University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, March 5
Columbus, OH
10:00 AM/5:30 PM
University of Minnesota
at
Big Ten Championships
Players Mentioned
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Sprint Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Backstroke/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breaststroke/Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breaststroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
McHugh Defends 2020 Title at 2021 B1G Championships
3/5/2021 7:55:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota men's swimming & diving program remains ninth through day four of the 2021 Big Ten Conference Championships with 396 points.
Junior Max McHugh claimed the brightest spotlight of the day for the Gophers, as he thoroughly dominated the 100 breaststroke from start to finish before ultimately defending his 2020 title with a gold medal finish.
Entering the Championships as the top seed in the event, McHugh started the day off as strong as he possibly could by touching first in the preliminary session in an incredible 50.19 seconds. How incredible is that time? It stands as the fastest in the nation, the Minnesota school record, the McCorkle Aquatic Center pool record, the Big Ten Championship Meet record and the fifth-fastest of any swimmer in history. Incredible.
Heading comfortably into the night's finals session after creating nearly a full second gap between himself and every other competitor in the prelim round, McHugh was a heavy favorite to win the event for a second consecutive year, though it wasn't as simple as he may have hoped. After outpacing the eventual second and third place finishers by only a mere 0.06 through the first fifty, the Sturgeon Bay, Wis. native tore through the final lap to claim his second career B1G Champion title in a time of 50.59.
With McHugh's 2021 title, the Gophers have now had at least one Big Ten Champion on their roster in each of the past four seasons.
McHugh wasn't the only Gopher competing in the 100 breast finals. Senior Eitan Yudashkin had an excellent finals session as well, setting a new lifetime best and an NCAA 'B' cut time at 53.22 as he won the night's 'C' final to finish 17th overall. The performance marks his second cut of the season, having notched his first on Wednesday night in the 200 breast.
Freshman Kaiser Neverman had himself a night as well, registering his best individual finish of the Championships by touching 10th overall in the 200 fly. What makes it even more impressive, however, is the manner in which he did so.
Coming into the Championships, Neverman had already hit the 'B' standard time in the event during the Gophers' Jan. 23 tri-dual at 1:46.59. In his first performance of the day, Neverman just barely out-touched his previous best in a time of 1:46.28 to finish as the 13th overall seed and qualify for the night's 'B' final, and that's when the magic happened. Dropping just over 0.8 seconds off his prelim time, Neverman absolutely tore through the competition in his finals heat, jumping three spots to finish 10th overall with his best 'B' cut time of the season at 1:45.45 and one of the more impressive drops of the Championships for the Maroon and Gold.
Only one Gopher qualified for the night's session of the 100 back, as sophomore Gavin Olson recorded an 18th place finish in the event in a time of 47.46. Though the time stands as an NCAA 'B' cut, Olson had already notched his cut in the event two days prior at 47.31, his best of the season.
The night's relay event, the 200 freestyle relay, featured three of the Gophers' finals performers, as the team of Lucas Farrar, McHugh, Neverman and Yudashkin touched eighth in a time of 1:18.55.
Personal Bests
With another eight lifetime best performances on day four, the Gophers have now upped their Big Ten Championship count to 33.
100 Backstroke
Sam Kennedy | 48.81
Desmon Sachtjen | 48.83
100 Breast
Max McHugh | 50.19 (A)
Eitan Yudashkin | 53.22 (B)
200 Butterfly
Kaiser Neverman | 1:45.45 (B)
Isaac Barrera | 1:48.16
William Christenson | 1:48.26
100 Butterfly
Nathan Kim | 49.63
NCAA Cuts
50 Freestyle
Lucas Farrar | 19.64 (B)
500 Freestyle
Sawyer Grimes | 4:19.53 (B)
James Freeman | 4:19.95 (B)
Cameron Kelley | 4:22.61 (B)
100 Backstroke
Gavin Olson | 47.31 (B)
100 Breaststroke
Max McHugh | 50.19 (A)
Eitan Yudashkin | 53.22 (B)
200 Breaststroke
Max McHugh | 1:53.17 (B)
Eitan Yudashkin | 1:55.22 (B)
100 Butterfly
Tom Donker | 47.25 (B)
200 Butterfly
Kaiser Neverman | 1:45.45 (B)
200 Individual Medley
Kaiser Neverman | 1:46.13 (B)
400 Individual Medley
Sawyer Grimes | 3:49.50 (B)
400 Medley Relay
Olson, McHugh, Neverman, Farrar | 3:06.96 (B)
Notable
"It was so fun to get up and race tonight," said junior Max McHugh. "With the team cheering me on, it was so fun to represent them and the University of Minnesota. The Big Ten is the fastest conference in the country in the breaststroke and I'm just really glad I got to compete against such great competition. I'm happy with the swim tonight, and really excited to see what I can do in a couple weeks at NCAAs."
Up Next
Saturday morning will be the final day of competition for the 2021 Big Ten Championships, with action kicking off at 10 a.m. CT on BTN+. Day five's morning session will feature the 100 free, 200 back and 200 breast, and the 1650 free will begin at 3:15 p.m. CT.
Junior Max McHugh claimed the brightest spotlight of the day for the Gophers, as he thoroughly dominated the 100 breaststroke from start to finish before ultimately defending his 2020 title with a gold medal finish.
