Ohio State then-junior swimmer Lindsey Clary competes at the Big Ten championships in February, 2016. Credit: OSU Athletics
Senior Lindsey Clary captured a Big Ten championship title in the 400-yard individual medley for the second consecutive year and her third individual Big Ten title of her career.
Clary won the event with a time of 4:04.09, dropping two seconds off her time in the preliminaries to seal the championship.
The Buckeyes had four top-10 finishers in the 400-yard individual medley, while no other school had more than one. In addition to Clary’s triumph, junior Meg Bailey and freshman Kathrin Demler finished in the top five with times of 4:08.35 and 4:09.75 respectively, and freshman Molly Kowal finished 10th with a time of 4:12.64. The success of these four made this the strongest event for the Buckeyes so far this weekend.
Junior Liz Li had another stellar turnout on Friday after taking home a Big Ten title the previous day. Li placed second overall in the 100-yard butterfly with a time 50.90, breaking her own OSU record.
Li also contributed to another OSU record Friday, alongside teammates sophomore Maria Coy, junior Macie McNichols and junior Cheyenne Meek. The foursome combined for a new OSU record of 1:27.99 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, earning the Buckeyes a second-place finish, as well as an automatic bid to the NCAA championships.
The Buckeyes remained in fifth place through Friday’s competition — behind Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin respectively.
The final day of competition continues tomorrow with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. and finals kicking off at 6:30 p.m., again. Fans will be able to watch the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, platform diving, and 400-yard freestyle relay.
