Records Fall As First Day of Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Conclude
After record-breaking performances during the preliminary rounds of the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships' first day, excitement and anticipation was high for the evening's finals. The crowd inside Minnesota's University Aquatic Center was not disappointed as records fell and underdog teams posted surprising finishes.
Coming into the 200-yard freestyle relay, the host Minnesota Golden Gophers held the Big Ten's top regular season time with 1:19.58. The Gophers entered this year's relay looking to earn their third straight Big Ten title in the event and fourth in five years. The two-heat final saw Northwestern not only post an NCAA-A qualifying time, but set a new all-time Big Ten record with a time of 1:17.74. The win marked Northwestern's first conference freestyle relay championship since 1933. The Golden Gophers fell just half a second short from winning their third consecutive title with a time of 1:18.24, a time still good enough to earn an NCAA A-standard. The Wisconsin Badgers came in third and the Indiana Hoosiers followed. Ohio State finished in 1:19.86, the Michigan State Spartans finished sixth, and Penn State recorded a time of 1:20.74, good for seventh place. The third through seventh teams all earned NCAA provisional qualifications. Purdue, Iowa , and Michigan rounded out the times.
The 500-yard freestyle final pitted two of the nation's top-five times against each other and a field of other accomplished competitors. Michigan's Peter Vanderkaay, who held the country's second fastest time this season entering the final, came into the race in hopes of capturing his third consecutive conference crown in the event. Minnesota's Justin Mortimer, owner of the nation's fifth best time this year, topped the prelim list in the event with a time of 4:18.03. Indiana's Sergiy Fesenko rounded out the list of NCAA automatic qualifiers in the event coming into the finals. The race was highlighted by a pair of record-setting performances. Vanderkaay controlled the race from the get-go. His time of 4:12.34 is the fastest in the country this season and is a new Big Ten Championships record. Vanderkaay held a full body-length lead after only the first 50-yards and maintained it for the duration of the race. Mortimer earned a record of his own, besting Minnesota's school record by more than two seconds with a time of 4:15.98, under the NCAA automatic qualifying standard. Along with their top two finishers, the Wolverines and Gophers dominated the event each placing three swimmers in the top-eight finishers. Michigan's Davis Tarwater finished the race in third with a time of 4:20.37. Northwestern's Brian Davis finished the race in 4:20.39, good for fourth. Minnesota's Travis Beckerle finished fifth and Wolverine Andrew Hurd in sixth. Fesenko finished in seventh in 4:22.58 and Sean McCaffrey of Minnesota rounded out the finals.
The 200-yard individual medley final boasted four athletes that earned NCAA A-standards in the preliminary heats. Purdue senior Louis Paul was swimming with intentions of earning his third Big Ten 200 IM title in as many years. In his prelim heat, Paul set a new all-time Big Ten record by posting a time of 1:44.65. While Paul did not better is record in the event final, he did come through with his third consecutive championship. With another NCAA-A standard of 1:45.00, he barely out touched Northwestern sophomore Mike Alexandrov, who came in at 1:45.09. Minnesota's Adam Mitchell earned the bronze medal in 1:45.91 and Timothy Liebhold of Wisconsin came in fourth. Indiana Hoosier Kevin Swander earned the fifth place spot with a time of 1:46.89. Polish Olympian Adam Mania of Wisconsin finished sixth and Indiana's Todd Patrick finished with a time of 1:47.71. Ohio State's Nate King rounded out the final's field in 1:49.41.
The 50-yard freestyle final saw the defending Big Ten champion and regular season top-time holder Matt Grevers of Northwestern look to retain his title. After posting an all-time Big Ten record of 19.35 seconds in his preliminary heat, Grevers came into the event finals looking to help cut into Minnesota's early lead. Capitalizing on an incredibly effective jump off of the starting-block, Grevers did not disappoint, winning the sprint in 19.39 seconds. Teammate Kyle Bubolz finished second with a time of 19.82. A pair of Gopher teammates tied for third. Childhood best friends from Croatia, Ales Volcansek and Igor Cerensek both finished in 19.89 seconds. Indiana's Colin Russell finished fifth followed by another pair of Minnesota teammates who took the next two spots. Mario Delac (19.95 seconds) and Terry Silkaitis (20.10 seconds) finished sixth and seventh respectively. Penn State freshman Sean Swanepoel placed eighth with a time of 20.59.
The Hoosiers' performance in the preliminary diving competitions earned them five of the eight spots in the one-meter springboard finals. After red-shirting last season to train for the Olympic Trials, 2003 Big Ten Diver of the Year and Co-Diver of the Championships Indiana's Marc Carlton entered the finals having bested the field in prelims with 341.15 points, but it was last year's runner-up Mitch Richeson who took the conference crown. With a score of 367.60, Richeson earns the second Ohio State title in the event in four years. Carlton, 2003's champion, finished second with a score of 342.05, followed by Indiana teammate Brian Mariano. Minnesota's John Schmidt finished fourth off the one-meter board and Indiana's Taylor Roberts finished fifth. Purdue sophomore Steven LoBue came in sixth and the Hoosier pair of Jesse Rappaport and Brian Metzler finished seventh and eighth respectively.
In the 2005 finals of the 400-yard medley relay, the Northwestern Wildcats entered the race, not only looking to earn their second relay championship of the night, but also to garner repeat crowns in the event, having won the title in 2004. The host Minnesota Gophers led by half a body led by half a body length after the backstroke 100 yards in the finals' second heat. However, that lead was short-lived as the Wildcats opened up a commanding 2.5 body length lead half way through the race on the strength of a phenomenal breaststroke performance by Mike Alexandrov. The lead only increased as Kyle Bubolz swam the butterfly 100-yard leg. By the time Matt Wever entered the water to swim the freestyle leg, Northwestern had an insurmountable 15-yard lead, which held through to the end. The time of 3:08.50 is a new all-time Big Ten record. The Indiana Hoosiers finished second in a time of 3:13.16 and the Gophers touched the wall next in 3:14.15. The Wisconsin Badgers finished fourth, followed by Ohio State, Michigan State, and Penn State. Rounding out the scoring was Purdue and Iowa. Michigan did not receive any points for this event after an early jump resulted in a disqualification.
After the first day of competition, the Golden Gophers lead the way with 218 points, followed by Indiana's 205 points on the strength of their five diving finalists. Northwestern sits in third place after three championships on Thursday. Ohio State holds the fourth position, followed by Wisconsin, Michigan Purdue, Penn State, Michigan State, and Iowa.
Friday's preliminaries begin at 12:00 noon. The events on the championships' second day are the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard individual medley, 100 fly, 200 freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100 back, three-meter diving, and 800-yard freestyle relay. Check back to BigTen.org for live results and continuing coverage of the 2005 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.