Swimming

Gal Cohen Groumi Chooses 100 Fly Over 200 Free at Big Tens (Day 3/Friday Heat Sheets)

March 1, 2024

2024 MEN’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dates: February 28 – March 2, 2024
Location: McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion – Columbus, Ohio
Defending champions: Indiana (2x)
SCY (25 yards)
Championship Central
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Day 1 Finals Live Recap
Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap

Day 3 (Friday) Prelims Heat Sheets

After a controversial night 2 where Gal Cohen Groumi of Michigan was initially disqualified for going past 15 meters on the backstroke leg of the Wolverines’ 400 medley relay, then had that DQ overturned on protest by the Wolverines, the Israeli-born junior will try and shake it off on Friday morning in the men’s 100 meter butterfly.

Because of the delay, the 400 medley relay awards ceremony will be held Friday evening at 5:20 PM.

Groumi, who is the conference’s fastest swimmer so far this season in both the 100 fly (44.83) and 200 free (1:32.07) chose the former to swim on day 3. He is the Big Ten Championships Record holder and defending champion in the 100 fly with a 44.50 from last season.

He is one of a number of potentially-high seeds who opted to skip the 200 free on Friday, though for many it was the choice of the 400 IM instead.

The #2 seed Tomas Navikonis of Ohio State (1:32.17), the #5 seed Eitan Ben-Shitrit of Michigan (1:33.99), the #9 seed Tristan Jankovics of Ohio State (1:35.51), and the #11 seed Luke Barr of Indiana (1:35.79) all chose other races on Friday.

Michigan (two) and Ohio State (three) combined for half of the conference’s top 10 this season in the 200 free, but between event choices and Ruslan Gaziev’s absence from the meet, none of those five swimmers will race.

That’s a big opportunity for the Indiana men, who lead Michigan by 28.5 points and the Ohio State men by 38 points heading into Friday’s racing.

Indiana had two swimmers with big decisions to make on Friday. Brendan Burns, the defending NCAA Champion in the 100 back, chose that event over the 100 fly. He is the fastest swimmer in the Big Ten in the 100 back this season by almost seven-tenths (45.13 vs. Brady Samuels‘ 45.81), and after scratches would have been the 6th seed in the 100 fly (45.97), about 1.1 seconds behind Groumi.

Burns’ choice means that he’ll once again take on the 200 back/200 fly double on Saturday, which he has done at each of the last two Big Ten Championship meets – sweeping both races each time.

His Teammate Luke Barr also chose the 100 back over the 100 fly. He’s the 5th seed in the 100 back (46.04) and the 8th seed in the 100 fly (46.31), though he would have moved up a spot in the latter thanks to Burns’ choice.

Other Notable Day 3 Event Decisions:

Minnesota’s Kaiser Neverman chose the 100 breast (7th seed – 52.80) over the 100 fly (46.56 – 9th seed, up to 7th with scratches). Neverman is good in both races, though he swam the butterfly events at last year’s NCAA Championship meet.
Purdue’s star Brady Samuels chose the 100 back over the 100 fly. He’s 2nd-best in the conference this year in the 100 back (45.81) and 13th in the 100 fly (46.86).
Northwestern’s Aaron Baltaytis is skipping the 100 back, where he’s 10th in the Big Ten this season (9th after scratches), and instead swimming the 100 fly, where he’s 13th among Friday’s entries.