Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverines Open Big Tens With Pair of Medals
2/27/2019 9:14:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
» After the opening two relays, U-M is tied for first with Indiana (120 points).
» The foursome of Alex King, Will Chan, Miles Smachlo and Luiz Gustavo Borges won the 200-yard medley relay (1:22.76), overtaking Indiana on the anchor leg for the win.
» The Wolverines took silver in the 800-yard freestyle behind Patrick Callan, Charlie Swanson, Tommy Cope and Felix Auböck (6:13.16).
Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Campus Recreation and Wellness Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 1 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: T-1st of 13 Teams (120 points)
Next U-M Event: Thursday, Feb. 28 -- at Big Ten Championships - Day Two (Iowa City, Iowa), 11 a.m./6:30 p.m. CST
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team won the 200-yard medley relay and finished second in the 800-yard freestyle relay on the opening night of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 27) at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. After the opening two relays, U-M and Indiana are tied for the team lead (120 points).
"What a fantastic start," said head coach Mike Bottom. "The opening relay win gave us a lot of energy and got everyone on deck fired up. We want to try and have that same intensity every session for the rest of the meet and it starts tomorrow morning."
The Wolverines opened the meet with a bang, scoring the win in the 200-yard medley relay behind redshirt sophomore Alex King, freshman Will Chan, junior Miles Smachlo and sophomore Luiz Gustavo Borges. The quartet went 1:22.76, an NCAA 'A' cut and a new Big Ten Championships record. It is the third-fastest time in the country this year.
The foursome of Alex King, Will Chan, Miles Smachlo and Gus Borges won the 200-yard Medley Relay to open the Big Ten Championships, establishing a new meet record (1:22.76). #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/AuxXn72Hl2
— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) February 28, 2019
U-M stayed on Indiana the whole relay, but the turning point came at the halfway mark when Smachlo dove in for the butterfly. Despite a slower reaction time off the blocks and facing close to a half-second deficit, Smachlo made up for it with a 19.92 split, closing the gap to just .04 seconds heading into freestyle. Borges took it from there and anchored in 18.40 -- the fastest split of the relay -- to give Michigan the win.
Thirty minutes later, the foursome of freshman Patrick Callan and juniors Charlie Swanson, Tommy Cope and Felix Auböck were in the water, finishing second in the 800-yard freestyle relay (6:13.16). Callan opened the relay with a 1:33.54 split, the sixth-fastest for a 200-yard freestyle in school history. Swanson (1:33.61) and Cope (1:33.56) posted nearly identical splits on the second and third legs before Auböck dove in for the anchor and split 1:32.45, holding off Ohio State's Paul Delakis for the silver medal.
The Big Ten Championships continue Thursday (Feb. 28) at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center with preliminaries at 11 a.m. CST and event finals at 6:30 p.m. CST.
TEAM STANDINGS (After Day 1)
T1. MICHIGAN 120
Indiana 120
3. Ohio State 108
4. Minnesota 100
5. Wisconsin 96
T6. Purdue 92
Northwestern 92
Penn State 92
9. Iowa 88
10. Michigan State 68
200-yard Medley Relay
1. MICHIGAN 1:22.76*% (Alex King, Will Chan, Miles Smachlo, Luiz Gustavo Borges)
800-yard Freestyle Relay
1. Indiana 6:11.02P (Mohamed Samy, Vini Lanza, Zach Apple, Ian Finnerty) 2. MICHIGAN 6:13.16* (Patrick Callan, Charlie Swanson, Tommy Cope, Felix Auböck) * NCAA 'A' standard # NCAA 'B' standard ^ NCAA Zone Diving standard A American Record N NCAA Record B Big Ten Record % Big Ten Championships Record M University of Michigan Record P Pool Record
Players Mentioned
