COLUMBUS – Friday night proved to be pretty dramatic at the Big Ten Women’s Championships with a relay DQ potentially being the deciding factor of the meet heading into the final day as Minnesota leads Indiana. Meanwhile, IU’s Brooklynn Snodgrass, the 200 back NCAA champ, downed a meet record in the 100 back tonight untaper.
The women’s 400-yard medley relay kicked off a dramatic night with a disqualification as the Indiana Hoosiers lost some big points with a quick relay takeover.
Wisconsin’s Annie Tamblyn (54.07), Anna Meinholz (1:00.17), Dana Grindall (51.97) and Ivy Martin (47.06) raced their way to a close victory with a 3:33.27.
Michigan’s Clara Smiddy (52.22), Emily Kopas (59.50), Zoe Mattingly (53.62) and Ali DeLoof (47.98) finished second in 3:33.32.
Ohio State’s Li Zhesi (53.31), Rachael Dzierzak (59.16), Aliena Schmidtke (52.56) and Annelise Jongekrijg (49.07) took third in 3:34.10.
Minnesota also cleared the NCAA A cut in the 400 medley relay with a 3:34.15.
Minnesota freshman Brooke Zeiger blitzed the field in the women’s 400-yard IM with an NCAA A cut time of 4:03.28. She still has plenty of time to drop to challenge the likes of Big Ten record holder Allysa Vavra’s 4:01.41, but no one else in the conference can compete with her at this point.
Ohio State’s Lindsey Clary churned her way to a second-place time of 4:08.07, while Wisconsin’s Aja Van Hout placed third with a 4:09.89.
After clocking a smoking 51.76 to qualify first this morning in the women’s 100-yard fly, Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin had enough in the tank to win the finale in 52.01.
Indiana’s Gia Dalesandro touched just behind Martin with a second-place 52.07, while Wisconsin’s Dana Grindall claimed third in 52.31.
The Hoosiers began staging a bit of a comeback in the 200 free with a huge 1-2 finish from freshman Kennedy Goss (1:44.15) and Haley Lips (1:44.68). The two went 1-2 in the 500 free last night.
Penn State’s Alyson Ackman rounded out the top three in 1:44.99 as she nearly split the difference between the two Hoosiers.
IU’s complete lack of breaststroking hurt them in the next event. Minnesota’s Kierra Smith clinched the 100-yard breast crown in 59.32 with Ohio State’s Rachael Dzierzak taking second in 59.61. Michigan’s Emily Kopas snagged third in 59.85.
Indiana’s Brooklynn Snodgrass then led a horde of Hoosiers in the women’s 100-yard back as she turned in a meet and pool record time of 51.51.
That swim cleared the 2009 meet record of fellow Hoosier Kate Fesenko (51.52) as well as the pool mark of Florida’s Gemma Spofforth (51.78) from 2008 NCAAs.
Snodgrass still has some time to drop to reclaim her conference record of 51.05 from last year.
Michigan’s Clara Smiddy (51.83) and Ali DeLoof (52.70) took second and third.
Meanwhile, IU’s Marie Chamberlain (52.91), Justine Ress (53.15) and Allie Day (53.40) went 4-7-8 to move IU back into second behind Minnesota.
Minnesota closed out a good day for the Gophers with Zhou Yu winning the three-meter diving event with 411.55 points. IU’s Jessica Parratto finished second with 372.45 points, while Nebraska’s Anna Filipcic placed third with 356.75 points.
Team Scores
[table “” not found /]2015 Big Ten Women’s Championships, Day Three – Results