All Blue Has A Need For Speed
Championship season has arrived for the Winter sports. By the end of next weekend, Big Ten titles will have been awarded in both swimming and indoor track. Admittedly, those are some of the sports we cover the least here at All Blue, so today the full issue is dedicated to Big Ten Championship previews in the going-fast sports.
If you're reading this on Thursday, the women's swimming championship actually started last night at Purdue, and run through Saturday evening. The men's and women's indoor track championships start tomorrow, on Friday the 23rd. Both championships run concurrently over two days at the SPIRE Institute in Ohio. The men's swimming championship starts next Wednesday night, the 28th and lasts until that Saturday. I'll preview the championships in that order, hitting the highlights of each day.
Women's Swimming and Diving
The women's swimming team enters the Big Ten Championship at #16 in the country, good for fourth in the Big Ten behind Indiana, OSU, and Wisconsin. Unlike most conference championships, this one isn't necessarily for NCAA qualifying per se, or at least no more than any other meet is. Not unlike the Olympics, the NCAA sets time standards for championship qualification, and if you hit the A standard in any meet, you're in, with the rest of the quota being filled by swimmers who hit the B standard.
Many, many swimmers have hit the B standard in their events and will likely go to nationals, but some of those will also hit the A standard at the B1Gs and give it no doubt.
With a few exceptions, the vast majority of prelims occur in the daytime sessions which begin at 10, and the vast majority of the finals occur in the evening sessions which begin at 5:30. This preview will go in the order the events will occur that day, but is not fully comprehensive, so there could be events in between the ones listed here.
Wednesday Night
Hey! This happened already! Through two events, Michigan has two second-place finishes and sits in third place overall. Notably, Michigan posted their fastest times of the season in both the 200 Medley Relay and 800 Free Relay, hitting the A standards and qualifying them for NCAAs.
Thursday
500 Freestyle: There are only 3 swimming events on Thursday and Michigan has top five swimmers in all of them. In the 500m free, freshman Hannah Bellard has the second fastest time recorded in the Big Ten this season, with a 4:38.44 trailing only Anna Peplowski (this is not the last time you will hear either of these names) of Indiana. At the Michigan/IU meet, however, it was a second Wolverine, Katie Crom, who took gold.
200 Individual Medley: Another event, another strong Wolverine freshman. Stephanie Balduccini enters with the third best time in the B1G, while sophomore Devon Kitchel joins her in the top 10. The Brazilian Balduccini was absent for the Wolverine's pre-B1Gs tune-up, as she was busy at the World Aquatics Championships.
50 Freestyle: Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana all claim three of the top 10 50 free swimmers in the conference, with Wisconsin claiming the last one. For Michigan, it's Claire Newman, Lindsay Flynn, and Balduccini, who check in at 5th, 6th, and 9th respectively. If any of them land on the podium here, that's a good race.
1m Diving: Michigan does not have as many top ranked divers, with the best of them coming in this event. Kiarra Milligan is ranked #10 off the one-meter board, and her career personal best earned silver at last year's Big Ten Championship.
Friday
100 Butterfly: Once again multiple Michigan swimmers rank among the Big Ten's elite, with spots 4, 5, and 6 belonging to a trio of Wolverines: Anna Boemer, Brady Kendall, and Ella Jo Piersma. Piersma set her mark just a week ago.
200 Freestyle: It's Balduccini again, who will enter this event at #2, behind Hoosier Peplowski, who I promised would come up again. At the Michigan/IU meet, Peplowski edged Balduccini by 1.55 seconds, though their respective PBs bring the margin down to 1.10. At that meet, Big Ten #4 Katie Crom was another 1.11 behind the big two.
100 Backstroke: Let's add another name to the board: senior Casey Chung enters this event with the fifth-best time in the Big Ten, but notably has some head-to-head wins over her biggest competition: she won this event in the dual meets v. both Indiana and Ohio State, and came in second in Madison.
