University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, February 25
Ann Arbor, Mich.
9 AM (Prelims), 4 PM (Finals)
University of Minnesota
at
Big Ten Championships
Players Mentioned
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Sprint Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Back/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breaststroke/Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Distance Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Backstroke
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke/Butterfly/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
McHugh Claims B1G Breaststroke Titles For Third Year in a Row
2/25/2023 8:30:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS – Max McHugh put himself squarely in the conversation as the greatest breaststroker in Big Ten history as he completed the sweep of the events for the third year in a row as the 2023 Big Ten Championships concluded Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
One night after winning the 100 breast for the fourth year in a row, McHugh claimed the crown in the 200 breast for the third straight season after a dominant win.
McHugh entered Saturday night's finals as the No. 3 seed following Saturday morning's prelims. That may simply have been to have as full of a tank as possible for the finals as he led wire-to-wire and got stronger as the race carried on.
He led by .25 after the first 50 yards then by .65 at the halfway mark. The lead was then 1.05 at the 150-yard mark, while his finishing time of 1:50.20 was 1.03 seconds ahead of second place. The time was an automatic qualifying mark for next month's NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
Saturday night's win was historic for McHugh in several ways. It was the seventh individual Big Ten title of his career, breaking the school record of six held by Steve Jackman, who competed from 1961-63. McHugh is also now one of 23 male swimmers in conference history to win at least that many individual titles.
It also made McHugh the third male swimmer in Big Ten history to sweep the breaststroke events in three consecutive years, joining Michigan's Paul Scheerer (1965-67) and Indiana's Cody Miller (2011-13).
The gold medal was the exclamation mark for the Minnesota men's swimming and diving team as it finished fifth in the team standings with 785 points. That's the team's highest finish since also taking fifth in 2019. Indiana came in first with 1595.5 points, while Ohio State (1290.5), host-Michigan (1163) and Wisconsin (1014.5) followed.
In all 16 different Gophers recorded points led by sophomore Bar Solovechik's 80, while McHugh had 64 and junior Kaiser Neverman added 57.
In addition to McHugh, Minnesota also got a medal from Soloveychik. It was his second silver after taking second place in the 500 free on Thursday. Saturday, he finished runner-up in the 1650 free with his personal-record time of 14:50.93 that now ranks third in program annals. Junior Chris Nagy was two places behind Soloveychik in fourth at 14:57.63, while fellow junior William Christenson broke his personal record at 15:08.92 to claim 11th.
For their performances, McHugh was named First-Team All-Big Ten for the fourth straight year, while Soloveychik, who was Minnesota's top point-scorer for the championships at 80, was named Second-Team All-Big Ten for the first time in his career.
Senior captain Desmon Sachtjen was the top seed in the 200 back finals as he broke his own school record in the prelims. It was last year in the Big Ten prelims that he initially set the mark at 1:42.10, while this year he knocked nearly a second off of it by touching first at 1:41.11. He ultimately finished seventh in the finals at 1:42.64, the third-fastest time in the event in school history.
In the 'B' final of the 200 back, junior Casey Stowe took 13th in a personal best 1:42.93, while freshman Alberto Hernandez was one spot behind him at 1:44.03.
One more individual podium finish belonged to junior Kaiser Neverman in the 200 fly as he took eighth place in 1:45.50, while senior Isaac Barrera posted a season-best time of 1:47.76 to place 21st.
Four Gophers were in action in the 100 free finals with sophomore Chris Morris leading the way in the 'B' final with a 14th-place finish at 43.85. In the 'C' final, redshirt junior Lucas Farrar (44.04) was 19th, followed by junior Matt McDonald (44.56) in 21st and freshman Lovro Serdarevic (44.86) in 24th.
In diving, freshman Drew Bennett reached the consolation finals on the platform and finished 10th with a score of 315.65.
The Gophers' 400 free relay team of Morris, Neverman, Farrar and Serdarevic closed out the championships by coming fifth with a season-best time of 2:53.97.
