#3 Michigan Men's Swim wins 41st B1G Championship

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on February 29th, 2020 at 9:22 PM

It's been 4 long years. Way too long for this storied program, the top in the history of the sport.

Longtime aquatics rival Indiana had won the last 3 B1G Championships. And this year they were hosting the B1G Championships at Counsilman Billingsley A.C. in Bloomington. 

Michigan nearly led this meet wire to wire. Indiana won the first relay race on Wednesday but Michigan countered with a championship in the 800 Free Relay with #17 OSU taking second and stealing points from Indiana. That would be a theme in this meet.

Michigan dominated morning prelims from Thursday to today, loading up the finals sessions with multiple Wolverines in nearly every event. Getting multiple guys in the championship finals is way more valuable than having just one guy in the A final and take the title.

Michigan had a great combination of both. 

Michigan added 7 Individual B1G Champions to their conference-leading all-time total of 491(!!!)

  • 800-yard Freestyle Relay- Kevin Callan, Felix Auböck, Charlie Swanson & Tommy Cope (6:11.46)
  • 500-yard Freestyle- Felix Auböck (4:10.14)
  • 1-Meter Diving- Ross Todd (385.20 points)
  • 100-yard Butterfly- Miles Smachlo (45.05)
  • 400-yard Individual Medley- Charlie Swanson (3:40.26)
  • 1,650-yard Freestyle- Felix Auböck (14:30.10)
  • 200-yard Breaststroke- Tommy Cope (1:51.44)

As discussed the other day, Ross Todd's B1G Championship on the diving board is our first in any diving event since 2004. Todd also took the silver medal in 3-Meter Diving and the bronze on Platform.

Felix Auböck is gonna down a legend in the history of this program. The Austrian Olympian 4-peated as the B1G Champion in BOTH the 500 Freestyle and the 1,650 Freestyle becoming the first man in the conference to do so since Michigan's Chris Thompson from 1998-2001. 

Charlie Swanson also had a career-long stranglehold on the 400 IM, 4-peating as B1G Champion in that event each year of his career.

But most importantly both men and the rest of their senior classmates will leave Michigan with a B1G Championship ring. 

Final team standings

  1. #3 Michigan - 1548
  2. #17 Ohio State - 1329
  3. #4 Indiana - 1321.5
  4. Wisconsin - 834.5
  5. #22 Northwestern - 665
  6. #20 Iowa - 571
  7. Purdue - 561
  8. Minnesota - 551
  9. Penn State - 531
  10. Michigan State - 309

Teeba

March 1st, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^

In one sport, the competitors swim really fast to try to win a ribbon. In the competition you derided the other day, the competitors run really fast to try to win a multi-million dollar contract. In the end, there’s no real difference except for your prejudice against individuals relative to team sports.

Joined: 09/25/2019

MGoPoints: 3282

UM Fan from Sydney

March 1st, 2020 at 6:59 AM ^

Simply INCREDIBLE, devoted. I’m a huge college ??‍♂️ fan. I follow it more than ?.

Joined: 09/17/2015

MGoPoints: 58076

DonAZ

March 1st, 2020 at 7:17 AM ^

If Michigan is #3 and Indiana is #4, who is #1 and #2 nationally?

I searched around and saw one list that Stanford, Auburn, and California as 1,2,and 3.  I imagine like football there are different polls.  What poll are you using that shows Michigan #3, and who's ahead of them?

Joined: 12/05/2011

MGoPoints: 16761