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Ohio State, Indiana & Michigan Set to Separate from the Pack: M. Big Tens Day 2 Up/Downs

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By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam

2023 MEN’S BIG TEN SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Heading into Thursday night’s finals session, Ohio State and Indiana are tied for first, while Michigan is sitting in a very close third place.

SCORES THROUGH DAY 1

  1. Ohio State / Indiana – 118
  2. (tie)
  3. Michigan – 112
  4. Purdue/Minnesota/Wisconsin – 100
  5. (tie)
  6. (tie)
  7. Northwestern – 92
  8. Penn State – 88

Thursday morning’s prelims session was quick but action-packed. If there’s one thing we can conclusively take away from this morning, it’s that Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan are about to clearly separate themselves from the rest of the field tonight. Of the 32 ‘A’ finalists tonight, our top three teams have 25 of them.

Ohio State had the best morning, albeit by a very slim margin. The Buckeyes put nine athletes into ‘A’ finals for tonight, one more than both Indiana and Michigan. Ohio State also grabbed six ‘B’ finalists, which is, coincidentally, one more than both Indiana and Michigan. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers picked up 3 ‘C’ finalists, one more than Ohio State and two more than Michigan.

Here is the up/mid/down data for this morning’s prelims. If you’re unfamiliar with 0ur “up/down” pieces, it’s just a way of analyzing team performances based on how many finalists each team earns in a session. “Up,” the first number listed, refers to the number of ‘A’ finalists, “mid,” the second number, refers to the number of ‘B’ finalists, and “down,” the last number, indicates the number of ‘C’ finalists.

DAY TWO UP/MID/DOWN

Team All 500 Free 200 IM 50 Free 1 mtr Diving
Ohio State 9/6/2 3/1/0 1/3/2 2/1/0 3/1/0
Michigan 8/5/3 1/3/1 4/0/2 2/1/0 1/1/0
Indiana 8/5/1 2/0/0 1/0/0 2/3/0 3/2/1
Wisconsin 2/6/6 1/2/2 0/2/1 1/1/2 0/1/1
Minnesota 2/3/6 1/1/1 1/1/2 0/1/2 0/0/1
Purdue 2/2/3 0/0/2 1/0/0 0/1/1 1/1/0
Penn State 1/2/3 0/1/1 0/0/0 1/0/1 0/1/1
Northwestern 0/3/7 0/0/1 0/2/2 0/0/2 0/1/2

Ohio State was probably the most balanced this morning, putting three ‘A’ finalists in the 500 free, one in the 200 IM, two in the 50 free, and three in diving. There ‘B’ and ‘C’ finalists were pretty evenly dispersed as well.

Michigan, on the other hand, had a massive performance in the 200 IM this morning, putting four swimmers into the ‘A’ final tonight.

Indiana’s biggest event was the 50 free, where they went two “up”, three “mid.” That is, until diving rolled around, where the Hoosiers put themselves in position for a gigantic influx of points tonight. There were only 22 divers in prelims of 1-meter this morning, six of whom were Hoosiers. That means all six of Indiana’s divers were guaranteed to score going in. They ended up with three ‘A’ finalists, two ‘B’ finalists, and one diver who finished 20th, which will earn IU five points.

Here is a look at the scored prelims. A quick note, this is just what the scores for the session would look like if this morning’s prelims had been timed finals. There will be shuffling around with the places from this morning, so the scoring won’t turn out exactly this way in finals.

SCORED PRELIMS (DAY TWO PRELIMS SESSION ONLY)

1. Ohio State 315.5
2. Indiana 297.5
3. Michigan 289
4. Wisconsin 167
5. Minnesota 127
6. Purdue 101.5
7. Northwestern 74.5
8. Penn State 73

As you can see, the extra ‘A’ finalist and ‘B’ finalist Ohio State has over Indiana and Michigan is giving them a little bit of an advantage going into tonight. Regardless, the standings between Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan are going to be very tight at the end of tonight’s session, barring anything extreme happening, like DQs, for instance.

Here is a look at the scored prelims from this morning, plus the actual scores from last night:

SCORED DAY TWO PRELIMS + ACTUAL SCORES THROUGH DAY ONE

Rank scored prelim+actual
Ohio State 433.5
Indiana 415.5
Michigan 401
Wisconsin 267
Minnesota 227
Purdue 201.5
Northwestern 166.5
Penn State 161

The projection shows Ohio State taking a slim lead at the conclusion of tonight. Keep in mind that this projection doesn’t include the 400 medley relay, which is a timed final event that will take place tonight.

SwimSwam: Ohio State, Indiana & Michigan Set to Separate from the Pack: M. Big Tens Day 2 Up/Downs

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