Buckeyes Earn Second Place Finish at Big Ten Championships

Wednesday, February 28

Columbus, Ohio

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Ohio State

Big Ten Championships

Buckeyes Earn Second Place Finish at Big Ten Championships

3/2/2024 10:03:00 PM | Men's Swim & Dive

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Complete Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No.13 Ohio State men's swimming and diving team earned a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships with 1,226 total points. It is the 15^th consecutive season the Buckeyes have placed in the top-three at the conference championships.

The night had an exciting and emotional start, as sophomore Sam Campbell won gold in the 1650 free. It was a race between Campbell and his teammate Charlie Clark, who matched each other stroke-for-stroke until Campbell began to pull away in the final few laps. Campbell's winning time of 14:42.63 is an NCAA B standard time and the seventh-fastest time in the country this season. The medal is his first career individual medal at the Big Ten Championships.

Clark finished in third place in the 1650 free with an NCAA B cut time of 14:48.39. It is the fourth straight season Clark has medaled in the event. Alex Axon placed seventh with an NCAA B standard time of 15:01.79 and Alex Metzler placed 10^th, turning in an NCAA B cut time of 15:02.69.

Tomas Navikonis won his second individual medal of the championships, placing third in the 100 free to win bronze with an NCAA B standard time of 42.22.

In the 100 free B final, Evan Fentress (43.34) and Daniel Baltes (43.59) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, and Mario McDonald (44.10) finished eighth. In the C final, Pete Krusinski turned in a time of 44.32 to finish seventh.

Billy Regan earned a sixth-place finish in the A final of the 200 breast; Regan swam the event in 1:55.42, which is an NCAA B cut. In the C final, Karl Helmuth placed fifth with a time of 1:57.70.

In the A final of the 200 fly, Chachi Gustafson finished eighth with an NCAA B standard time of 1:42.98.

Tristan Jankovics placed third in the 200 back C final, touching the wall at 1:43.85, which is an NCAA B standard time.

All six Buckeye divers made the finals of the platform dive, with three competing in the A final and three in the consolation final. Lyle Yost (374.00) placed fifth, Clayton Chaplin (371.65) placed sixth and Mo Noaman (354.05) placed eighth. All three scores are NCAA Zones qualifying scores.

Kylie Flory impressed on the platform during the consolation finals, earning a first-place finish. She had an aggregate score of 343.30, which is an NCAA Zones qualifying score. Jack Matthews (282.35) finished sixth and Tyler Read (262.00) finished seventh.

The final event of the Big Ten Championships was the 400 free relay. Navikonis, Fentress, Daniel Baltes and McDonald were the Buckeyes' relay team and they finished in a time of 2:50.88, which is an NCAA B standard time.

Five Buckeyes earned All-Big Ten honors. Campbell and Navikonis were named to the All-Big Ten First Team and Axon, Jankovics and Metzler earned Second Team honors.

The Buckeyes will host their Last Chance Meet on Sunday, March 10. The divers will head to the NCAA Zone Championships March 13-16 and a contingent of Buckeyes will compete at the CSCAA National Invitational March 14-16. The men's NCAA Championships will be held March 27-30 in Indianapolis.

Ohio State Big Ten Champions