Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Michigan Medals in Both Relays to Open Big Ten Championships
2/26/2020 7:14:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
» The Wolverines opened the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 26) with a gold medal in the 800-yard freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 200-yard medley relay.
» The foursome of Patrick Callan, Felix Auböck, Charlie Swanson and Tommy Cope won the 800-yard freestyle relay in 6:11.46, the third-best time in the NCAA this season.
» U-M took second in the 200-yard medley relay behind Eric Storms, Will Chan, Miles Smachlo and Luiz Gustavo Borges.
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman Billinglsey Aquatic Center)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Day 1 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: 1st place of 10 Teams (120 points)
Next U-M Event: Thursday, Feb. 27 -- at Big Ten Championships - Day 2 (Bloomington, Ind.), 11 a.m./6:30 p.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team won a pair of relay medals to open the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 26) at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center. After the opening two relays, U-M is in first place (120 points).
Though the session was short, U-M ended it with fireworks, winning the 800-yard freestyle relay for the first time since 2016. The foursome of sophomore Patrick Callan, senior Felix Auböck, senior Charlie Swanson and senior Tommy Cope brought home the gold in 6:11.46, the third-best time in the NCAA this season. It also broke the old pool record, set by Michigan during their Big Ten- and NCAA Championship-winning season in 2013.
Callan led off in 1:32.90, which was .01 better than his career best for a 200-yard freestyle, while Auböck had the fastest split of the relay, going 1:31.85. At the halfway point, Michigan trailed Ohio State -- who was in lane one -- by more than a second, but everything changed when Swanson dove in for the third leg. He split 1:33.08, while Ohio State's Mathew Abeysinghe went 1:35.91, giving Cope, the anchor, a near two-second lead with 200 yards to go. Cope came home in 1:33.63 to secure the gold by nearly four seconds over the Buckeyes.
WATCH: Tommy Cope anchors the team's winning 800-yard freestyle relay at the Big Ten Championships, winning by nearly four seconds over Ohio State. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/hPLolT5QQx
— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) February 26, 2020
The Wolverines opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The foursome of sophomore Eric Storms, sophomore Will Chan, senior Miles Smachlo and junior Luiz Gustavo Borges finished at 1:24.16, the sixth-best time in the nation this season. Borges anchored in 18.82.
The Big Ten Championships will continue Thursday (Feb. 27) at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center. Preliminaries begin at 11 a.m., with diving beginning at 1 p.m. Finals are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. Both preliminaries and finals sessions will be streamed live via BTN Plus.
Career Bests
200-yard Freestyle: Patrick Callan (1:32.90 -- No. 4 at U-M)
Michigan Results
Team Standings
1. MICHIGAN 120
2. Indiana 118
3. Ohio State 108
4. Wisconsin 100
5. Penn State 96
6. Purdue 94
Iowa 94
8. Minnesota 90
9. Northwestern 88
10. Michigan State 68
200-yard Medley Relay
1. Indiana 1:23.07*P (Gabriel Fantoni, Zane Backes, Brendan Burns, Bruno Blaskovic) 2. MICHIGAN 1:24.16* (Eric Storms, Will Chan, Miles Smachlo, Luiz Gustavo Borges)
800-yard Freestyle Relay
1. MICHIGAN 6:11.46*P (Patrick Callan, Felix Auböck, Charlie Swanson, Tommy Cope)
* 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
