Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverines Head to Indiana for Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Meet
2/24/2020 2:01:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
THIS WEEK
Wed-Sat., Feb. 26-29 -- at Big Ten Championships (Bloomington, Ind.)
Wednesday: 5 p.m. | Thursday-Saturday: 11 a.m. (preliminaries), 1 p.m. (diving), 6:30 p.m. (finals)
Championships Central | Live Results: Swimming | Diving
Live Video (BTN Plus): Wed | Thurs. AM | Thu pm | Fri am | Fri pm | Sat am | Sat pm
TV: BTN (airs Monday, March 2, at 6 p.m. EST)
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team will begin the postseason this week at the Big Ten Championships, to be held Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 26-29) at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Indiana. The meet will begin with two relays on Wednesday at 5 p.m., while each of the following three days will see preliminaries at 11 a.m. and event finals at 6:30 p.m. Diving preliminaries will begin at 1 p.m.
The Wolverines are looking to win back the Big Ten title for the first time since 2016. Indiana is the defending champion, having won the last three team titles.
The Big Ten Network will carry all seven sessions of the Championships. The final session will air live on the Fox Sports Go app and tape-delayed on BTN on Monday (March 2) at 6 p.m. EST. Bernie Guenther (play-by-play), Margaux Farrell (analyst), Elise Menaker (reporter) and Laura Ryan (diving analyst) will be on the call. The first six sessions will all be shown digitally via BTN Plus.
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, Feb. 26 (5 p.m.)
200-yard Medley Relay
800-yard Freestyle Relay
Thursday, Feb. 27 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
500-yard Freestyle
200-yard Individual Medley
50-yard Freestyle
One-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
400-yard Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 28 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
100-yard Butterfly
400-yard Individual Medley
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
Saturday, Feb. 29 (Preliminaries at 11 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (4:15 p.m.)
400-yard Freestyle Relay
Scoring Format
A Final Scoring: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22
B Final Scoring: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11
C Final Scoring: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Relay Scoring: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-40-34
Note: Only A & B finals (championship & consolation) will be contested in the diving events.
Big Ten Championships History
Titles: Michigan has won 40 Big Ten Conference team championships, the most of any conference member (Indiana is second with 26). In total, U-M has won 527 individual, relay or diving titles -- 377 in individual swimming events, 132 on relays and 18 in diving.
Last Year: The Wolverines finished second to Indiana at the 2019 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, scoring 1,464 points. Felix Auböck (500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle), Charlie Swanson (400-yard IM) and Miles Smachlo (100-yard butterfly) won Big Ten titles, while the 200-yard medley relay team of Alex King, Will Chan, Smachlo and Luiz Gustavo Borges also won gold. In the diving well, Ross Todd was runner-up on platform and took seventh on three-meter. » Recap
Awards: A Michigan swimmer has been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in 19 of the last 26 seasons -- Marcel Wouda (1993), Tom Dolan (1994-95), Derya Buyukuncu (1996), John Piersma (1997), Tom Malchow (1998), Chris Thompson (1999-co, 2001), Dan Ketchum (2002), Peter Vanderkaay (2004-co, 2005, 2006-co), Alex Vanderkaay (2008), Tyler Clary (2009-10), Dan Madwed (2012), Connor Jaeger (2013-14), Dylan Bosch (2015) and Felix Auböck (2017). The Big Ten Swimmer of the Year is voted on by the conference coaches after the NCAA Championships and is announced in early April.
Sixteen Michigan student-athletes have been named Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Scott Ryan (1988), Gustavo Borges (1992), Royce Sharp (1993), Tom Dolan (1994), Jason Lancaster (1995), Chris Thompson (1998), Jeff Hopwood and Tim Siciliano (1999), Dan Ketchum (2001), Brendan Neligan (2002), Peter Vanderkaay (2003), Kyle Whitaker (2011), Dylan Bosch (2014), Evan White (2015), Felix Auböck (2017) and Ricardo Vargas (2018).
Additionally, 12 Wolverines have been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships: Marcel Wouda (1993), Gustavo Borges (1995), Derya Buyukuncu (1996, 1998), John Piersma (1997), Chris Thompson (1999), Alex Vanderkaay (2008-co), Tyler Clary (2009-10), Dan Madwed (2012) and Dylan Bosch (2015-16).
