University of Minnesota Athletics
Wednesday, February 26
Bloomington, IN
4:00 PM
University of Minnesota
at
Big Ten Championships
Players Mentioned
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Sprint Freestyle
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Backstroke
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Diving
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Distance Freestyle
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Distance Freestyle
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Freestyle
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Backstroke
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Diving
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Freestyle/IM
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Breaststroke/Freestyle
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Diving
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Backstroke
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Diving
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Butterfly
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Diving
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Backstroke
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Freestyle
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Backstroke/Freestyle
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Butterfly
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Breaststroke/IM
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Sprint Freestyle
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Diving
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Breaststroke
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Breaststroke
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Photo by: Jim Rosvold/University of Minnesota
Preview: Gophers Head to Indiana for 2020 B1G Championships
2/25/2020 10:48:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Wed, Feb. 26 – Sat, Feb. 29: Big Ten Men's Championships (Bloomington, Ind.)
Wednesday: 4 p.m. CT
Thursday-Saturday: 10 a.m. CT (preliminaries), 5:30 p.m. CT (finals)
Live Video (BTN+): Wed | Thurs prelims | Thurs finals | Fri prelims | Fri finals | Sat prelims | Sat finals
The Minnesota men's swimming & diving team returns to the pool in style this week, as they travel to Bloomington for the 2020 Big Ten Men's Championships. After a roughly three week taper period, the Gophers embark on championships season primed for a surplus of new top times and lifetime best swims.
"It's hard to put into words and to articulate it, but I'm so proud of this men's group," said head coach Kelly Kremer. "The leadership has been incredible and I don't know how it's going to shake out in terms of team scores and points and all the other stuff, but I could not be more proud of this group and could not be happier with how they've come together."
WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (relays begin 4 p.m. CT)
200-yard Medley Relay
800-yard Freestyle Relay
THURSDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
500-yard Freestyle
200-yard Individual Medley
50-yard Freestyle
One-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
400-yard Medley Relay
FRIDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
100-yard Butterfly
400-yard Individual Medley
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
SATURDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (4:15 p.m.)
400-yard Freestyle Relay
ONE MORE B1G SHOWING
Five Gophers will be making their fourth and final appearance at Big Tens this week. Seniors Jeremy Moser, Tuomas Pokkinen, Nick Saulnier, Matthew Thomas and Justin Torres will have one more go at the conference's penultimate event, as the quintuplet will attempt to extend their storied careers in Maroon and Gold with bids to next month's NCAA Championships.
LAST TIME OUT
In Minnesota's last outing, the team fell to Purdue (184-169) and Northwestern (200-153) in a Big Ten triple dual held in West Lafayette, Ind. Prior to the tri-dual, however, the Gophers enjoyed back-to-back dual meet wins to begin 2020, topping both Hawaii (133-129) and USC (149-113) on the road.
FIRST PLACE FINISHES
Max McHugh delivered a first place finish for the U at the tri-dual their last time out, winning the 100 breast with a time of 53.79. McHugh's upcoming race in the 100 breast at the 2020 Big Tens should be one of the more exciting ones for the Gophers, as the sophomore enters as one of the favorites to win the event.
TAKING A DIVE
The last time the Gophers competed, Jake Butler placed second in the 1-meter springboard (313.25) and third in the 3-meter (370.07). Meanwhile, Maxim Royzen finished second in the platform diving competition with an NCAA Diving Zones qualifying score of 322.25, while also earning fifth place in the 3-meter (318.45).
IN THE RANKINGS
Five Big Ten schools find themselves ranked in the CSCAA TYR Top-25 poll heading into championship season: No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Indiana, No. 17 Ohio State, No. 20 Iowa and No. 22 Northwestern. It should be noted that the CSCAA rankings are built to indicate what to expect from teams in head-to-head dual meet match-ups and are not built to reflect performances during championship season.
BIG TEN HISTORY
Minnesota owns a grand total of nine Big Ten Championships as a team, having placed in the top-five in the conference in 30 of the last 31 seasons. Over that period, the Gophers have registered 22 top-three finishes. The Maroon and Gold are coming off a fifth place standing at the 2019 meet.
