Swim teams place 1st at Invitational

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams each took first place in the Indiana Invitational this weekend at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatics Center. The women scored 1,141 points while the men earned 1,037. Ahead of runner-up Notre Dame by almost 400 points, the women's team placed at least second in nearly every race. \nBoth teams faced Evansville, Illinois, Southern Illinois, Miami, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Indian River Community College.\nAmong those who swam season-best times Friday were the men and women's 200-meter free relays, freshman Sarah Fiden and senior Joe Trent in the 500-meter freestyle, sophomore Tina Gretlund in the 200-meter individual medley and senior Jenn Cristy in the 50-meter free.\nSeveral season best times were achieved Saturday, including those by Gretlund, freshman Matt Leach and Trent in the 400-meter IM, Gretlund and sophomore Kevin Euans in the 100-meter butterfly, Cristy in the 200-meter free and senior Will Bernhardt in the 100-meter backstroke. Junior Susan Woessner swam an NCAA consideration time in the 100-meter back.\nCristy's time of 50.88 in the 100-meter free impressed herself and coach Dorsey Tierney.\n"That's the best racing Jenn's done since the Big Tens last year," Tierney said. "That includes more confidence and a refuse-to-lose attitude. I'm starting to see some of the old fire in her."\nCristy said her preliminary swim had left her uncertain of how she would finish Saturday evening.\n"I didn't think I was going to have that good a swim in the 200 (free)," Cristy said. "But I'm very happy."\nSunday featured the diving competition, but only four Hoosiers competed because of injury and lack of readiness. Senior Erin Quinn is recovering from back and elbow injuries, and freshman Cassandra Cardinell did not compete because of injury.\nDiving coach Jeff Huber said the absence of Quinn and Cardinell hurt the team slightly. Sophomore Lori Matthys came in fifth with 317 points in the platform event, and sophomore Jessica Williams placed third with 363 points.\n"Lori had a lot better starts on her dives," Huber said. "Jessica did the best optionals I've seen. Her voluntaries are a little off, but we just haven't been training a lot up there."\nDespite the small numbers, Huber was satisfied with his team's performance. \n"We did a pretty good job, we're going to take a break," he said. "They're beat up. I think everybody's glad to be done early (Sunday) and go home."\nCristy sang the national anthem before Sunday's swimming finals. She went on to earn season-best times in the 100-meter free and 400-meter free relay while Gretlund earned a NCAA consideration time of 2:02.93 in the 200-meter fly.\n"The sophomore class is just so much more consistent, which is largely a key to our success so far," Tierney said. "They give us depth and a little bit more fire because they have some wacky personalities."\nTierney said she is pleased with the consistency the team has had and with Cristy's turn-around weekend.\n"Her 100 free (Sunday) was probably her best unshaved time ever, which if you had asked me two weeks ago if she could do that, I would have said, 'No way,'" she said.