U-M has never had a Big Ten Diver of the Year, though Jason Coben was named Diver of the Championships in 2003 (shared with Marc Carlton of Indiana) and 2004.
Diving: In the diving events, Michigan has won 18 conference titles across all boards. The last U-M diver to win a conference title was Jason Coben, who won both one-meter and platform in 2004. Michigan has not had a student-athlete win three-meter since Matthew Chelich in 1979.
Pre-Meet Seeds
WEDNESDAY
200-yard Medley Relay
1st (1:24.24)
Storms, Chan, Smachlo, Borges
800-yard Freestyle Relay
1st (6:15.96)
Callan, Auböck, Cope, Swanson
THURSDAY
500-yard Freestyle
Patrick Callan: 1st (4:12.29)
Felix Auböck: 2nd (4:14.00)
Ricard Vargas: 4th (4:16.24)
Will Roberts: 5th (4:16.50)
Danny Berlitz: 6th (4:18.02)
Spencer Carl: 7th (4:18.95)
Christian Farricker: 23rd (4:25.47)
200-yard IM
Tommy Cope: 1st (1:43.26)
Jeremy Babinet: 5th (1:45.29)
Charlie Swanson: 6th (1:45.30)
Rob Zofchak: 8th (1:46.04)
Will Chan: 11th (1:46.69)
Jacob Montague: 15th (1:46.98)
Jared Daigle: 19th (1:47.52)
50-yard Freestyle
Luiz Gustavo Borges: 1st (19.31)
Miles Smachlo: 8th (19.73)
River Wright: 13th (19.84)
Cam Peel: 14th (19.89)
Will Chan: T-19th (20.00)
400-yard Medley Relay
1st (3:07.61)
Storms, Cope, Smachlo, Borges
FRIDAY
100-yard Butterfly
Miles Smachlo: 2nd (46.15)
River Wright: 10th (47.46)
Andrew Trepanier: 13th (47.58)
Alex Martin: T-19th (48.01)
Alex King: T-23rd (48.36)
Nadav Aaronson: T-24th (48.43)
Eric Storms: T-24th (48.43)
400-yard IM
Tommy Cope: 1st (3:43.05)
Charlie Swanson: 2nd (3:43.82)
Will Roberts: 3rd (3:45.49)
Bora Unalmis: 5th (3:47.50)
Jared Daigle: 11th (3:49.00)
Felix Auböck: 13th (3:49.60)
Tim Hanson: 20th (3:52.86)
AJ Bornstein: 21st (3:53.17)
David Cleason: 24th (3:54.25)
200-yard Freestyle
Patrick Callan: 1st (1:32.91)
Luiz Gustavo Borges: 4th (1:34.44)
Felix Auböck: 11th (1:36.56)
Rob Zofchak: 13th (1:36.60)
100-yard Breaststroke
Jeremy Babinet: 2nd (51.63)
Will Chan: 4th (51.91)
Tommy Cope: 5th (52.54)
Mason Hunter: T-15th (53.66)
Charlie Swanson: T-15th (53.66)
Jacob Montague: 18th (54.02)
Jack McCurdy: T-23rd (54.67)
100-yard Backstroke
Nadav Aaronson: 4th (46.86)
Eric Storms: 9th (47.61)
Noah Yarian: 17th (48.12)
Rob Zofchak: T-20th (48.47)
Alex Martin: T-20th (48.47)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
2nd (1:17.66)
Borges, Smachlo, Swanson, Peel
SATURDAY
1,650-yard Freestyle
Felix Auböck: 1st (14:42.29)
Ricardo Vargas: 4th (14:49.16)
Will Roberts: 5th (14:54.04)
Danny Berlitz: 6th (15:10.76)
Andrew Babyak: 15th (15:29.90)
200-yard Backstroke
Rob Zofchak: 9th (1:44.31)
Jared Daigle: 20th (1:46.14)
100-yard Freestyle
Luiz Gustavo Borges: 2nd (42.70)
Patrick Callan: 6th (43.32)
River Wright: T-20th (44.06)
200-yard Breaststroke
Tommy Cope: 2nd (1:52.31)
Jeremy Babinet: 3rd (1:52.52)
Charlie Swanson: 4th (1:53.57)
Will Chan: 8th (1:55.52)
AJ Bornstein: 11th (1:56.48)
Danny Berlitz: 17th (1:58.24)
Leo Zabudkin: 21st (1:58.51)
Jacob Montague: 24th (1:59.14)
200-yard Butterfly
Miles Smachlo: 2nd (1:42.72)
Spencer Carl: 4th (1:43.81)
Bora Unalmis: 10th (1:46.05)
River Wright: 12th (1:46.63)
Christian Farricker: 13th (1:46.86)
Will Roberts: 24th (1:47.90)
400-yard Freestyle Relay
2nd (2:51.34)
Borges, Smachlo, Swanson, Cope
• 2019-20 Michigan Bests: Swimming | Diving
Team Notes
• The Wolverines stayed at No. 3 in the CSCAA/TYR Top 25 rankings, released on Feb. 19. » Rankings