RECENT CHAMPIONS
The Gophers have had at least one individual Big Ten champion in each of the past two seasons and in three of the last four coming into 2020. Bowen Becker most recently accomplished the feat for Minnesota, claiming conference titles in the 50 free and 100 free a season ago. In total, the Gophers have won 143 individual Big ten titles, good for the fourth-most in the history of the conference.
HEARING FROM SENIOR ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH TERRY GANLEY
On the makeup of this year's Gopher team…
"We have a unique chemistry this year with a larger number of underclassmen – freshmen and sophomores. They're just a great, respectful group who have given the respect and the opportunity for our seniors, for our captains to lead and really do a great job on the leadership that has really helped this team develop."
HEARING FROM SENIOR NICK SAULNIER
On his mindset heading into his final Big Ten meet…
"With my last Big Tens, I'm really excited to just leave it all in the pool. I'm also excited to see how all the freshmen do and I hope that I can help them with their Big Tens in their college career as they are just getting started and I'm just finishing out. Hopefully, I can share some of my experiences with them."
On who he's excited to watch compete…
"Matthew Thomas is one of my best friends, so I'm always excited to watch his race and his [200 fly] is always amazing to watch and really fun."
HEARING FROM SENIOR TUOMAS POKKINEN
On this year's team…
"It's definitely a fun team. I think we all had a good time this year and we're all comfortable around each other. That's something that I found to be very valuable this year."
HEARING FROM FRESHMAN GAVIN OLSON
On mindset heading into first-ever Big Ten meet…
"I'm really looking forward to championship season. As a freshman, even combined, we've all had really good swims all year long and it's just going to be really exciting to see people rested, shaved and tapered…"
On which race he's most excited to watch…
"Definitely the 100 breaststroke, Max McHugh. That's going to be an awesome race and I'm really hoping he's going to do well and I think he will."
2019-20 TOP TIMES
50 Free
1. Matthew Thomas 20.25
2. Max McHugh 20.26
3. Cale Berkoff 20.65
100 Free
1. Tim Sates 44.20
2. Cale Berkoff 45.09
3. Kyle Van Niekerk 45.51
200 Free
1. Nick Saulnier 1:36.95
2. Tim Sates 1:37.05
3. Cameron Kelley 1:37.71
500 Free
1. Cameron Kelley 4:24.21
2. Aidan Dillon 4:28.17
3. Max Lezer 4:32.48
1650 Free
1. Cameron Kelley 15:25.28
2. Aidan Dillon 15:43.21
3. Aidan Dulaney 16:02.29
100 Back
1. Gavin Olson 48.50
2. Cale Berkoff 48.74
3. Sam Kennedy 49.26
200 Back
1. Gavin Olson 1:44.71
2. Cale Berkoff 1:46.00
3. Nick Saulnier 1:48.92
100 Breast
1. Max McHugh 50.74
2. Eitan Yudashkin 54.67
3. Evan Yoder 56.47
200 Breast
1. Max McHugh 1:51.62
2. Eitan Yudashkin 1:59.19
3. Evan Yoder 2:00.88
100 Fly
1. Matthew Thomas 46.81
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 48.01
3. Desmon Sachtjen 49.96
200 Fly
1. Matthew Thomas 1:45.39
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 1:47.88
3. Max Lezer 1:53.49
200 IM
1. Matthew Thomas 1:48.17
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 1:50.17
3. Eitan Yudashkin 1:50.61
400 IM
1. Isaac Barrera 3:57.75
2. Justin Torres 4:00.87
3. Eitan Yudashkin 4:01.19
200 Free Relay
1. Thomas, Pokkinen 1:20.83
McHugh, Saulnier
400 Free Relay
1. Sates, Thomas, 2:57.65
Saulnier, Pokkinen
800 Free Relay
1. Sates, Kelley, 6:28.68
Niekerk, Saulnier
200 Medley Relay
1. Olson, McHugh, 1:27.04
Pokkinen, Thomas
400 Medley Relay
1. Olson, McHugh 3:10.31
Thomas, Sates
1M Diving
1. Jake Butler 348.53
2. Jeremy Moser 331.60
3. Maxim Royzen 311.47
3M Diving
1. Jake Butler 383.55
2. Ryan Phillip 359.90
3. Jeremy Moser 342.83
Platform
1. Maxim Royzen 322.35
2. Jake Butler 296.35
3. Duncan Lester 259.50
NCAA CUTS
Heading into Big Tens, four Gophers have combined to swim six different NCAA cuts so far in 2019-20. McHugh headlines the list, having achieved a pair of 'A' cuts in the 100 breast (50.74) and 200 breast (1:51.62).
