Michigan, the four-time defending Big Ten champion, won the first two events on Wednesday in the conference meet.
Gophers swimmers off to good start at Big Ten meet
The Gophers are tied for third at Iowa City after two events.
February 26, 2015 at 9:10AM
Already seems like the other nine teams may be battling for second, held for now by Ohio State with 64 points. Michigan is in first with 80.
The Gophers are tied for third with Indiana. Both have 58 points. A year ago, when the Gophers finished fourth, they were in sixth place after Day 1.
But Wednesday, the Maroon and Gold got off to a good start. The team's 200 medley relay, which was seeded last, finished fourth in 1 minute, 25.71 seconds, chopping nearly five seconds off its time.
The swimmer were Daryl Turner, Conner McHugh, PaulFair and Ian Gordon. Turner is the lone returnee from last year's relay which place fifth.
In the 800 freestyle rleay, the Gophers foursome of Michael Nunan, Jakub Maly, Ben Bravence and Logan Redondo finished fifth in 6:25.03. Aside from Nunan, the others all swam on that relay a year ago, when its time (6:26.19) was more than a second slower and it placed sixth.
Thursday evening, there are five finals: 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 1-meter diving and 400 medley relay.
The Gophers will have a better idea where they stand this year after those events. They have some threats to place high in several of those events: Maly in the 200 IM, Turner in the 50 freestyle, and Manny Pollard and Matt Barnard in 1-meter diving.
The Gophers are still in the 18-team Big Ten’s top half -- for now, at least -- and Nebraska hopes to keep climbing.
