2025 BIG TEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19 – Saturday, February 22
- Location: McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH
- Teams: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
- Defending champions: Indiana (1x)
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Video: B1G+
- Results: Day 1
- Recaps:
- Ups/Mids/Downs
500 FREESTYLE – FINALS
Big Ten Meet Record – 4:34.40, G Ryan (MICH) – 2017Big Ten Record – 4:34.09, Anna Peplowski (IU) – 2024- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 4:36.89
- Defending Champion: Katie Crom, Michigan – 4:37.24
Full Results:
- Anna Peplowski (IU)- 4:33.96 **New Meet and Conference Record**
- Claire Tuggle (USC)- 4:35.43
- Hannah Bellard(MICH)- 4:36.96
- Mila Nikanorov (OSU)- 4:37.43
- Ching Gan (IU)- 4:37.49
- Genevieve Jorgensen (NEB)- 4:39.41
- Eliot Kennedy (MINN)- 4:39.82
- Rebecca Diaconescu (MICH)- 4:41.81
Paris Olympian and Olympic Silver Medalist Anna Peplowski wasted no time rewriting the Big 10 record board once again with the first individual event of the meet, as she broke the meet record—along with her conference record—in the 500 free. This marks Peplowski’s second meet record of the 2025 Big 10 Championships, as just last night, she led off Indiana’s 800 free relay by matching Siobhan Haughey‘s 200 free conference record and breaking the standing meet record with a 1:40.69.
Peplowski, a senior, took bronze last year behind Bella Sims and Emma Weyant at the 2024 NCAA Championships with a 4:34.09. That time stood as the overall conference record until tonight. The previous meet record was held by G Ryan of Michigan and set at the 2017 Big Ten Championships, where she took first nearly 3 seconds. At the time, Ryan’s swim was not a conference record, as Ryan had been quicker (4:34.28) a few months prior at their midseason invite.
Split Comparison:
| Distance | G Ryan, Michigan – 2017 Big Ten Championships (Previous Meet Record) | Anna Peplowski, Indiana – 2024 NCAA Championships (Previous Conference Record) | Anna Peplowski, Indiana – 2025 Big 10 Championships (New Meet and Conference Record) |
| 50 | 25.86 | 24.75 | 24.49 |
| 100 | 53.60 (27.74) | 51.60 (26.85) | 51.52 (27.03) |
| 150 | 1:21.58 (27.98) | 1:19.34 (27.74) | 1:19.33 (27.81) |
| 200 | 1:49.64 (28.06) | 1:47.51 (28.17) | 1:47.39 (28.06) |
| 250 | 2:17.73 (28.09) | 2:15.51 (28.00) | 2:15.77 (28.38) |
| 300 | 2:45.87 (28.14) | 2:43.77 (28.26) | 2:43.91 (28.14) |
| 350 | 3:13.24 (27.37) | 3:12.06 (28.29) | 3:12.34 (28.43) |
| 400 | 3:40.68 (27.79) | 3:40.10 (28.04) | 3:40.23 (27.89) |
| 450 | 4:07.72 (27.04) | 4:07.74 (27.64) | 4:06.90 (26.67) |
| 500 | 4:34.40 (26.68) | 4:34.09 (26.32) | 4:33.86 (26.96) |
In her previous PB, along with tonight’s record, Peplowski was out quick—over two seconds clear of Ryan’s previous meet record. Peplowski maintained this lead for the first half of the race: at the 200 mark, she was still two full seconds under Ryan’s record, and that only slipped slightly at the 250 mark. However whereas Peplowski consistently held low-mid 28s for the majority of the race, Ryan, in contrast, was out slower but able to maintain splits of 28-lows to 27-highs throughout her record-setting 500.
Peplowski swam a near-identical race to her swim from last year’s NCAA Championships, with less than five-tenths separating her cumulative splits until the final 100. It was the final 150 that made the difference tonight, however, as she was nearly a full second faster on her second-to-last 50 compared to her previous personal best. Although she was consequently unable to match her closing split, she did enough to get under the 4:34 barrier and shave .23 off of the conference record.
