Down 40 points, in second place, to leading Minnesota at the start of the final day at the Big Ten Championships, the Indiana women's swimming and diving team had a lot on the line. The Hoosiers had won three consecutive Big Ten championships and four out of the last five, and if they wanted to extend that streak, they would have had a lot of work to do.
Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, that huge comeback fell short, as the Gophers won their fourth ever Big Ten championship by finishing with 680.5 points, 29.5 points ahead of the Hoosiers, who finished in second place with 651.
IU at one point on Saturday night had cut Minnesota's lead to only 4.5 points, after sophomores Brenna MacLean (1:56.77) and Lindsay Vrooman (1:59.08) finished in second and sixth respectively in the 200 yard butterfly. That was the closest the deficit would be, as in the next event - the platform dive - Minnesota had fourth, seventh, and twelfth place finishers, compared to IU's only top 16 finisher, senior Gabby Agostino, who finished in sixth. At that point in time, the Gophers extended the lead to 23.5 points.
Heading into the final event, the 400 yard freestyle relay, IU actually had multiple scenarios in which they could have won the entire meet. Had the Hoosiers won the event, and the Gophers finished in seventh or worse, or if the Hoosiers had finished in second and the Gophers in twelfth, Indiana would have been crowned Big Ten champions for the fourth consecutive year. All of that scenario talk ended though, when Minnesota finished in third in the event (3:16.22), and the Hoosiers in sixth (3:19.50), sealing Minnesota's championship.
In Saturday's other strong IU finishes, Vrooman won her first career Big Ten individual title in the 1650 yard freestyle with a time of 16:00.44, the third fastest in IU history; senior Allysa Vavra finished in third in the 200 yard breaststroke in a time of 2:08.79, the Indiana school record; and freshman Justine Ress finished in third in the 200 yard backstroke (1:54.41), just in front of junior Taylor Wohrley and freshman Allie Day, who tied for fourth in a time of 1:55.22.
