At any given point during the men's swimming and diving team's 2001-2002 season, asking head coach Bill Dorenkott about the post season would have garnered a response similar to the following — "It all comes down to this."

The Big Ten Championships are slated to start tomorrow in Bloomington, Ind.

The meet will run through Saturday with preliminaries starting each day at noon and finals starting at 7 p.m.

The meet will follow the typical format of events, starting with the 200-yard freestyle relay and finishing with the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Penn State's 400-yard freestyle relay team, which consists of Bob Molettiere, Eugene Botes, Todd Minnier, and Martin Schierhorn looks to defend its record of 2:54.25, set at last year's championships.

Molettiere and Botes also look to defend their titles in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.

The Big Ten is deep with talent having five teams in the top 25. The last four years have seen Penn State, Michigan, and Minnesota battle for the top three spots in the championships. The following are the top teams that look to vie for the championship.

Minnesota

The team that won the Big Ten Championship last season is ranked highest among the Big Ten teams at No. 6 and is also undefeated in dual meets. Indiana head coach Kris Kirchner sites the Golden Gophers as the team to beat in these championships.

Five-time All-American Todd Smolinksi has been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week twice this season. At last year's Big Ten Championships, he was named swimmer of the meet after setting both conference and school records in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 46.91.

Minnesota also boasts last year's swimming and diving coach of the year in Dennis Dale and Kz Li.

Michigan

Michigan edged out Penn State for second place in the Big Ten Championships last season.

The No. 10 Wolverines, who are undefeated in Big Ten competition, gained a victory this season over Penn State, 152-91.

Sophomore diver Jason Coben looks to be the biggest threat to Penn State diver Steve Bohner.

Coben narrowly beat Bohner by four points when Michigan visited McCoy Natatorium in January.

Coben's performances this season were enough to garner him two Big Ten Diver of the Week awards, while Bohner had one of his own for his performance against Rutgers.

Coben will look to gain one last win for diving coach Dick Kimball, who will retire after this year.

Last year's 800-yard freestyle relay team returns three of its four members — Dan Ketchum, Garret Mangiere, and Jordan Watland. Ketchum was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year last year.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin (5-4, 2-2) finished Big Tens last year, fourth behind Penn State, and is currently ranked 16th heading into Thursday's meet.

Head coach Eric Hansen is pleased with his team's most recent win over in-state rivals UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee.

The team dominated the meet, capturing the top spot in every event.

"The timing (of these wins) is great as we leave for Big Tens," he said in a press release.

"Two meets to go and they're the most important of the year." UW's 400-yard freestyle relay team of which is currently ranked first in the Big Ten, looks to be the toughest competition to the Nittany Lion team.

Sophomore Dale Roger and senior Dale Jones hold the top times in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.

Purdue

The Boilermakers (6-5, 3-4) only finished eighth in last year's Big Ten Championships but come into this year's meet ranked 21st in the nation, looking to make some steam.

Their most recent competition saw them fall to Indiana, 136.5-106.5. However, head coach Dan Ross is still optimistic.

"Even though it's never fun to lose your last meet of the season, the guys have been fairly upbeat and they know what they need to do to be prepared," he said in a press release.