University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Win 200 Free Relay At Big Tens
2/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Minnesota crushed the Big Ten record in winning the 200 freestyle relay this evening on the third night of the Big Ten Championships at University Aquatic Center. Minnesota stands in fourth place overall with 318.5 points. Drew Brown was also the runner-up in 3-meter diving to highlight the Gophers’ individual performances. Michigan leads the team competition with 491 points, followed by Indiana (434) and Ohio State (386).
The Gophers couldn’t have possibly started the night in better fashion. They destroyed the Big Ten Championships record in the 200 freestyle relay with a winning time of 1:16.78. A night after crushing the conference 50 free record, Michael Richards improved his record to 19.05 in leading off the relay and giving Minnesota a comfortable lead heading into Curt Carlson’s second leg. Carlson went a blistering 19.28 and Zach Bolin followed with a 19.25, leaving the final leg to freshman Derek Toomey in the Gophers’ quest to win the Big Ten title and become the first Big Ten team to go sub-1:17.00. Toomey posted an amazing 19.20 to finish the record-breaking swim. The Gophers weren’t really challenged as Ohio State was a distant second in 1:18.23 and Iowa was third in 1:18.28. It marks Minnesota’s first win in the event since 2004. The Gophers obviously broke their own school record of 1:17.10 set in 2009 at the NCAA Championships. Toomey becomes the Gophers’ first freshman to win a conference title since 2004.
“It was great to get a school record and meet record,” associate head coach Bill Tramel said. “With Mike going 19.0 and continuing to get faster as the meet goes along, it definitely gave other guys confidence in finishing up the relay. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but we are excited to compete at NCAAs with that relay.”
The 100 breaststroke proved to be Minnesota’s highest-scoring event of the night with three championship finalists. The race was incredibly close with Ivan Gutesa taking third for the Gophers in 53.19, a new career-best and just .05 seconds off the school record. Indiana’s Cody Miller edged Penn State’s Mitch Scherer at the wall with a time of 52.90. The trio were in a virtual dead heat at 75 yards but Miller closed in a 13.99 to take the win. Jared Anderson had a career-best fifth place finish with a time of 53.72 and Rob Schnitzler was eighth in 54.67. Anderson becomes the fifth-fastest perfomer in school history for Minnesota while Gutesa became the second-fastest.
Minnesota had some amazing performances in the 3-meter diving event. Drew Brown was the runner-up, Minnesota’s best diving finish since 2001. Brown set a new school record with a score of 419.60, hitting all six of his dives. He was the runner-up to three-time champion David Boudia who the conference record with a score of 509.90. In the consolation final, Kristoffer Jorgensen broke the school record with an incredible score of 414.15. Jorgensen didn’t receive lower than a 7.0 from any judge during the consolation final and tallied an amazing 73.50 on his fourth dive, a reverse 2 1/2 somersault. Jorgensen narrowly missed the championship final by less than two points but made the best of his opportunity.
In the consolation final, Josh Hall placed third and 11th overall in 54.11. He swam a career-best 54.07 in the prelims. In the bonus final, Even Lee-To finished 20th overall in 55.56. In the prelims, Zach Weis finished 21st in 55.83.
Minnesota had two finalists in the 100 butterfly. In his first championship final, freshman Kyler Van Swol finished sixth in a career-low 47.05. Senior Kevin Baseheart finished eighth in 47.41. Baseheart reached the championship final after winning a swim-off with Penn State’s Sean Grier for the eighth slot. Baseheart went a career-best 47.19 in the swim-off. Nadav Kochavi improved on his prelim time in the consolation final to finish 12th in a time of 47.94.
Four Gophers qualified for the consolation final of the 200 freestyle and junior Mike Vernoia made the best of the opportunity, winning the console in a career-low 1:36.64. Carlson finished 12th in 1:37.17 and Toomey was 15th in 1:38.95. Rounding out the Gopher scorers was Hrvoje Capan in 16th with a time of 1:39.72.
In the prelims of the 200 free, Matt Papenfuss was 23rd in 1:37.97 and Chris Peterson was 28th in 1:38.25. Sean Nesheim was 34th in 1:38.89 and Matt Benecki was 47th in 1:40.06. Nathan Jobe was also 53rd in 1:40.48.
In the prelims of the 100 backstroke, Nadav Kochavi narrowly missed the consolation final in 17th place with a time of 48.70 and Kyler Van Swol was 18th in 48.76. Zach Bolin was 22nd in 49.15 and Goran Majlat was 23rd in 49.18. The times from Van Swol, Bolin and Majlat were career-bests.
The final day of the competition starts tomorrow morning with prelims at 11 a.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
