Indiana Boasts Six Top Seeds, 17 A Finalists Friday

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Indiana Boasts Six Top Seeds, 17 A Finalists Friday

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 5-ranked Indiana positioned itself for a promising Friday night at the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, clinching the top seed in five of six events during preliminaries inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of the Ohio State University.

Indiana is also the top seed in Friday’s relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Hoosiers will send 17 athletes to championship heats, and five more will score as C finalists. Friday finals kick off at 5 p.m. ET.

Senior Tomer Frankel kicked off a busy morning with a 44.70 in the 100-yard butterfly to earn the top qualifier spot by seven hundredths. Frankel was the 2021 conference champion in the event as a freshman and took silver each of the last two seasons. With a win Friday, he would become just the third Hoosiers to win multiple titles in the event and first since Mark Spitz, who won the event three straight seasons from 1970-72. In a bronze medal performance at the NCAA Championships last season, Frankel set a program and Big Ten record in 44.04 – 46 hundredths faster than the current Big Ten Championships meet record. Frankel and junior Finn Brooks both got into the A final in their first of two events on the day as Brooks took fourth in 44.84.

Brooks is the top qualifier in the 100-yard breaststroke as Indiana put four in the championship final. The top seed was one of two to go under 52 seconds, touching in 51.41. No. 3 seed and senior Jassen Yep was just over in 52.01 in front of fellow senior Maxwell Reich’s 52.28. Junior Josh Matheny was seventh in 52.87.

Freshman Toby Barnett posted the third-best 400-yard IM time in program history, going 3:41.37 to become top qualifier by over two seconds. Seven of the championship finalists are either freshmen or sophomores, including IU sophomore Drew Reiter, who placed seventh in the prelims with a personal best 3:44.83 – his previous best time was 3:47.22.

Junior Rafael Miroslaw will try for his second 200-yard freestyle title in three years after winning as a freshman in 2022. Miroslaw earned the top seed by two hundredths over Ohio State sophomore Tomas Navikonas in 1:32.56. Frankel will swim beside him in lane three after posting a 1:33.23 in his second event of the day.

Senior Brendan Burn can win his third consecutive Big Ten 100-yard backstroke title on Friday, which would mark IU’s seventh consecutive championship in the event and 31st overall. Burns is the reigning NCAA Champion in the event, swimming a program record 43.61 last March. The 20-time Big Ten Champion will swim out of lane five after posting a 45.34 in the prelim and is joined by juniors Kai van Westering (45.43) and Luke Barr (46.00) and senior Gavin Wight (46.04) in the championship final.

IU diving added three more championship finalists on the 3-meter springboard. Junior Carson Tyler, the silver medalist on 1-meter on Thursday, was the top qualifier with a 428.85 score – 19.25 points better than the No. 2 seed. Fellow junior Quinn Henninger finished third with 400.50 points, and sophomore Maxwell Weinrich took sixth with a 369.70. Sophomore Dash Glasberg (272.55) will score five points after placing 20th in the prelim. Indiana has won the last two Big Ten 3-meter titles.


TEAM SCORES
1. Indiana – 466
2. Michigan – 437
3. Ohio State – 428
4. Wisconsin – 388.5
5. Minnesota – 271.5
6. Purdue – 254.5
7. Penn State – 229
8. Northwestern – 215

RESULTS (PRELIMS)
100 BUTTERFLY
1. Tomer Frankel – 44.70 (Championship Final Top Qualifier, NCAA B Cut)

  1. Finn Brooks – 44.84 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
  2. Mikkel Lee – 47.41 (C Final, Career Best)400 IM1. Toby Barnett – 3:41.37 (Championship Final Top Qualifier, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
  3. Drew Reiter – 3:44.83 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
  4. Mason Carlton – 3:51.30 (C Final, Career Best)

200 FREESTYLE

  1. Rafael Miroslaw – 1:32.56 (Championship Final Top Qualifier, NCAA B Cut)
  2. Tomer Frankel – 1:33.23 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut)
  3. Warren Briggs – 1:37.38 (C Final)

100 BREASTSTROKE

  1. Finn Brooks – 51.41 (Championship Final Top Qualifier, NCAA B Cut)
  2. Jassen Yep – 52.01 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut)
  3. Maxwell Reich – 52.28 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut)
  4. Josh Matheny – 52.87 (Championship Final, NCAA B  Cut)

100 BACKSTROKE

  1. Brendan Burns – 45.34 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut)
  2. Kai van Westering – 45.43 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
  3. Luke Barr – 46.00 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
  4. Gavin Wight – 46.04 (Championship Final, NCAA B Cut)
  5. Collin McKenzie – 47.43 (C Final, NCAA B Cut, Career Best)

3-METER DIVING

  1. Carson Tyler – 428.85 (Championship Final, NCAA Zone Qualifier)
  2. Quinn Henninger – 400.50 (Championship Final, NCAA Zone Qualifier)
  3. Maxwell Weinrich – 369.70 (Championship Final, NCAA Zone Qualifier)
  4. Dash Glasberg – 272.55 (C Final)UP NEXT
    Indiana will look to take advantage of its finalists in Friday’s scoring session, set to start at 5 p.m. ET.

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