Saturday
All three of the events where Michigan comes in with the #1 swimmer in the conference are on Saturday. Michigan should have a good idea of what is possible in the standings by then, and having these anchor races could be huge.
100 Freestyle: Stephanie Balduccini is #1 in the conference, half a second in front of her nearest competitor. Balduccini recently competed in this event at the World Championships, where she came in sixth. If I'm betting on one gold for Michigan, here it is.
200 Butterfly: Michigan has two competitors in the top four here, with Hannah Bellard leading the conference. Katie Crom comes in at #4, giving Michigan a solid shot at a multi-medal event late in the championships.
400 Free Relay: This is, I believe, the only event in which Michigan has already hit the A standard and qualified for the NCAA Championship meet. They hit it in November at the Georgia Fall Invite, with a team of Balduccini, Newman, Flynn, and Christey Liang.
Men's Indoor Track and Field
The Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships happen over two days beginning tomorrow, Friday the 23rd. The majority of the prelims are on Friday and the majority of the finals are on Saturday, with some exceptions. The men and women's events run at the same time, but they are separate championships.
The men come in ranked 30th, which is sixth within the Big Ten.
The top 16 runners in the country qualify for each event at the NCAA Championships, which means two things for us: 1. The field is extremely narrow, and Michigan may only qualify a handful of athletes or relay teams. 2. In general I am less focused on nationals qualification than I am in the swimming sections, because there are a bunch of external factors to qualifying (ie. other conference championships). I will mention the Wolverines who are currently in line for qualification, but that is not a guarantee. Like swimming, I'll pick some of the highlights for each day, and put them in the order that the final will occur.
Friday
Weight Throw: Eli Winter will lead the Wolverines into this event, ranked 7th in the conference. The senior's season-high 20.71 was thrown in Ann Arbor.
5000m: After finishing just off the podium at the Big Ten Cross Country Championship, coincidentally-named senior Tom Brady has the inside track for a Big Ten Championship in the 5k. He's first in the conference, and looking to advance at 11th nationally. On Saturday he'll also enter the 3k in the top 5 in conference.
Distance Medley Relay: In this event, each leg is a different distance – 1200m, 800m, 400m, 1600m, in that order. Michigan enters at #1 in the conference and provisionally headed to nationals at #5, with a team of Trent McFarland, Dubeme Amene, Miles Brown, and Nick Foster.
Saturday
Mile: Michigan checks in with two runners in the conference top ten, led by Nick Foster in second. Foster is also 11th nationally, putting him on the right side of the bubble. Joining him is B1G nine-seed Tom Brady.
400m: Senior Dubeme Amene enters ranked first in the Big Ten, with a season best of 45.75. Amene is also ranked 10th nationally, in line for NCAAs. Amene will have a busy day, as he is also ranked 7th in the 200m.
Triple Jump: Possibly the best event for men's field, Michigan has two athletes high in the B1G Triple Jump rankings. Senior Bera Ajala had a 15.82 jump at Notre Dame in February, and will be the fifth seed at this event. Right behind him at six is Tianhao Wei, a junior, just under half a meter shorter.
600m: Senior Miles Brown holds the school record in this event at 1:15.87, and with be the five-seed at the Big Ten Championship. He'll also enter the 800m, just inside the top 10.
Women's Indoor Track and Field
The Michigan women will be looking to repeat as B1G Indoor Champs, but based on seeding they may have an uphill battle. The women are ranked 10th within the conference, and are outside the top 50 nationally. Other than that, everything I said in the men's intro still applies.
Friday
Pentathlon: Clare McNamara is ranked sixth in the conference in the Pentathlon. Two years ago, she had her career-best B1Gs finish in this event in sixth place. At both of her Big Ten Indoor Championships her best Pent event was the shot put, where she has finished third twice. She also has turned in two top-5 800m performances within the pentathlon. The Pentathlon takes place in its entirety on Friday.
5000m: Samantha Saenz is a sixth-year senior and enters this event ranked third in the Big Ten. She came fourth last year, and is looking to make the podium.
