COLUMBUS, Ohio – Indiana swimming and diving medaled in every event Saturday (Feb. 22), the final day of the 2025 Big Ten Women’s Swimming Championships, inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of the Ohio State University.
IU finished second in the meet but dominated the medal podium, leading the league with eight Big Ten titles and 18 medals. The next-best program, Michigan, had five titles and 12 total medals. Indiana’s medal count was one more than its total from last year’s first-place team performance.
Indiana has finished in the top three in 19 consecutive seasons, with 14 championship or runner-up finishes during that span.
Including relays, 10 Hoosiers medaled and seven won Big Ten titles. Senior Anna Peplowski and sophomore Miranda Grana led IU with six medals apiece as both medaled in all three of their individual events.
Peplowski broke two Big Ten records during the week. Leading off Wednesday’s 800 freestyle relay, Peplowski tied the conference’s 200 free standard with a 1:40.69 split. The next day, she won the 500-yard freestyle in record time with a 4:33.86. Peplowski took bronze in the individual 200 free and 100 free events and was a member of the gold medal 400 medley relay as well as the silver medal 200 and 400 freestyle relays. At the end of the season, Peplowski will complete her collegiate career an eight-time Big Ten Champion and 21-time medalist.
Sophomore transfer Miranda Grana introduced herself to the Big Ten with two titles and four silver medals. Grana won her first individual Big Ten title Friday in the 100-yard butterfly, becoming the second Hoosier, and first since Gia Dalesandro in 2017, to win the event. She also captured gold in the 400 medley relay and silver in four events: the 100 back, 200 back, 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay.
For the second consecutive season, senior Skyler Liu won both the 3-meter and platform diving events. Liu was dominant Saturday night, winning the tower event by 32.90 points with a 366.90 total – a score that would have won an NCAA title last season. Liu scored at least 69 points on every dive and highlighted her list with an 81-point reverse 2 ½ somersaults pike in the third round. Liu was again named the Big Ten Diver of the Championships as the highest-scoring athlete on the boards this week.
Senior Ching Hwee Gan set the tone Saturday, winning her second consecutive conference championship in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Gan took the lead after 200 yards and did not look back, posting consistent splits between 28.50 and 28.90 over the first 1,200 yards. Gan’s 15:46.22 was a personal best and ranks No. 3 this season as she eyes a third-straight medal at the NCAA Championships.
Senior Brearna Crawford kept an IU breaststroke tradition alive Saturday, capturing Indiana’s fifth straight 200-yard breaststroke gold and ninth in 10 seasons. Crawford shared co-champion honors with USC graduate student Kaitlyn Dobler, both finishing in 2:07.22. Freshman Mary Cespedes was fifth in 2:08.46, as she dropped over three seconds from her career best coming into the meet (2:11.57).
Sophomore Ava Whitaker impressed with a silver medal in Saturday’s 200-yard butterfly final, dropping a personal best 1:55.17, after placing ninth as a freshman. In the consolation final beforehand, junior Katie Forrester (1:56.82) and sophomore Avery Spade (1:57.14) finished one-two to each earn top 10 performances in the event.
IU punctuated the meet with a silver medal in the 400-yard freestyle relay, recording the program’s second-best time ever in 3:10.77. Peplowski led off in 47.82, gave way to junior Mya DeWitt’s 48.40 and Grana’s 47.64 before junior Kristina Paegle unleashed a 46.80 in the anchor.
