By Carter Melrose
The story of the second day of the Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships started and ended with the 50 freestyle. This was the race many thought Iowa could cash in big, but that didn’t go according to plan, with sophomore Jack Smith taking 12th place in the event and missing the A-finals.
Smith was seen as a possible A-finalist swimmer. He came in with the 11th best time in the Big Ten. This Big Ten dream fell apart when seven out of eight swimmers who made the A-finals had career-bests in the preliminary race. Smith finished a spot behind what his times had predicted, but he still managed to race for a lifetime best as well (seventh in school history). This should display the level of competition in this event. Smith made it to the B-finals in the 50 free.
Notably, Will Scott raced a season best in the 50 freestyle and nabbed the eighth-best time in school history right behind Smith.
Smith continued to swim his best races of the year in the B-finals by eclipsing his lifetime best and taking third place.
In diving, sophomore Will Brenner snatched 10th place in the 1-meter dive preliminaries; he had an 11th-place performance in last year’s Big Tens. Brenner hoped to splash his way into the A-finals, but history repeated itself as Brenner could only reach the B-finals.
In the B-finals, Brenner dove so well that he was granted second place, which meant 10th among the pack. Interestingly, if Brenner qualified for the A-finals, he would have gotten seventh.
Today, the ever-exciting junior Jerzy Twarowski will race in the 100 buttefly. He ranks 12th among the field in this event. Sophomore Kenneth Mende will swim the 100 backstroke, and he eyes a top-10 finish.
