The No. 4-ranked Indiana University men’s swimming and diving team continued to win titles on Friday night at the 2017 Big Ten Championships at the McCorkle Aquatic Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The Hoosiers claimed three more conference championships, pushing the team’s title count this week to eight. After three days of competition, Indiana continues to lead the team standing with a total score of 999 points. Ohio State is second with a score of 939.5, while Michigan is in third with 923.5.
IU had five swimmers finish in the top-nine of the 200 freestyle, led by Blake Pieroni who made it back-to-back crowns in the event, winning gold with a NCAA A cut time of 1:32.13.
Pieroni now owns the top-two times in the country in the event, after he set the school, Big Ten, Big Ten Meet and pool record on Wednesday with his lead-off leg in the 800 freestyle relay of 1:31.83.
Sophomore Mohamed Samy placed fifth in the A Final with a NCAA B cut time of 1:34.05, while Jackson Miller was right behind him in sixth with a NCAA B cut mark of 1:34.14. Marwan Elkamash placed eighth with a NCAA B cut time of 1:35.86.
In the B Final of the 200 freestyle, Anze Tavcar touched first, placing ninth overall with NCAA B cut time of 1:34.23.
One of the most dramatic events of the night was the Championship Final of the 3-meter dive, as Michael Hixon came-from-behind to shock the Ohio State crowd and win the gold medal with a school, Big Ten meet and pool record score of 520.40. Hixon is the first Hoosiers in school history to eclipse the 500-point mark in school history in the event.
Trailing Colin Zeng of OSU by 96.30 points in the final round, Hixon nailed his final dive, scoring a 106.40 on his forward 4 -1/2 somersault tuck with a difficulty of 3.8. The redshirt junior had a great list, with four of his dives scoring over 88 points.
James Connor placed fifth overall for the Hoosiers in the Championship Final with a NCAA qualifying score of 455.95.
In the B Final, Cody Coldren placed third to finish 11th overall with a personal-best score of 399.30. Coldren’s NCAA qualifying score ties him for the 16th-best diver in the event at IU. Joshua Arndt finished 12th overall with a NCAA qualifying score of 387.85.
Ian Finnerty has the best swim in the 100 breaststroke that the Big Ten has ever seen on Friday night, as the sophomore repeated as conference champion, winning the gold medal with a school, Big Ten and Big Ten Meet record of 51.38. Finnerty’s time is also a NCAA A cut and is currently the second-fastest time in the nation in the event.
With his victory, Indiana has now won the 100 breast at the Big Ten Championships five of the last seven years. Cody Miller, who’s school record of 51.50 Finnerty broke, won the event three-straight years from 2011-13.
Also in the Championship Final, Levi Brock took sixth place with a NCAA B cut time of 52.91. In the C Final, Sam Apa placed fifth overall to finish 21st overall with a NCAA B cut time of 54.97.
Vini Lanza continued his great showing at the Big Ten Championships, winning the silver medal in the 100 butterfly with a school record and NCAA A cut time of 45.07. The sophomore now owns the top nine times in the event in school history.
Max Irwin took 15th overall in the event with a NCAA B cut mark of 47.46, while Oliver Patrouch placed 15th overall with a personal-best and NCAA B cut time of 47.45. Along with Patrouch in the C Final, Josh Romany took 21st overall with a personal-best mark of 47.79. With their PR’s, Patrouch now ranks as the seventh-best performer in the event in IU history, while Romany ranks 11th.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the IU team of Ali Khalafalla, Blake Pieroni, Anze Tavcar and Sam Lorentz won silver with a school record time of 1:16.93, just getting out-touched at the wall by Ohio State by 0.11 seconds.
On his 50 freestyle leg, Khalafalla posted a NCAA B cut time of 19.15, which ranks third all-time at Indiana. Over the course of the last two days, the junior has posted the top-three times in the 50 freestyle in program history.
Bob Glover had a great race for the Hoosiers in the Championship Final of the 100 backstroke, winning the bronze medal with a NCAA B cut time of 46.45.
In the B Final, Wilson Beckman placed third to finish 11th overall with a personal-best and NCAA B cut time of 47.14. With his mark, Beckman ranks as the fifth-best swimmer in the event at IU. In the C Final, Khalafalla took second to finish 18th overall with a personal-best and NCAA B cut time of 47.78 that ranks him as the ninth-best performer in the event in school history.
In the 400 IM, Jack Collins placed 20th overall with a personal-best and NCAA B cut time of 3:53.95, while Trey Hubbuch finished 21st with a NCAA B cut time of 3:54.12.
The Indiana Hoosiers will continue competition at the 2017 Big Ten Championships on Saturday morning with the prelims of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and platform dive. The action gets started at 11:00 a.m. ET at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.
