Hoosiers continue streak with opening win

The men's swimming and diving team opened its season yesterday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Cen-ter with a 189-103 win over the University of Evansville Purple Aces. IU, undefeated in season openers in the past four years, got strong contributions from freshman Richard Bryant and junior David Schulze.\nBryant won both the 1000-yard freestyle, with a time of 9:30.72, and the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:39.57 time, a full 14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. \n"Since this was my first meet in a 25-yard pool, I felt I did really well," Bryant said. "I need to continue to improve on the technical aspects of my swimming, but I feel confident that I will improve quickly."\nSchulze placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 58.02 and 2:06.73.\n"Technically I felt that I did well today, but I can always improve," Schulze said. "At this point I feel way ahead of where I was at any time last year, and I hope to continue to improve on my times."\nSophomore Matt Leach took first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.46 and second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:52.07. Sophomore Claes Andersson won the 50-yard freestyle (20.72), and was followed in the standings by sophomore teammates Mike Payne (21.36) and Dale Ramsy (21.59).\nSenior Heath Montgomery finished first in the 400-yard individual medley with a 4:03.91 time. Meantime, freshman Murph Halasz placed first in the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.36) and second in the 100-yard butterfly (51.25). \n"We have a very diversified team that competes well in every event," coach Kris Kirchner said. "We had a number of swims that were much better today. It is exciting to see our freshmen jumping in and competing well with tough competition."\nThe Hoosiers head to Ann Arbor, Mich., Nov. 2 to take on the Michigan Wolverines at Canham Natatorium. Kirchner said it is there that the team will look to continue their early success.\n"This was a great season-opening meet," Kirchner said. "This is only the beginning of the season and we will keep improving as the season continues"