• This will be Michigan's second trip to Bloomington this season. Back in November, the Wolverines faced Indiana and Iowa in a double-dual meet, defeating the Hawkeyes (218-82) but losing to the Hoosiers (163-135). Michigan and Indiana also met at Canham Natatorium in January, with the Wolverines exacting a bit of revenge with a 160-140 victory.
• Heading into the Big Ten Championships, U-M has amassed 66 NCAA qualifying standards (5 A, 50 B, 11 diving). At last year's Big Ten Championships, the Wolverines had 67 NCAA qualifying standards (7 A, 52 B, 8 diving).
• Nine swimmers have either already qualified for the NCAA Championships in individual events or gotten underneath last year's invited time: Felix Auböck, Jeremy Babinet, Luiz Gustavo Borges, Patrick Callan, Will Chan, Tommy Cope, Will Roberts, Charlie Swanson and Ricardo Vargas.
Student-Athlete Notes
• Senior Felix Auböck has swept the Big Ten 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles in each of his first three years. He won the NCAA title in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 2019 and holds the Big Ten record in that event. The last man to win four consecutive Big Ten titles in both the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles was Michigan alum Chris Thompson from 1998-2001.
• Senior Charlie Swanson has won three consecutive Big Ten titles in the 400-yard IM, his signature event. Last summer, Swanson won the gold medal in the 400-meter IM at the Pan American Games, becoming the seventh-fastest American in history. The last man to win four consecutive Big Ten titles in the 400 IM was Michigan alum Tim Siciliano from 1999-2002.
• Senior Miles Smachlo won the 100-yard butterfly at the 2019 Big Ten Championships, becoming the first Michigan swimmer to win that event since Sean Fletcher in 2013. Smachlo also swam the butterfly leg on Michigan's winning 200-yard medley relay team.
• Sophomore Patrick Callan is in the midst of a breakout sophomore season. The Owasso, Oklahoma, native set personal bests in his three signature events at the Minnesota Invite in December: the 100-yard freestyle (43.32), the 200-yard freestyle (1:32.91) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:12.29). He enters the week as the top seed in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and as the sixth seed in the 100-yard freestyle.
• The Wolverines will again load up in the breaststroke and individual medley events. Senior Jeremy Babinet blasted personal bests and NCAA 'A' cuts in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes at the Minnesota Invite. In the 200-yard breaststroke alone, four swimmers -- Babinet, seniors Tommy Cope and Charlie Swanson and sophomore Will Chan -- are ranked in the top eight. In the top-24 Big Ten rankings, Michigan has nine swimmers in the 400-yard IM and seven in the 200-yard IM.
• Junior Ross Todd, senior Jake Herremans and junior Chris Canning have NCAA Zone Diving qualifying scores in all three events. Todd made finals on both platform (second) and one-meter (seventh) last year at the Big Ten Championships. The Wolverines picked up 134 points in diving last year, led by 56 from Todd.
Up Next
Thu-Sat., March 12-14 -- at NCAA Zone C Diving Championships (Lexington, Ky.)
Wed-Sat., March 25-28 -- at NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Players Mentioned