TEAM SCORES
1. Ohio State – 1,313.5
- Indiana – 1,255.5
- Michigan – 1,149.5
- Wisconsin – 849
- USC – 835
- Minnesota – 592
- UCLA – 544
- Purdue – 529
- Northwestern – 409
- Nebraska – 344
- Rutgers – 310
- Penn State – 260
- Illinois – 211
14 Iowa – 158.5
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships: Phoebe Bacon, Wisconsin
Big Ten Diver of the Championships: Skyler Liu, Indiana
First-Team All-Big Ten
Brearna Crawford, Indiana
Ching Hwee Gan, Indiana
Miranda Grana, Indiana
Skyler Liu, Indiana
Kacey McKenna, Indiana
Kristina Paegle, Indiana
Anna Peplowski, Indiana
Malia Amuan, Michigan
Stephanie Balduccini, Michigan
Hannah Bellard, Michigan
Casey Chung, Michigan
Lindsay Flynn, Michigan
Brady Kendall, Michigan
Christey Liang, Michigan
Claire Newman, Michigan
Letitia Sim, Michigan
Sienna Angove, Ohio State
Lena Hentschel, Ohio State
Kaitlyn Dobler, USC
Phoebe Bacon, Wisconsin
Second-Team All-Big Ten
Mya Dewitt, Indiana
Ava Whitaker, Indiana
Vivi Del Angel, Minnesota
Rachel Bockrath, Ohio State
Erin Little, Ohio State
Mila Nikanorov, Ohio State
Paola Pineda, Ohio State
Mia Rankin, Ohio State
Avery Worobel, Purdue
Minna Abraham, USC
Claire Tuggle, USC
Hazal Ozkan, Wisconsin
Abigail Wanezek, Wisconsin
Margaret Wanezek, Wisconsin
Big Ten All-Freshman Team
Mary Cespedes, Indiana
Rebecca Diaconescu, Michigan
Leila Fack, Michigan
Olivia Wanner, Minnesota
Grey Davis, Northwestern
Zoe Nordmann, Northwestern
Sienna Angove, Ohio State
Rachel Bockrath, Ohio State
Erin Little, Ohio State
Delia Lloyd, Ohio State
Mila Nikanorov, Ohio State
Maria Ramos, Ohio State
Campbell Scofield, Purdue
Avery Worobel, Purdue
Bailee Sturgill, Rutgers
Karolina Piechowicz, UCLA
Claudia Yovanovich, UCLA
Kate Miller, USC
Stella Chapman, Wisconsin
Bridget McGann, Wisconsin
Margaret Wanezek, Wisconsin
RESULTS
1,650 FREESTYLE
- Ching Hwee Gan – 15:46.22 (Big Ten Champion, Career Best, NCAA A Cut)
- Mariah Denigan – 16:06.46 (NCAA B Cut)
- Elyse Heiser – 16:27.23 (NCAA B Cut)
- Katie Carson – 16:14.12 (Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
200 BACKSTROKE
2. Miranda Grana – 1:50.51 (Big Ten Silver, NCAA B Cut)
- Mya DeWitt – 1:54.48 (NCAA B Cut)
- Kacey McKenna – 1:55.86 (NCAA B Cut)
- Anna Freed – 1:54.44 (NCAA B Cut)
100 FREESTYLE
3. Anna Peplowski – 47.37 (Big Ten Bronze, NCAA B Cut)
- Kristina Paegle – 47.85 (NCAA B Cut)
200 BREASTSTROKE
T1. Brearna Crawford – 2:07.22 (Big Ten Co-Champion, NCAA B Cut)
- Mary Cespedes – 2:08.46 (Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
- Reese Tiltmann – 2:11.58 (Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
200 BUTTERFLY
- Ava Whitaker – 1:55.17 (Big Ten Silver, Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
- Katie Forrester – 1:56.82 (Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
- Avery Spade – 1:57.14 (Career Best, NCAA B Cut)
- Anna Freed – 2:00.80
PLATFORM
- Skyler Liu – 366.90 (Big Ten Champion, NCAA Zone Qualifier)
- Ella Roselli – 266.70 (NCAA Zone Qualifier)
- Mary Kate Cavanaugh – 233.95 (NCAA Zone Qualifier)
- Lily Witte – 209.80
400 FREESTYLE RELAY
- Anna Peplowski, Mya DeWitt, Miranda Grana, Kristina Paegle – 3:10.77 (Big Ten Silver, NCAA A Cut)
