Hawkeye swimming/diving enters school record books at Big Ten Championships
The Iowa men concluded Day 2 of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships by taking down school records.
Anze Fers Erzen competes in the Men’s 200 Individual Medley bonus final during the second day of the 2019 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the CRWC on Thursday, February 28, 2019. Fers Erzen placed sixth in the bonus final with a time of 1:46:92.
February 28, 2019
Day 2 of the men’s swimming and diving Big Ten Championships has concluded, and the Iowa men continued to break school and personal records.
Eight Hawkeye athletes qualified for Day 2’s finals: freshmen Andrew Fierke, Mateusz Arndt, and Anz Fers Erezen, sophomore Anton Hoherz, juniors Michael Tenney, Will Scott, and Joe Myhre, and senior Will Brenner.
Of the qualifiers, Fers Erzen came the closest to bringing down a record, swimming his way to second in program history in the preliminaries of the 200 individual medley. In the bonus finals he solidified his time with a personal record (1:46.92). Redshirt senior Kenneth Mende (1:47.42) and sophomore Daniel Swanepoel (1:47.80) also swam into the record books but in the preliminaries at Nos. 3 and 5, respectively.
“The atmosphere the team had was awesome, and I really enjoyed it,” Fers Erzen said. “It was more of a race against the people, but I knew I was going to be pretty close to the record. I wasn’t really concerned about it because I know I still have three more years to get it.”
Myhre (19.65) and Scott (19.73) came close as well, swimming their way into the record books in the prelims of the 50-free with the third and seventh-best finishes of all time.
Myhre finished second in the “B” final earning 10th place in the 50 free. Scott had to earn his way into the “C” final with the time of 19.73 in a swim-off after he and redshirt freshman Aleksey Tarasenko tied in the preliminaries at 19.83. That mark was Tarasenko’s personal record and takes the No. 9 spot in the record books.
Tenney (4:21.20) and Arndt (4:21.31) swam to NCAA “B” qualifying standards in the 500 free, earning sixth and eighth-place in program history with their personal-record times. After competing in the “B” final, Tenney finished 11th and Arndt 12th. Fierke also squeaked his way into the record book of the 500 free at No. 9 with a personal best time of 4:21.62.
Diving also enjoyed a glimpse of success — Hoherz earned the lone spot in the “A” final for the Hawkeyes with a 340.70 in the preliminaries. He finished eighth overall on the 1-meter springboard with 320.65. Brenner would beat his preliminarie score, earning 10th overall after a score of 357.45 in the consolation finals.
To wrap up Day 2, the team of Mende, Swanepoel, Tenney, and Myhre swam the 400-medley relay for the Hawkeyes. The Iowa men came into the event ranked No. 7 (3:14.60). By finishing 3:09.35, the Hawkeye men took seventh overall, ranking third in program history.
“We’re proud of how they raced today because mostly since we’re so young,” Iowa head coach Marc Long said. “We’re putting ourselves into these positions, and then when we get there, they’re continuing to race. In swimming, people are thinking about their clock, and the more you can put that focus on racing and competing to take away that clock and realize you’re against people, the better you’re going to do and let that natural athletic ability come out.”
After Day 2 of the men’s Big Ten Championships, the Iowa men are sixth, 235 points.
With the conference championships continuing, the Hawkeye men will return for Day 3; the preliminaries will be at 11 a.m. and the finals will be at 6:30 p.m. The events will be the 100 fly, 400 individual medley, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving, and the 200-free relay.