Minnesota can now stay home for the remainder of the season as the Zone Diving Championships (March 7-9) and NCAA Championships (March 22-25) will both be held at the Gophers' home pool at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. The selection show for the NCAAs is March 8 at 11 a.m. CT.
One night after winning the 100 breast for the fourth year in a row, McHugh claimed the crown in the 200 breast for the third straight season after a dominant win.
McHugh entered Saturday night's finals as the No. 3 seed following Saturday morning's prelims. That may simply have been to have as full of a tank as possible for the finals as he led wire-to-wire and got stronger as the race carried on.
He led by .25 after the first 50 yards then by .65 at the halfway mark. The lead was then 1.05 at the 150-yard mark, while his finishing time of 1:50.20 was 1.03 seconds ahead of second place. The time was an automatic qualifying mark for next month's NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
Saturday night's win was historic for McHugh in several ways. It was the seventh individual Big Ten title of his career, breaking the school record of six held by Steve Jackman, who competed from 1961-63. McHugh is also now one of 23 male swimmers in conference history to win at least that many individual titles.
It also made McHugh the third male swimmer in Big Ten history to sweep the breaststroke events in three consecutive years, joining Michigan's Paul Scheerer (1965-67) and Indiana's Cody Miller (2011-13).
The gold medal was the exclamation mark for the Minnesota men's swimming and diving team as it finished fifth in the team standings with 785 points. That's the team's highest finish since also taking fifth in 2019. Indiana came in first with 1595.5 points, while Ohio State (1290.5), host-Michigan (1163) and Wisconsin (1014.5) followed.
In all 16 different Gophers recorded points led by sophomore Bar Solovechik's 80, while McHugh had 64 and junior Kaiser Neverman added 57.
In addition to McHugh, Minnesota also got a medal from Soloveychik. It was his second silver after taking second place in the 500 free on Thursday. Saturday, he finished runner-up in the 1650 free with his personal-record time of 14:50.93 that now ranks third in program annals. Junior Chris Nagy was two places behind Soloveychik in fourth at 14:57.63, while fellow junior William Christenson broke his personal record at 15:08.92 to claim 11th.
For their performances, McHugh was named First-Team All-Big Ten for the fourth straight year, while Soloveychik, who was Minnesota's top point-scorer for the championships at 80, was named Second-Team All-Big Ten for the first time in his career.
Senior captain Desmon Sachtjen was the top seed in the 200 back finals as he broke his own school record in the prelims. It was last year in the Big Ten prelims that he initially set the mark at 1:42.10, while this year he knocked nearly a second off of it by touching first at 1:41.11. He ultimately finished seventh in the finals at 1:42.64, the third-fastest time in the event in school history.
In the 'B' final of the 200 back, junior Casey Stowe took 13th in a personal best 1:42.93, while freshman Alberto Hernandez was one spot behind him at 1:44.03.
One more individual podium finish belonged to junior Kaiser Neverman in the 200 fly as he took eighth place in 1:45.50, while senior Isaac Barrera posted a season-best time of 1:47.76 to place 21st.
Four Gophers were in action in the 100 free finals with sophomore Chris Morris leading the way in the 'B' final with a 14th-place finish at 43.85. In the 'C' final, redshirt junior Lucas Farrar (44.04) was 19th, followed by junior Matt McDonald (44.56) in 21st and freshman Lovro Serdarevic (44.86) in 24th.
In diving, freshman Drew Bennett reached the consolation finals on the platform and finished 10th with a score of 315.65.
The Gophers' 400 free relay team of Morris, Neverman, Farrar and Serdarevic closed out the championships by coming fifth with a season-best time of 2:53.97.
Minnesota can now stay home for the remainder of the season as the Zone Diving Championships (March 7-9) and NCAA Championships (March 22-25) will both be held at the Gophers' home pool at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. The selection show for the NCAAs is March 8 at 11 a.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