Following an undefeated regular season, the IU men’s swimming team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the Big Ten Men’s Swimming Championships last week at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The Hoosiers entered the meet on the heels of dual-meet wins against Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.
Competition began Tuesday afternoon with IU getting out to an early second place position thanks to a third place finish in the 200 medley relay by the team of freshman Tomer Frankel, sophomore Brendan Burns and juniors Zane Backes and Jack Franzman, who finished with a time of 1:23.35.
The Hoosiers built on their momentum from the day before on Wednesday night with junior Van Mathias earning a second place time of 1:43.61 in the 200 individual medley andand Franzman accomplishing a personal best of 19.14 in the 50 freestyle, which also earned him a second place finish in the event.
Senior Gabriel Fantoni, junior Zane Backes and Burns and Franzman also won first place in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:02.57.
IU remained at second place entering Thursday afternoon with 574.5 points, trailing only host school Ohio State, who was ahead by 54.5 points.
In the 100 butterfly, IU took the first, second and fourth place spots on the podium. Mathias took fourth with a time of 46.22, Burns finished as the runner up at 45.26 and Frankel won first with a personal best finish of 44.91, earning him his first-career Big Ten individual championship.
Frankel also earned a bronze medal with a third place finish of 1:33.27 in the 200 freestyle on Thursday evening.
Friday started with Fantoni finishing in first place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 45.34. This finish marked Fantoni’s fourth consecutive Big Ten gold medal in the competition and his sixth overall.
Burns continued his success with a 1:39.22 first place finish in the 200 butterfly. His 1:39:22 mark was a personal best in the event, but was also a Big Ten Championship meet record and IU record
The day concluded with the 200 freestyle relay team consisting of junior Brandon Hamblin, Frankel, Franzman and Mathias winning the event with a time of 1:16.24. The team’s win marked the third year in a row an IU team has won the event.
IU sat on top of the Big Ten leaderboard with a first place score of 1,036.5 points entering the final day of competition.
Burns saw more success with a career-best victory in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:39.37.
The Hoosiers’ relay team of Frankel, Van Mathias, Burns and Franzman also took first in the 400 freestyle Relay, claiming the program’s sixth consecutive title in the event with a time of 2:49.20.
But IU’s 26.5 point lead entering the day was then squashed by a Michigan team led by freshman Jacob Mitchell and junior Kevin Callan, with wins in the 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay and 500 freestyle.
Still, Brendan Burns earned Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships honors after winning four gold medals in the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay.
When asked about his record-breaking week, Burns said, “I thought my performances were good and set me up well for success at NCAAs.”
Burns will swim in the 2021 NCAA championships Mar. 24 through 27 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The sophomore is excited to compete individually in a few weeks, but disappointed that competition with his teammates ended without a title, Burns said
“As a team, it’s disappointing not to be coming home with the trophy, especially after going into the final prelims session with a lead,” Burns said. “We’ll be back next year.”
IU’s second place finish in the Big Ten Championships marked the eleventh consecutive season of the Hoosiers finishing inside the top 3 at the competition.