NCAA 'A' Cuts (2)
Max McHugh – 100 breast (50.74), 200 breast (1:51.62)
NCAA 'B' Cuts (4)
Cameron Kelley – 1650 free (15:25.28)
Gavin Olson – 200 back (1:44.71)
Matthew Thomas – 100 fly (46.81), 200 fly (1:45.39)
TOP NATIONAL TIMES
At this juncture, McHugh's 'A' cut time in the 100 breast (50.74) is currently the fastest in the nation this season. Also worth noting, McHugh's 'A' cut in the 200 breast (1:51.62) stands as 2019-20's second-fastest time, trailing only Reece Whitley of California (1:51.02).
NCAA DIVING ZONES
On top of Minnesota swimmers vying for bids at the NCAA Championships, six Gopher divers have notched scores high enough to qualify them for NCAA Diving Zones (March 9-11) in at least one event.
NCAA Diving Zones Qualifying Scores
Jake Butler – 1-meter (348.53), 3-meter (383.55)
Duncan Lester – 1-meter (306.15)
Jeremy Moser – 1-meter (331.60), 3-meter (342.83)
Ryan Phillip - 3-meter (359.90)
Maxim Royzen – 1-meter (311.47), platform (322.35)
Aiden Werner – 1-meter (301.95), 3-meter (341.93)
B1G ACCOLADES
Throughout the 2019-20 campaign, the Minnesota men collected seven Big Ten Conference weekly awards. The Gophers earned three Big Ten Swimmer of the Week nods thanks to McHugh (Oct. 30, Nov. 13, Dec. 11). Additionally, Olson (Oct. 30, Nov. 13) and Butler (Jan. 8) combined for three Freshman of the Week honors, with the latter Gopher also being named Diver of the Week (Oct. 16) on one occasion.
UP NEXT
Next on the schedule for Minnesota will be the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis from March 25-28.
- Minnesota enters the four-day Big Ten Conference Championships in Bloomington, Ind. (Feb. 26-29) after recording a fifth place finish at the meet a year ago.
Wed, Feb. 26 – Sat, Feb. 29: Big Ten Men's Championships (Bloomington, Ind.)
Wednesday: 4 p.m. CT
Thursday-Saturday: 10 a.m. CT (preliminaries), 5:30 p.m. CT (finals)
Live Video (BTN+): Wed | Thurs prelims | Thurs finals | Fri prelims | Fri finals | Sat prelims | Sat finals
The Minnesota men's swimming & diving team returns to the pool in style this week, as they travel to Bloomington for the 2020 Big Ten Men's Championships. After a roughly three week taper period, the Gophers embark on championships season primed for a surplus of new top times and lifetime best swims.
"It's hard to put into words and to articulate it, but I'm so proud of this men's group," said head coach Kelly Kremer. "The leadership has been incredible and I don't know how it's going to shake out in terms of team scores and points and all the other stuff, but I could not be more proud of this group and could not be happier with how they've come together."
WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (relays begin 4 p.m. CT)
200-yard Medley Relay
800-yard Freestyle Relay
THURSDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
500-yard Freestyle
200-yard Individual Medley
50-yard Freestyle
One-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
400-yard Medley Relay
FRIDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
100-yard Butterfly
400-yard Individual Medley
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving (1 p.m.)
200-yard Freestyle Relay
SATURDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (prelims begin 10 a.m. CT, finals at 5:30)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (4:15 p.m.)
400-yard Freestyle Relay
ONE MORE B1G SHOWING
Five Gophers will be making their fourth and final appearance at Big Tens this week. Seniors Jeremy Moser, Tuomas Pokkinen, Nick Saulnier, Matthew Thomas and Justin Torres will have one more go at the conference's penultimate event, as the quintuplet will attempt to extend their storied careers in Maroon and Gold with bids to next month's NCAA Championships.
