Big Ten Notes: Day 4
February 28, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 28, 2010
Swim of the Day: The Dan Lester show continued Saturday in Columbus at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. The freshman from Brisbane, Australia, had already stacked up fifth- and third- place finishes for the Badgers during the first two days of the meet, but he wasn’t done. Lester saved his best swim for last, as he swam into tonight’s finals with a No. 3 seed in the championship final of the 200 yard butterfly. In the evening session, Lester continued to impress with a second-place finish at an improved finals time of 1:43.30. Even more impressive was the race itself, as Lester and Michigan sophomore Dan Madwed swam away from the entire field making it an exciting two-man race with Madwed out-touching Lester in the end. With Lester’s amazing week in Columbus, he is easily the Badger’s swimmer of the meet after his second-, third-, and fifth-place performances.
Dive of the Day: Prior to this season, freshman Michael Ross had never practiced or competed in the platform diving competition. The discipline that incorporates platforms at heights of 5, 7, and 10 meters was a new addition to the rookie diver’s repertoire. Despite the lack of practice, Ross didn’t disappoint on Saturday, as he dove his way to a 12th-place finish. With a final score of 320.25, Ross finished Big Tens off for the Badgers divers, who will travel to College Station, Texas, on March 12-14 for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.
Rookie Note: Coming into Saturday’s morning session, freshman Marcus Guttmann had one thing in mind – this afternoon’s timed final in the 1,650-yard freestyle (or, as it’s better know, “the mile”). However, he surprised even himself with a blistering performance in the 200-yard butterfly. Just missing the top 8, Guttmann swam his way into the consolation finals with a time of 1:46.88. With the prospect of a good showing in the consolations, the coaches decided to scratch Guttmann from the mile so he could focus on the 200 fly. With some extra rest, Guttmann didn’t disappoint and shaved .08 seconds from his prelims time en route to a 10th-place finish.
Non-Badger Note: It was an Olympic-like performance in the diving well on Saturday night as defending NCAA platform champion David Boudia of Purdue dove his way to another Big Ten championship. The Boilermakers sophomore and 2008 Olympian awed the crowd as he received 10s on his first two dives on his way to a commanding final score of 527.60.
Quote of the Day: “I want to thank all the seniors and captains … it’s been a great year and I’ve had a lot of fun.” – Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner and freshman Austin Cox prior to Saturday’s final session of the championships.
Final Recap: After four days of competition, Ohio State came away with the team title, beating out defending Big Ten champion Michigan by a final score of 860.5 to 715.5. In a competition that went down to the final relay, the Badgers finished in eighth-place with a final team score of 217, only six points behind sixth-place Iowa. Up next, the Badgers will be looking ahead to next month’s NCAA championships. While no one received an automatic “A” cut into the meet, Lester’s times in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 fly appear to be fast enough to be invited. The remainder of the men’s team will have to wait a week and a half to find out if they also made the cut. For those that did, they’ll be back on their way to Columbus, as this year’s NCAAs will take place at Ohio State from March 25-27.