Distance Medley Relay: The women's DMR team is also strong, and are the defending champions in this event. They'll enter as the two-seed, with a team of Samantha Hastie, Savannah Sutherland, Penelopea Gordon, and Sam Tran.
Saturday
Shot Put: Michigan's best women's field event, Michigan has four athletes in the top 16. They're led by senior Maria Deaviz, who threw two top-five marks in program history this season and will come in ranked fifth in the conference. Corinne Jemison will enter at #10, and Elizabeth Tapper and Trinity Franklin join them just outside the top 10.
Mile: Two of Michigan's DMR team are in the top 10 here as well. Fifth-year Sam Tran finished fifth in this event last year, and enters at #8. Just behind her at #9 is Samantha Hastie, a junior and Ann Arbor native.
800m: Once again Hastie finds herself entering an event at #9, but with a different partner sitting at #8. This time it's Penelopea Gordon, a sophomore transfer from St. Mary's.
60m Hurdles: Senior Aasia Laurencin is the 2nd ranked runner in the Big Ten, with a season-best 8.11 at the Michigan Invite at home. Laurencin is the only Michigan woman currently in qualifying position for nationals, ranked 11th nationally.
Men's Swimming and Diving
Michigan will begin the men's championship ranked 18th in the country, behind Indiana and OSU within the Big Ten. Other than that, everything I said in the intro to the women's section about A standards and the general schedule of the event is the same. Remember, this one's not for a whole other week from now. Let's do that swimming.
Wednesday Night
I don't want to dwell too much here because it's more fun to introduce names as part of individual events, but Michigan will enter both the 200 Medley relay and the 800 Free relay with the second-fastest time in the Big Ten.
Thursday
200 Medley: Michigan will bring an extremely strong lineup to this event, with the #1 swimmer, 3 in the top 5, and 4 in the top 10. Olympian Gal Groumi, a junior who will feature a lot in this preview, leads the pack. Eitan Ben-Shitrit and Ansel Forass are #3 and #4, and Colin Geer joins them at #9.
50 Freestyle: Senior Bence Szabados will enter this event as the 1-seed, after a 19.22 sprint in the fall. He is the defending silver medalist in this event, and will need to shave another half second (ok .4) off of his time to hit the A standard.
1m Diving: Michigan's best diver is junior Cameron Gammage, who had his personal best at last year's championships. While that score was good for a silver medal, he'll come into this event at #5 in the conference.
Friday
100 Butterfly: This is the second event where Groumi will come in as the one seed. He needs to shave just 0.19 off of his time to hit the NCAA A Standard. Tyler Ray, a sophomore, also will compete for the podium, coming in with the fifth best time in the conference.
200 Freestyle: Another repeat name here, as Ben-Shitrit enters at #3. He has narrow head-to-head losses with both the #1 and #2 swimmers at dual meets this season and will be looking for revenge.
100 Backstroke: The Wolverines will enter this event sporting the #3 swimmer in the conference, Jack Wilkening. At their dual meet he came in under a second behind #2, Indiana's Brendan Burns.
Saturday
Saturday is Gal Groumi Day.
200 Backstroke: Once again Wilkening leads the Wolverines at #4 in the conference, but Ben-Shitrit is just about a half-second behind at #5. Did I say it is Gal Groumi Day? He's at #10 here.
100 Freestyle: Gal Groumi. #4 in the conference. 1.03 over the A standard. Let's do another one.
200 Butterfly: Hey, guess who's here as the #1 seed in the B1G? That's its Gal Groumi, who is the defending silver medalist in the 200 Fly. #2 is Indiana's Brendan Burns, who will look to win his second straight gold. It's a grudge match.
400 Free Relay: An all-star team of guys I've already mentioned have the Wolverines as the two seed here: Groumi, Szabados, Ben-Shitrit and Wilkening raced just 0.16 off of the A Standard back in Georgia in November.