LAST TIME OUT
In Minnesota's last outing, the team fell to Purdue (184-169) and Northwestern (200-153) in a Big Ten triple dual held in West Lafayette, Ind. Prior to the tri-dual, however, the Gophers enjoyed back-to-back dual meet wins to begin 2020, topping both Hawaii (133-129) and USC (149-113) on the road.
FIRST PLACE FINISHES
Max McHugh delivered a first place finish for the U at the tri-dual their last time out, winning the 100 breast with a time of 53.79. McHugh's upcoming race in the 100 breast at the 2020 Big Tens should be one of the more exciting ones for the Gophers, as the sophomore enters as one of the favorites to win the event.
TAKING A DIVE
The last time the Gophers competed, Jake Butler placed second in the 1-meter springboard (313.25) and third in the 3-meter (370.07). Meanwhile, Maxim Royzen finished second in the platform diving competition with an NCAA Diving Zones qualifying score of 322.25, while also earning fifth place in the 3-meter (318.45).
IN THE RANKINGS
Five Big Ten schools find themselves ranked in the CSCAA TYR Top-25 poll heading into championship season: No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Indiana, No. 17 Ohio State, No. 20 Iowa and No. 22 Northwestern. It should be noted that the CSCAA rankings are built to indicate what to expect from teams in head-to-head dual meet match-ups and are not built to reflect performances during championship season.
BIG TEN HISTORY
Minnesota owns a grand total of nine Big Ten Championships as a team, having placed in the top-five in the conference in 30 of the last 31 seasons. Over that period, the Gophers have registered 22 top-three finishes. The Maroon and Gold are coming off a fifth place standing at the 2019 meet.
RECENT CHAMPIONS
The Gophers have had at least one individual Big Ten champion in each of the past two seasons and in three of the last four coming into 2020. Bowen Becker most recently accomplished the feat for Minnesota, claiming conference titles in the 50 free and 100 free a season ago. In total, the Gophers have won 143 individual Big ten titles, good for the fourth-most in the history of the conference.
HEARING FROM SENIOR ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH TERRY GANLEY
On the makeup of this year's Gopher team…
"We have a unique chemistry this year with a larger number of underclassmen – freshmen and sophomores. They're just a great, respectful group who have given the respect and the opportunity for our seniors, for our captains to lead and really do a great job on the leadership that has really helped this team develop."
HEARING FROM SENIOR NICK SAULNIER
On his mindset heading into his final Big Ten meet…
"With my last Big Tens, I'm really excited to just leave it all in the pool. I'm also excited to see how all the freshmen do and I hope that I can help them with their Big Tens in their college career as they are just getting started and I'm just finishing out. Hopefully, I can share some of my experiences with them."
On who he's excited to watch compete…
"Matthew Thomas is one of my best friends, so I'm always excited to watch his race and his [200 fly] is always amazing to watch and really fun."
HEARING FROM SENIOR TUOMAS POKKINEN
On this year's team…
"It's definitely a fun team. I think we all had a good time this year and we're all comfortable around each other. That's something that I found to be very valuable this year."
HEARING FROM FRESHMAN GAVIN OLSON
On mindset heading into first-ever Big Ten meet…
"I'm really looking forward to championship season. As a freshman, even combined, we've all had really good swims all year long and it's just going to be really exciting to see people rested, shaved and tapered…"
On which race he's most excited to watch…
"Definitely the 100 breaststroke, Max McHugh. That's going to be an awesome race and I'm really hoping he's going to do well and I think he will."
