meter diving and the 400 freestyle relay. Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. ET and finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.