Entering the Championships as the top seed in the event, McHugh started the day off as strong as he possibly could by touching first in the preliminary session in an incredible 50.19 seconds. How incredible is that time? It stands as the fastest in the nation, the Minnesota school record, the McCorkle Aquatic Center pool record, the Big Ten Championship Meet record and the fifth-fastest of any swimmer in history. Incredible.
Heading comfortably into the night's finals session after creating nearly a full second gap between himself and every other competitor in the prelim round, McHugh was a heavy favorite to win the event for a second consecutive year, though it wasn't as simple as he may have hoped. After outpacing the eventual second and third place finishers by only a mere 0.06 through the first fifty, the Sturgeon Bay, Wis. native tore through the final lap to claim his second career B1G Champion title in a time of 50.59.
With McHugh's 2021 title, the Gophers have now had at least one Big Ten Champion on their roster in each of the past four seasons.
McHugh wasn't the only Gopher competing in the 100 breast finals. Senior Eitan Yudashkin had an excellent finals session as well, setting a new lifetime best and an NCAA 'B' cut time at 53.22 as he won the night's 'C' final to finish 17th overall. The performance marks his second cut of the season, having notched his first on Wednesday night in the 200 breast.
Freshman Kaiser Neverman had himself a night as well, registering his best individual finish of the Championships by touching 10th overall in the 200 fly. What makes it even more impressive, however, is the manner in which he did so.
Coming into the Championships, Neverman had already hit the 'B' standard time in the event during the Gophers' Jan. 23 tri-dual at 1:46.59. In his first performance of the day, Neverman just barely out-touched his previous best in a time of 1:46.28 to finish as the 13th overall seed and qualify for the night's 'B' final, and that's when the magic happened. Dropping just over 0.8 seconds off his prelim time, Neverman absolutely tore through the competition in his finals heat, jumping three spots to finish 10th overall with his best 'B' cut time of the season at 1:45.45 and one of the more impressive drops of the Championships for the Maroon and Gold.
Only one Gopher qualified for the night's session of the 100 back, as sophomore Gavin Olson recorded an 18th place finish in the event in a time of 47.46. Though the time stands as an NCAA 'B' cut, Olson had already notched his cut in the event two days prior at 47.31, his best of the season.
The night's relay event, the 200 freestyle relay, featured three of the Gophers' finals performers, as the team of Lucas Farrar, McHugh, Neverman and Yudashkin touched eighth in a time of 1:18.55.
Personal Bests
With another eight lifetime best performances on day four, the Gophers have now upped their Big Ten Championship count to 33.
100 Backstroke
Sam Kennedy | 48.81
Desmon Sachtjen | 48.83
100 Breast
Max McHugh | 50.19 (A)
Eitan Yudashkin | 53.22 (B)
200 Butterfly
Kaiser Neverman | 1:45.45 (B)
Isaac Barrera | 1:48.16
William Christenson | 1:48.26
100 Butterfly
Nathan Kim | 49.63
NCAA Cuts
50 Freestyle
Lucas Farrar | 19.64 (B)
500 Freestyle
Sawyer Grimes | 4:19.53 (B)
James Freeman | 4:19.95 (B)
Cameron Kelley | 4:22.61 (B)
100 Backstroke
Gavin Olson | 47.31 (B)
100 Breaststroke
Max McHugh | 50.19 (A)
Eitan Yudashkin | 53.22 (B)
200 Breaststroke
Max McHugh | 1:53.17 (B)
Eitan Yudashkin | 1:55.22 (B)
100 Butterfly
Tom Donker | 47.25 (B)
200 Butterfly
Kaiser Neverman | 1:45.45 (B)
200 Individual Medley
Kaiser Neverman | 1:46.13 (B)
400 Individual Medley
Sawyer Grimes | 3:49.50 (B)
400 Medley Relay
Olson, McHugh, Neverman, Farrar | 3:06.96 (B)
Notable
- Max McHugh defended his 2020 Big Ten title in the 100 breast, touching first in the night's 'A' final in a time of 50.20.
- McHugh set both the school and Big Ten Championship record during the morning's preliminary session with his time of 50.19, the fifth-fastest in history.
- Eight new personal bests were set on day four, including Max McHugh (100 breast - 50.19), Eitan Yudashkin (100 breast - 53.22), Sam Kennedy (100 back - 48.81), Desmon Sachtjen (100 back - 48.83), Kaiser Neverman (200 fly - 1:46.28), Isaac Barrera (200 fly - 1:48.16), William Christenson (200 fly- 1:48.26) and Nathan Kim (100 fly - 49.63).
- Senior team captain Eitan Yudashkin was named Minnesota's representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
"It was so fun to get up and race tonight," said junior Max McHugh. "With the team cheering me on, it was so fun to represent them and the University of Minnesota. The Big Ten is the fastest conference in the country in the breaststroke and I'm just really glad I got to compete against such great competition. I'm happy with the swim tonight, and really excited to see what I can do in a couple weeks at NCAAs."
Up Next
Saturday morning will be the final day of competition for the 2021 Big Ten Championships, with action kicking off at 10 a.m. CT on BTN+. Day five's morning session will feature the 100 free, 200 back and 200 breast, and the 1650 free will begin at 3:15 p.m. CT.
Jacob Johnson - B1G Silver Medal
Saturday, March 01
YuTong Wang Wins 2024 Big Ten 1M Title
Monday, March 04
Max McHugh Wins Two B1G Titles
Monday, February 27
Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center
Saturday, May 21