2019-20 TOP TIMES
50 Free
1. Matthew Thomas 20.25
2. Max McHugh 20.26
3. Cale Berkoff 20.65
100 Free
1. Tim Sates 44.20
2. Cale Berkoff 45.09
3. Kyle Van Niekerk 45.51
200 Free
1. Nick Saulnier 1:36.95
2. Tim Sates 1:37.05
3. Cameron Kelley 1:37.71
500 Free
1. Cameron Kelley 4:24.21
2. Aidan Dillon 4:28.17
3. Max Lezer 4:32.48
1650 Free
1. Cameron Kelley 15:25.28
2. Aidan Dillon 15:43.21
3. Aidan Dulaney 16:02.29
100 Back
1. Gavin Olson 48.50
2. Cale Berkoff 48.74
3. Sam Kennedy 49.26
200 Back
1. Gavin Olson 1:44.71
2. Cale Berkoff 1:46.00
3. Nick Saulnier 1:48.92
100 Breast
1. Max McHugh 50.74
2. Eitan Yudashkin 54.67
3. Evan Yoder 56.47
200 Breast
1. Max McHugh 1:51.62
2. Eitan Yudashkin 1:59.19
3. Evan Yoder 2:00.88
100 Fly
1. Matthew Thomas 46.81
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 48.01
3. Desmon Sachtjen 49.96
200 Fly
1. Matthew Thomas 1:45.39
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 1:47.88
3. Max Lezer 1:53.49
200 IM
1. Matthew Thomas 1:48.17
2. Tuomas Pokkinen 1:50.17
3. Eitan Yudashkin 1:50.61
400 IM
1. Isaac Barrera 3:57.75
2. Justin Torres 4:00.87
3. Eitan Yudashkin 4:01.19
200 Free Relay
1. Thomas, Pokkinen 1:20.83
McHugh, Saulnier
400 Free Relay
1. Sates, Thomas, 2:57.65
Saulnier, Pokkinen
800 Free Relay
1. Sates, Kelley, 6:28.68
Niekerk, Saulnier
200 Medley Relay
1. Olson, McHugh, 1:27.04
Pokkinen, Thomas
400 Medley Relay
1. Olson, McHugh 3:10.31
Thomas, Sates
1M Diving
1. Jake Butler 348.53
2. Jeremy Moser 331.60
3. Maxim Royzen 311.47
3M Diving
1. Jake Butler 383.55
2. Ryan Phillip 359.90
3. Jeremy Moser 342.83
Platform
1. Maxim Royzen 322.35
2. Jake Butler 296.35
3. Duncan Lester 259.50
NCAA CUTS
Heading into Big Tens, four Gophers have combined to swim six different NCAA cuts so far in 2019-20. McHugh headlines the list, having achieved a pair of 'A' cuts in the 100 breast (50.74) and 200 breast (1:51.62).
NCAA 'A' Cuts (2)
Max McHugh – 100 breast (50.74), 200 breast (1:51.62)
NCAA 'B' Cuts (4)
Cameron Kelley – 1650 free (15:25.28)
Gavin Olson – 200 back (1:44.71)
Matthew Thomas – 100 fly (46.81), 200 fly (1:45.39)
TOP NATIONAL TIMES
At this juncture, McHugh's 'A' cut time in the 100 breast (50.74) is currently the fastest in the nation this season. Also worth noting, McHugh's 'A' cut in the 200 breast (1:51.62) stands as 2019-20's second-fastest time, trailing only Reece Whitley of California (1:51.02).
NCAA DIVING ZONES
On top of Minnesota swimmers vying for bids at the NCAA Championships, six Gopher divers have notched scores high enough to qualify them for NCAA Diving Zones (March 9-11) in at least one event.
NCAA Diving Zones Qualifying Scores
Jake Butler – 1-meter (348.53), 3-meter (383.55)
Duncan Lester – 1-meter (306.15)
Jeremy Moser – 1-meter (331.60), 3-meter (342.83)
Ryan Phillip - 3-meter (359.90)
Maxim Royzen – 1-meter (311.47), platform (322.35)
Aiden Werner – 1-meter (301.95), 3-meter (341.93)
B1G ACCOLADES
Throughout the 2019-20 campaign, the Minnesota men collected seven Big Ten Conference weekly awards. The Gophers earned three Big Ten Swimmer of the Week nods thanks to McHugh (Oct. 30, Nov. 13, Dec. 11). Additionally, Olson (Oct. 30, Nov. 13) and Butler (Jan. 8) combined for three Freshman of the Week honors, with the latter Gopher also being named Diver of the Week (Oct. 16) on one occasion.
UP NEXT
Next on the schedule for Minnesota will be the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis from March 25-28.
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