5 Things to Know: Big Ten Championships

Wednesday, February 27

Iowa City, IA

6:30 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Championships

5 Things to Know: Big Ten Championships

February 26, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

Wisconsin men geared up for conference meet in Iowa City

MADISON, Wis.–The Wisconsin men's swimming and diving team is locked and loaded for the 2019 Big Ten Championships this Wednesday through Saturday at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center in Iowa City, Iowa. Before the Badgers hit the blocks, here are five things to know.

1. A Look Back: Polished by a plethora of breakout performances from MJ Mao, Cameron Tysoe, Matthew Novinski and Michael Milinovich, the Badgers placed sixth at last season's Big Ten championships, with 696 points.

Mao, meeting the Big Ten championship scene for his first time as a then-freshman, grouped up with Novinski, Chris Wills and Tyler Zelen in the 200-yard medley relay that clocked in at 1 minute, 26.40 seconds, a time that still stands as the third-fastest mark in UW history.

In the 200 backstroke, Tysoe tallied a seventh-place mark of 1:43.40.

With a time of 3:44.01, Milinovich finished fourth in the 400 individual medley, good for Wisconsin's second-fastest mark in that event.

2. Mao's Magic: A two-time Big Ten Swimmer of the Week as a sophomore this year, Mao will look to capitalize on his early-season magic this week at the Big Ten championships. The product of Honolulu, Hawaii, holds three top-10 conference marks this year in the 100 breaststroke (53.26), 200 breaststroke (1:55.14) and 100 butterfly (47.20).

3. Rankings Rundown: Wisconsin cracked the Top 25 in the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll on the week of Oct. 24, but has since gone unranked.

No. 2 Indiana, No. 6 Michigan, and No. 13 Ohio State and No. 24 Purdue are the league's four ranked teams heading into Big Ten championships.

4. New Sheriff in Town:The Badgers men will embark on a Big Ten championships trip for the first time under the leadership of head coach Yuri Suguiyama.

Assistant coach Neil Caskey and diving coach Anton Slobounov return for Badgers. This season marks Caskey's fourth and Slobounov's seventh year with Wisconsin.

5. Live Look: The Big Ten championships — including the daily 11 a.m. preliminary sessions and 6:30 p.m. finals sessions — will be streamed live via BTN Plus, which can be accessed at BTN2Go.com or on the BTN2Go mobile app.

Live results from the meet can also be found on the Meet Mobile app and via the men's swimming and diving schedule page on UWBadgers.com.

For all things Badgers at the 2019 Big Ten Championships, be sure to also follow the Badgers on Twitter (@BadgerSwimDive), Instagram (BadgerSwimDive), and on UWBadgers.com.