With the regular season coming to an end, Minnesota’s men’s swimming and diving has one more chance to shine at home at the Big Ten Championships.
The last time the Gophers competed against Big Ten opponents, the team swept Northwestern and Purdue with scores of 232.50-120.50 and 248-105.
At the meet, Bar Soloveychik broke his own 1000m freestyle record with a time of 8:52.95. The 200m medley team of Soloveychik, Tyler Hansen, Joey Tepper and Davide Harabagiu also broke their season record with a time of 1:25.27.
Minnesota’s recent First Chance Meet Feb. 7 and 8 included swimmers Luke Leonidas and Jaden Heinlein breaking three personal records. Both Leonidas and Heinlein broke their 200m individual records with times of 1:47.17 and 1:48.96.
Men’s swimming head coach Mike Joyce will coach eight freshmen swimmers at the Big Ten Championships. One of the freshmen competing is Jacob Johnson, who is looking to add to his already impressive season.
Johnson received four Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors this season and broke his own school record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:41.70.
YuTong Wang was named the Big Ten’s Diver of the Week four times this season. Wang broke a nine-year school record for the three-meter dive by scoring 472.05 at the Minnesota triple dual on Jan. 31.
Fans packed the Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center on Oct. 11, 2024, for their meet against the Army and broke an attendance record with 1,058 attendees.
“It was so fun to have the swimming and diving community, our alumni, and supporters, show up in full force that night,” Minnesota head coach Kelly Kremer said.
Minnesota’s other non-conference wins include a season-opening 241-59 win against South Dakota, a 251-49 win against South Dakota State and a 251-47 win against St. Thomas.
The team enters the Big Ten Championships with only one conference loss at Wisconsin by a score of 142-158. The loss to Wisconsin ended Minnesota’s four straight wins to begin the season.
Minnesota’s Kaiser Neverman recorded two individual wins in the loss, finishing with times of 1:44.45 in the individual medley (IM) and 46.18 in the 100m breaststroke.
All of Minnesota’s losses occurred in Arizona, losing to the University of Arizona and 2024 National Champions Arizona State in back-to-back weekends in January.
The loss to Arizona included two individual first-place finishes for Tepper in the 200m backstroke and 400 IM.
Against Arizona State, the diving team won two individual events, with Wang scoring 417.00 on the three-meter dive and junior Drew Bennett scoring 346.95 on the one-meter.
At last year’s Big Ten Championships, Solveychik, Wang and Neverman all earned medals.
Minnesota’s women’s swimming and diving team recently finished sixth at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Diver Vivi Del Angel earned a silver medal and swimmer Eliot Kennedy earned a bronze medal.
The men’s Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships runs from Feb. 25 through March 1 at the Jean K. Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
